It was Annika's turn to sit her maths test under exam conditions so Karl took Luke out so she could have quiet for the test. Before she started, she and I walked to the subterranean bakery we had spotted. The prices were really cheap so it was no wonder that we had always noticed a crowd there! The counter is so high that the people serving can barely see the customers and the customers can't really see who they are handing their money to! The huge battered pan of thick pizza looked amazing but it was the profiteroles that Annika chose as her post maths test reward.
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| Choosing....30 Euro cents for a huge doughnut - the freshest ever! |
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| Unassuming entrance, easy to miss. |
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| Subterranean bakery - queue on the stairs! |
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Sometimes the things in supermarkets make us laugh! I can just imagine an advertisement on Australian TV with a big gruff looking dog talking about Bull!
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| That's a lot of bull! |
I
made use of the quiet time to do a bit of midwifery professional
development learning via online courses. At the conclusion of the
learning package you get three chances to get 100% on the multiple
choice questions and then the ANMF keeps a record of the results. Quite
a good way to learn and it means everyone can keep up to date.
After
lunch Tim, Annika and I went in search of a closer Carrefour
supermarket and found a good one which was well stocked and away from
crowds. The streets are pretty dirty in Rome with rubbish scattered and
huge public bins used carelessly so bits of rubbish intended to be put
in ends up on the roads. High density living in any city must create a
big rubbish disposal issue.
The
checkout guy at this Carrefour was nice as opposed to the ones at the
other Carrefour who we have nicknamed the "chuck" out staff as they
chuck your groceries around and stick their fingers through the
clingfilm on the meat packages. Customer service isn't on their radar
whereas we'd noticed our local supermarket in Holland had really good
customer service and they went out of their way to help! Service
doesn't seem to be the way of Rome!
We
had planned a "back to front" dinner which involved a trip back to the
underground bakery for dessert on our way to see inside of St Peter's
Basilica. We have worked out that where possible, it is good to see
sights in the afternoon, the later the better as the crowds are less.
Because we have the luxury of time to do this, it was the best way to
see inside the Basilica without a crowd or queues.
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| Luke dwarfed by the giant columns |
On
approach to the Basilica you cannot help but be "wow-ed" by its sheer
size. Then there are the huge mosaics on the walls and beautiful marble
statues, the most famous of which is Michelangelo's Pieta. We were in
time to hear the end of the evening mass which echoed through the whole
building. Very lovely, really. It was great without crowds to wander
in the vastness and wonder the "why's" and "how's" of the construction
of a building like this.
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| A portrait panorama to show the height of the columns! |
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| No inch of ceiling spared from some kind of decoration. |
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| One of the huge and lovely mosaics |
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| Michelangelo's Pieta |
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| Looking to the altar |
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| I am not sure what this art signifies but it reminded me of a William Morris design. |
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| Another mosaic - really huge, very hard to capture magnitude of things in such a huge space. |
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| List of all the Popes - note: St Peter (Petrus) |
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| Dove with olive branch |
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| Dishes of "holy" water were in several places |
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| Looking up the length of the church |
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| More grandness |
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| And the guards on duty...looks like a rather ancient style of uniform...tradition, I suppose! |
After the rest of our dinner (Bolognese sauce with particularly springy pasta ringlets), we sat down to watch Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour which we had seen a while back but which was much more exciting for us now when we have recently visited lots of places he went to. We have also seen collections in various museums and historic houses which young noblemen on their grand tours had collected and brought back to England. It all makes so much more sense when you have been there! Luke was so excited seeing places that he'd visited.
It seems that Annika now has succumbed to the nasty cold Luke is still recovering from. Poor girl. I am glad she sat her maths test before the virus took over because she'll be under par for a few days. I am glad to be getting the colds over with now so we can have time to be well before we fly. At least we are settled for a few weeks so we don't have to rush anywhere.
The coloured guards at the Vatican are Swiss Guards! They are trained in non-weapon combat. The uniforms are an old tradition, as the role has been going for many hundreds of years. Very cool, eh.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ali, now that you have told me that I do recall somewhere I did know that! Thanks for reminding me! Their uniforms are really old fashioned and do look so historical.
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