On our walks around our neighbourhood we discovered a sort of "$2 Shop" where we bought a thermometer for Tim's science experiment which in the end didn't work! Our other quest for the day was to find a post office to buy a few stamps for postcards. After queuing at the closest post office where the guy asked for 4 Euros (more than AUD$6) per postcard I declined his offer because it certainly shouldn't cost that much. Next attempt at the local tabacchi where the going price was 2.85 Euros but the 3 stamps required wouldn't fit on the postcard! Not winning! At the Vatican post office later in the day, they charged 3 Euros, and I went with that. I had thought that mail would be a fairly standard price across Europe. Wrong!
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| Burnouts down the road.... |
And then there was school where Luke is
working on the Solar System and is quite interested in it. The good old
Magic School Bus series about the Solar System is on Youtube and that
has also been a winner!
In
29 days we'll be home and it all seems too quick! The big kids are
racing to wrap up their school years before we leave Italy. There are
places we would like to explore but the end of school is also important
so we continue juggling both school and recreation. I will be very
happy to handball most of school to their old schools next year although
as most parents know, an awful lot of learning and teaching still does
happen at home. I don't feel I can be a fun Mum when I am teacher and resource guide or maybe I'm just a grumpy old Mum and it makes no difference that I am teacher as well!
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| The Vatican post office |
As
Annika is still quite unwell with her cold/chest infection but still
wanted to go for a walk, we set ourselves the goal of walking around the
periphery of Vatican city - it was a bit hillier than we'd imagined but
a fun goal to set!
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| Plaques in the Vatican wall - older than the current wall, perhaps. |
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| The walls are vast. |
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| St Peter's from a different angle |
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| Rampas/rampe - pedestrian only access to back streets |
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| This view, not on the normal tourist trail, was lovely |
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| Boys on wall...if they can climb it, they do. |
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| Little lane of the Vatican Wall |
We just had to visit our subterranean bakery on the way home and sample their wares again!! Then some delicious fresh pasta (from the supermarket!) so we are almost Italian! The kids are really enjoying lightly fried cheese, fresh bread, tomatoes and olive oil for lunch...and I add a bit of fresh basil!
We even bought some panettone! It is said that Panetonne was invented by a poor baker, Tonio, who made the sweet bread so his daughter could marry a nobleman. His creation: Pan de Tonio was well accepted, his daughter married the nobleman and now Italians enjoy Panetonne at Christmas!
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