Luke was up earliest which is unusual but he'd had an afternoon sleep yesterday so I guess that put his body clock out a bit. We made use of the time while he was fresh to do the online Mathletics Assessment required by distance education. That done and with the others emerging from "Dreamland", we tossed around options for the day.
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| I think we have a 9 metre from the corner rule at home! |
With clear skies and a whole city to
explore we set off in the direction of Carrefour in search of reasonably
priced groceries after being a bit shocked at the prices at the Coop
yesterday.
One
of the first things that struck us in Rome was the erratic driving,
coupled with erratic parking, sometimes triple deep and who cares about
pedestrian crossings anyway?! We are not sure why anyone would even
risk driving in Rome, fight for very limited parking and put their
vehicle in severe jeopardy for either damage or theft! The way cars are
apparently abandoned for parking purposes is one of those extraordinary
things that will, no doubt, become ordinary for us after being in Rome
for a few days!
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| Just squeeze your car anywhere! |
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| Double parked in the middle of a road...who cares? |
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| We had to stop and just take it in! |
We
had planned to walk past the Vatican on the way to the shops but it was
impossible to just walk past and not stop! Particularly, in this most
perfect weather, the white marble of the grand arc of arches with
statues atop, the fountains and obelisk were worthwhile taking some time
to absorb. En route we were accosted by 20 or so would-be tour sellers
and guides, but after being in India we are more than happy to ignore
with no comment of "no thanks". There were police on every corner and
of course, crowds.
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| Looking up to all the statues - these impressed Luke the most! |
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| The blue sky against the white marble was stunning. |
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| A photo without crowds - somehow! |
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| Handstands ...of course! |
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| Silly statue in St Peter's Square! |
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| Having a bit of fun! |
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| Not sure how the white car, parked "normally" will get out. The Smart Car is about as long as a normal car is wide, so they are left in all sorts of small places. There is no place in Rome for all the big 4 Wheel Drives we see at home! |
Heading
through the Vatican plaza we took the opportunity to go into Chiesa di
San Spirito in Sassia. We have seen many Italian churches already and
this was no exception. Every inch of plaster was frescoed or had a
statue, including the ceiling. The ornateness is really something to
behold! Truly beautiful but busy for our eyes. As per usual, there
were gypsies at the entrances and a few quiet pray-ers inside.
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| Floor to ceiling frescoes |
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| Very lovely but rather ornate |
We
wandered on sort of in the direction of the shops and came to some
steps and a hill which demanded us to climb it!! It turned out to be
the Janiculum or Gianicolo Hill which is the second highest hill in
Rome, but not included in the famous "Seven Hills of Rome" because it is
west of the Tiber.
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| View from Janiculum Hill |
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| Looking to Castel Sant'Angelo |
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| La Spagna or the Spanish Steps in the distance |
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| We wondered what significance this dead tree had! It turned out that Torquato Tasso (16th century poet) and St Philip Neri (also 16th century) sat under this oak tree. |
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| "What's that?" |
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| Faro degli Italiani D'Argentina - a lighthouse, gift from Italians in Argentina in 1909, commemorating 50 years of independence. |
The view over Rome was excellent and if
we hadn't discovered it without knowing, it would have been on our "To
Do" list in any case! It is a lovely spot to visit and away from the
crowds and a very pleasant walk.
The
hill was a centre for the cult of the Roman god Janus sometime in
ancient Rome but more recent historical events are more evident at
present.
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| Wolf with romulus and Remus at the base of Garibaldi |
The
Janiculum has a couple of large statues, the largest being one of
Giuseppe Garibaldi. In 1849, Garibaldi led the Roman Republic against
the French to restore Italian independence. Around the base of this
statue is a relief of the wolf feeding Romulus and Remus; the story of
which I remember from Form 1 History with Rosemary Konig at Blackburn
South High School!
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| Anita Garibaldi |
The other statue is of Anita Garbaldi, Garibaldi's Brazilian wife, who
was a courageous woman and master equestrian who fought alongside her
husband but died in 1849 pregnant with their 5th child from malaria.
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| Walking through the wall! |
Apart from a few hairy spots where there
was no footpaths and fairly constant traffic, the walk back down the
hill to the shops was great. Carrefour prices were indeed cheaper and
we bought some delicious morning tea and sat outside on a seat and
enjoyed our treat. For the record, I bought a blackberry flan which was
weighed by the kilo and neatly packaged in edible portions! Couple
with some perfectly sour blood orange juice and mineral water to
complement the sweetness, it was a nice bit of Italy on a travel budget!
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| I love the random old walls and gates which blend into Rome of today. |
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| Tall tall columns passing st Peter's Square |
The home trip back through the Vatican was shorter and more direct which
was good as we had our bags of shopping with us. The kids did school
in the afternoon which seemed to work well.
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| Police, always dapper in appearance |
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| Nope, this guy is not in fancy dress; this is his uniform |
We'd spotted some seriously delicious chicken kebabs on the discounted shelf at the supermarket and we all enjoyed them for dinner. It is dark so early now that I felt I should cooking dinner early, too. Somehow, though, the evening sped by and the kids were all off to bed later than hoped!
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