When I say a sort of normal day, I mean the usual big shop on a Saturday and trudging home with heavy grocery bags, doing a bit of tidying up, catching up with schoolwork and having a relaxed lunch. However, when you look in our grocery bags you find some fresh pasta, some ciabatta, strange looking broccoli, Italian pizza dough, fresh mozzarella, parmigiana, blood orange juice and a few other items that we can buy at home but usually don't!
Annika and I walked back to the Vatican post office where the queue is short and the service good as the Italian post offices are so hard to negotiate with a ticket system and long queues. It was nice to have some "girl" time with her and we stopped and looked at shops and stalls which is always a fun thing to do. The stall vendors always assure you that this is their last day here and that they'll offer you a good price...and then we see them the next day!
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| Only 5PM and it's dark! Outside our favourite bakery. |
We were all feeling quite disturbed by the terrorist activities and
127 reported deaths in Paris where we were not so long ago. In Paris we
felt safe and walked many kms through familiar tourist sites and on
less trodden paths. Tim set out for a morning run, often by himself,
and felt quite safe doing so. Quite a few times we let the big kids
return to our apartment on their own never doubting their security. How
quickly one's world view can change. Having said that, fear should not
govern our adventuring, but one can't help but feel a little more
cautious.
Our long walk this evening took us back to
Ancient Roman by night so we could see the buildings lit up. It was a
fine 22 C, slightly cloudy and very pleasant for walking.
We
agreed on another "back to front" dinner and started with a bakery item
each from our local subterranean spot and finished with home made
pizzas on our return from the evening's explorings.
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| Passetto di Borgo - the once secret path between Castel Sant'angelo and the Vatican - which helped several popes escape to safety. |
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| Cat enjoying the night air at the ruins of Torre di Argentino |
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| Trajan's Column constructed 113 AD to commemorate wars between Romans and Dacians (Indo-European people) in 101–102 AD and 105–106 AD. By night, its white marble simply glows! |
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| National Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II with eternal flames blazing |
Rome looked particularly wonderful by night, especially with a few clouds to add to the sky! It really did look like a movie set. There seemed to be a heavy police presence of police playing on their phones (our observation!) but we have come to think this is normal in Rome and not reflecting events in Paris. Several Italian flags were half mast and several buildings were coloured by red, white and blue lights to show their support and sympathy. It is a slightly worrying time to be travelling in Europe.
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| Colosseum by night |
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| It looked like a stage set...but it was real! |
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| Not many people about so we could freely wander. |
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| Tim and Luke on pillars near the Arch of Constantine |
Finally, I got to sit down and watch Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in the delightful "Roman Holiday" and get excited about the scenes as it was filmed on location in Rome!
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