The Pantheon and Our new Friends.......

OKAY!! Another busy way of navigating ourselves around Rome! First stop was the Pantheon, then to Plaza Navona, Sant' Agnese in Agone, a Borromini creation, and on to the Campo di fiori. The Pantheon, which is where Raphael is buried, was first a temple and now a church. The walls below the dome are 19’ thick. ANOTHER TRULY INCREDIBLE BUILDING here in Rome! We walked over to the Piazza Navona, which Eyewitness says is the “loveliest square” (HOW can they say?) in Rome. (I’m loving them ALL!) We headed over to the Campo di fiori for lunch, where we found a restaurant that had at LEAST fifteen salad choices-each one better than the next!
At 4PM, we were due to meet Giulia, a woman I had connected with on www.couchsurfing.org. This took us to the Metro and a part of the city we had not yet seen. She and her son Giovanni met us at the metro stop in Eur, which is a part of Rome which is fairly new and all developed as Mussolini had ordered it. So we drove around and saw some of this area, and then we stopped for drinks at a delightful outside ice cream/gelato café, called Giolitti. (Giovanni, an only child, is probably 40ish,and doesn’t work; we couldn’t learn what he might have done for work. Giulia retired in May from what sounded like a fairly high level job in the government.) There was a small man-made “lake” right there where there is only boating, no swimming. We stopped at another amazing church, called St. Paul’s Basicilica (One of the seven basicilas open during the Jubillee.) They offered to give us a ride back to our apartment, but there was a misunderstanding, as to where we really lived. So it got a little stressful as mother and son were going backand forth. WHO KNEW? At they were both most gracious and fine, but….
Giovanni , who was driving, really didn’t know where to take us, so Giulia ended up navigating….Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I had NO idea what they were saying…it didn’t sound too sweet
We needed to get home to meet Ben(remember him from the gelato place? Thx, MC!) for dinner at the Sicilian restaurant place just up the street at eight. We all got ready in a quick fifteen minutes and were off for a tasty dinner. He is a most interesting guy….He asked us if we wanted to go to Ostia, which is THE beach scene nearest to Rome. Who knows what it will be like, but we’ll be meeting him at 10AM on Friday to take the train there. Tomorrow we are off to our all day trip to the Amalfi Coast, so I’m off. Ciao!:)) PS. Rome is really growing on me; it is a truly amazing city!!!

And thenwe saw the Vatican!

I'm really psyched that in two days,I have seen two places of such huge significnce to the world...BOTH the Colosseum AND the Vatican.We walked down the hill from the apartment maybe two miles...great views of the city and the Roman countryside. We got there very early, as our tour was due to start at at 1PM. We wandered around the area outside the Vatican and then found a place to have our gelato lunch. (Neither Dayle nor Mallory had yet had any!) Well, it was VERY hot,so we opted for a place where we could sit with a bit of shade and a fan that almost hit our whole table.Ah,little did we know!!!!!! We didnt'd ask (OOPS!!!) the price,so when I went to tpaythebill,it was 37 euros. I ALMOST had a heart attack when I went to pay the bill,as our three gelatos were 37 euro!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is mine! I'm off gelatos for a while!
Today's tour was really excellent; Jeannette, our guide was really very good. (She has $93,000 in debt for her Art History training.) The tour indcluded the museum,the Sistine Chapel (Michaelanglo's TRULY amzaing painting on the Sistine Chapel; and St. Peter's Church, TRULY fscinating to see and learn about! Mallory took a ton of pictures,as I was "on break" today from taking many pictures!

Touring with Dayle and Mallory

Yesterday I met Dayle and Mallory at Termini, the train station. They had had a long flight from Salt Lake City by way of Detroit, but they were ready to go once they "checked in". Off we went-it was Sunday, so nothing much was open, but a friend had told me about Ristorante Scarpone, which is only .2 of a mile away! It was closing last night at 7:30 for their August holiday, so luckily we got there before then! It is the quintessential Italian restaurant favored by locals, and we were the only Americans there,which I always prefer! Our meals were good standard Italian fare.AND we ate outside under a vine-covered pergola! Afterwards we walked around the Villa Pamphili Park and came back to the apartment. A little more rest, and we took a bus back into the city to find a place for dinner. Now that the bus system is a known entity, it makes the whole city totally workable! The transportation system in Rome is not as user friendly as Paris or London or even Boston! The stops are all very well marked with lists of all the stops at each stop, but no where have I yet found a bus map that clearly details this.
This morning we went on the three hour tour of the Colosseum, Palatine,and the Roman Forum. Our guide Francesca was excellent, and the tour was very informative.
This was one of the times that I was glad I was on a tour, because we were able to get into each place without waiting in line. To see places like this with such an incredible history is more than amazing. We had lunch in the city,and we were all pretty HOT and tired, so we decided to come back home to regroup.
I did a wash; I'm glad to have that done, as the washing machine is different from what we are used to! A rest later, we took bus 44 into Piazza de Venezia to go to the Trevi Fountain and see the sunset on Spanish Steps.(While we waited for the bus-forever-some man with his daughter,son,and dog asked us if we needed help for the bus.It turned out he is from San Francisco; we were still there when they came back-much to our frustration-,and he told us how you can check where a particular bus is on your PDA, so Dayle now cn do this on her IPhone. Both sites were very crowded, but interesting to see. There was no way we could climb the Spanish Steps with all the tourists on them, but I'm glad I saw them! I have no idea what time you'd have to get there to climb the steps! On the way to those two sites, we passed by the Memorial to Vittoria Emmanuele, which I saw the other day. Now you can see how impressive it is! Tomorrow we have an afternoon tour of the Vatican.

Retracing my steps from yesteday

Well, by now I'm getting the bus system down. My first stop was at the Vodafone store where I picked up the piece of the adaptor that I had left behind. I thook a bus over to Termini, the main train station in Rome, to get a map of the bus routes. I felt like I should "see" something=go into something that makes Rome so special. We had passed many of these sights on the way to Termini, and we will actually take two half day tours in Rome next week.I had passed this most spectacular monument on the way, so I got off the bus to see what it was. Lifted right from the internet, "One of the imposing landmarks in Rome is the Monument to Victor Emanuel, II, built between 1885 and 1911 and dedicated to the memory of King Victor Emanuel, II of Savoia who achieved the unification of Italy in 1870 with Rome as its capital. Visitors climbing a broad flight of steps soon notice an imposing statue flanked by a two-man honor guard and highlighted by an eternal flame, kindled in memory of the Unknown Italian Soldier of World War I." There is also a museum there,but everything (except the sign to the restrooms) were in Italian, so I was out of luck.
Unfortunately this picture doesn't give any idea of how spectacular the monument really is.
I returned home and decided to take a walk in one of the nearby parks. This neighborhood reminds me of Brookline with far less shops. It is just so interesting to see the varied architecture everywhere-this little park included.
On my way home I continued to wander through the neighborhood; most of the shops are closed for the August holiday,including the great pizza shop. However, I stopped for a gelato (I have checked the calorie count!),and the only empty chair outside was at a table with two women-one in her late 80's perhaps, and the other,not her daughter as I first guessed, but her caretaker, in her late 40's. I asked if I could use the chair,and they motioned for me to sit with them. Well, a young man, Ben, sitting at a table nearby came up to me and asked where I was from. When I told him, I noted his Hardrock Cafe shirt was from Boston; he is going to be a senior at Kingston,RI, High in the fall.He has studied Italian for three years,so his Italian is excellent. The older woman even said so! She actually had spoken at Cambridge and Oxford years ago, but we couldn't get any details. She did speak some English with us.Ben has been here for three weeks working at a B&B with three more weeks before he goes home. He warned me that I should always carry my passpor, but he doubted I'd have any trouble. It turns out that several nights ago, he had been out very late and picked up by the police. With no identification on him, they hauled him off to the police station.Needless to say,he was BEYOND SCARED! Once he gave one of them 100 euros, they let him go! He asked me if there was anything I wanted to know how to say in Italian. "Where will you be when I do need your help?" I asked. I do have his phone number if the need arises!

Rome day 2

Slept in until 9:20=SLUG!!! Realized that I had problem with the computer adaptor I'd brought with me, so I set off to see what it would take to charge my less than 3 lb. Acer notebook. I'd seen a computer store in the neighborhood last night when I went out (VERY SAFE NEIGHBORHOOD!!), so I set off with my bag and some $, figuring that would work. Well, of course, it was closed for the August holidays. (Most places have no sign to give you a clue when they are open or closed!) So I walked down via Carini (the name of our geometry teacher!)until I came to a small bar that sells coffee and drinks; the signor there was working at his computer, so I hoped that he would a.)speak English, and b.) have a clue who could help me. He was helpful, and sent me off on the bus that stopped outside his door to Trastevere and via Marconi to find the store Jotto. Ah,that it was that easy....When I got off that bus, having inquired already MANY times, "Parla inglese?",I happened upon a girl (17yo)with her dad and younger brother. When I made my now ritual inquiry, her father sort of pushed her forward. She LOVES English, and they had me go with them. When I got off,her father even gave me a bus ticket, as I did not have one and no credit card to buy one on the bus.
Well, it took me several stops to get to the Jotto store, and ALAS they could not help me. As I was passing the Vodafone store, I was about to give up! But something in the window made me wonder if they might have some sort of an adaptor to help. So I went in. They had nothing, but he plugged in what I had, and I learned that I only needed one part of the adaptor,not both!!! DUH! So this was a two hour experience and visiting places I'd never been!:))I went over to the tobacco shop to buy bus tickets,and the only English speaking person there gave me an extra cookie!:)) (Okay, I also bought cookies to go with the bus tix!) I went to the Trastevere station to catch the bus back. Then I realized that I had left the other piece of the adaptor at the Vodafone store. I debated whether or not to return and opted to return only to find that,of course,he was closed until 4PM!
I returned (FINALLY) to the apt,only to realize that by now I getting really hungry. so I stopped at the pizza shop(pictured) up at the corner,where they sell pizza slices by the pound. I'd already been there yesterday!:)) I also wanted to find a grocery store. Of the two that Angela had mentioned, one has closed to change ownership,and the other was closed until 5, and I'd been there last night and saw only cheese and pasta...no milk and or cereal! So a 20 minute walk and three inquiries later I came to Simply Market, so at least there is some food here! GRANDE INSULATA for dinner!:))
Weather has been delighrful...warm,but not brutal yet as people had warned. I even had to close one of the doors to my room last night,as it seemed chilly!
Dayle and Mallory arrive tomorrow mid-day, so my adventures before they arrive will include a walk in the park and finding the special bakery two blocks away which Angela mentioned! CIAO

Rome Arrival

We landed about 7 AM after a most uneventful flight...(wouldn't complain using miles anyhow!) My seatmate-we were in the middle with the seat between us empty and we cheered about that!-was returning from a month-long trip with his wife and her two kids around the east coast from DC to Lake George, where they wanted to stay longer. They also LOVE to travel, as they had been all over the west coast two years ago. His businesscard reads Head Royal Garage, so he manages the Queen's travels in the Netherlands. He'd been in cargo transport for years before that.
Leaving the airport, I decided to take the 8 euro bus to Termini and then local bus #75to Carini Street with a 2 block walk to the very spacious three bedroom apartment I'll be in until August 28th. The floors and walls are marble and granite. Today there has been a delightful breeze! I did have trouble turing the water on, so that kept me busy trying to get info from Angela; I just didn't turn it hard enugh.The FOUR key entry system looked hard to operate and just amazingly complcated. However, I've been in and out twice, so I've go that down! There is bougainvillea everywhere and flowering quince, so the streets are very colorful. AND there is a geleteria right across the street which I have already visited!
And I will be adding some notes about my Newfoundland trip when I resolve why I can't charge my notebook.Arrivederci!:))

St. John's Tour Day One

Ivy's nephew, Keith,took us around-that included Ivy and his wife Carol Ann-St. John's, very picturesque....and delightful! We headed first to famous Signal Hill,where Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic signal on December 12,1901. We stopped at Johnson GeoCentre,"Earth's Geological Showcase" which was very interesting with displays about oil and gas(HUGE oil drilling activity in Hibernia 90 miles off the coast of Newfoundland) as well as Titanic exhibit about the catastrophe 350 miles off NFLD coast. (There were at least nine warnings of icebergs, yet they still ran into one!)
We went to Cape Spear,the eastern most point, and again very SCENIC! We visited other little fishing villages such as Cape Maddox and Bay Bulls. I learned that they had voted in Newfoundland whether or not to become part of the US...it was a very close and heavily disputed vote, but obviously they stayed a part of Canada.
Off to more local touring and then to Heart's Delight tomorrow!