Roma

ROMA!

As we approached the outer ring roads, the traffic rules were loosening with people weaving through & across streams of cars with less regard for the colour of the semaforo. It’ll help us prepare for the Southern regions. Jeff had the wonderful idea of dropping into Thetford to check the fridge which was showing an error code.  Knwoing immediately what the problem was, Maurizio the Marvellous booked us in for the following morning and so we found a noisy unkempt rest stop only 10 kms away, where we cooked up a large warm prawn salad and relaxed. 

Before long the sky had turned black and whilst we looked across the parking yard wondering why some bays were covered with large canvas roofs, torrential rain AND HAIL thundered down.  We scurried over to a covered park and enjoyed the lightning and thunder.

16/10 outer ROME 

We couldn’t bring ourselves to perform our circuit exercise schedule in this sodden, probably-loaded-with-dog-poo-amongst-the-long-grass site, completely encircled by roaring multi-laned exhaust spewing roads motorhome parking lot.  Thankfully the sun was shining enabling us to hang everything out to dry out & crisp up whilst having breakfast.

We stopped by Thetford once again, Maurizio fixed the fridge but found another problem with the solar electrical controller allowing too many volts (20!) through, so we’ll spend a week here (the longest in any big city so far) and return on Tuesday next week for a new one.  The kids did their maths and we lucked upon the AMAZING Giovani, an ex-archeologist, who since not being able to find work, has been writing articles for an Italian RV company.   Apart from being utterly gorgeous and unendingly helpful, he colourfully added to our itinerary increasing our appetite for Sicily.  He reckons it is home to the best gelati and pizza in Italy.  His fave is gelato and nougat in a sweetish pannini for breakfast - Wil’s eyes bulged and he has us swear to indulge in this culinary calorie bomb.  Done!  We should be there for his birthday! 

Just over the road from the campsite we aimed to spend the week in Roma (Camping Village Roma) was a HUGE grocery store allowing us to fill the fridge to bursting.  Small things make such a difference but we noticed a pedestrian bridge over the highway between the campground and the shop making top ups easy and hopefully reducing the cost of Rome.  Having spent 12 days in overnight stops, we welcomed the industrial washing machines doing 2 large loads and the ritzy bathrooms with abundant hot water where we all scrubbed our feral odours.

So we went nowhere but rather hung out washing and enjoyed a huge spaghetti beneath the wonderful smell of fresh laundry.  The kids found the COLD pool and afterward sat in the sun reading like ma & pa.  Then began the wonderful hours washing Snuggie and blowing him dry under hairdryers in the specially dedicated dinky wee kid’s bathroom.

Before bed we all watched a DVD on Rome - not sure it helped any - we’ll watch it again after a few days exploring.

17/10  DAY 2 ROMA

Sunny day but NOISY campground - LARGE youth German group; 2 Italian families with unsettled young kids late at night; same families beeping alarms ALL night (to get in and out of their motorhomes to go to the toilet)….. And so, we woke exhausted.  The kids however, when quizzed about their sleeps both buoyantly declared refreshing, great sleeps!?  But with whispy thin conviction this morning, we made our way over to the small playground for our 10 BX thinking we were sufficiently tucked away and sufficiently early.  BUT an Asian couple came and sat on the bench 1 m away from us for the duration of our exercise (couldn’t eruct and explode as is usual!!) and then buses started up, spewing diesel fumes over the small area.  Thankfully we had just finished.  Having decided on no morning maths while in Rome, we leapt on the campground shuttle to The Vatican from where we walked into the heart of old Rome.  Several other Aussies readily identifiable with scratchy beards, scraggly get up & guts. 

Alighting above Vatican City, we were on a mad scramble for a loo. This year will be remembered by the memories of regularly being at busting point…...and then having to fork out money first only to be met with an out of order sign or no toilet paper.  We have got pretty good though, carrying all sorts in our day pack and always being mindful of how much we drink.  Can’t wait to feast on water whenever we want!  

  

Our initial impressions weren’t so favourable with pick-pockets, street stalls on small blankets of used (stolen?) goods, beggars, thick clouds of trinket vendors (shoulder covering shawls for visiting churches, keyrings, postcards, water….got a loo in your back pocket?) and in the heat, a strong smell of urine & dog poo. It’s grungy, noisy and crowded.  Jeff reminds us to have a good sense of humour and that the story is not over yet!

Then the story just got amazing as we rounded the corner into the Vatican Square to see Pope Benedict XVI addressing his pilgrims.  Despite not having ordered (the free) tickets on line as advised, we just walked in with space to spare but through high security an airport. Our HUGE swiss carving knife for bread & cheese went unnoticed !?  There he sat out front on the porch, small & white beneath a white marquee, dwarfed by the backdrop of the giant St Peter’s Basilica and flanked by the funny looking Swiss guards.  With incredible stamina and a monotone voice, he delivered a short speech in multiple languages, his face projected onto massive screens all about the square. The beautiful & very grand round square (!?) was designed by Bernini  and consists of 2 semi-circular arcades with 4 rows of massive columns.

Munching on grainy biscuits, we sat relaxed in the shade of the cool massive columns and chatted on about various Christian topics.  Not quite ready to negotiate the crowds, we jumped on a Roma Cristiana hop on & off bus and sat up top with amazing views to take the whole 2 hour circuit. 

We admired the innumerable gorgeous edificios and got an idea of the lay of the land.  The views of the Roman Ruins punctuating most streets and the striking Colosseum whet our appetites for tomorrow.  

Kel loved it - she chose to have her commentary in Italian and was pretty chuffed with how much she understood.  Wil loves everything.  What a jumble with statues on top of everything and all getting bigger as Rome got newer, a variegated crowd of humans (how many actually live here?), street vendors, the ubiquitous bag vendors profiting from all the shoppers from afar, the tourist touts, some quite aggressive in their demeanour.

aggressive tour tout

Ready for lunch, we hopped off at Isola Tiberina, an island in the Tiber and picnicked on the old stone steps. 

The river is crossed by many beautiful ponts, the prettiest of which, we think is Ponte Sisto with its perfectly circular hole designed to stop the bridge from collapsing in a flood. 

Crossing the Tiber took us toward the gorgeous Pantheon crowned by what was the world’s largest dome until the 15^th C. It is a delicious mix of massive old Rome and Renaissance shapes that has been brilliantly preserved owing to it’s re-invention from a Roman polytheist place of worship to a Christian church and housing the tomb of greats like Raphael. 

The Pantheon

Pantheon Dome

The most breath-taking part is the huge 9m diameter hole or operculum in the top of the dome through which hot currents apparently drive up any rain and through which great shafts of light set the warm earthy-coloured marble & granite aglow.  It has a grand but very simple altar and a uniformity of shape & colour that make it almost peaceful, despite the throngs of tourists packing it out.  Outside Wil identifies the fountain that Robert Langdon swam in in Angels & Demons.  Outside also is one of many stylish Egyptian obelisks plundered in imperial times.

With every second shop housing great piles of gelati, we have become Conn-oisseurs of the quality home-made stuff and so sort out the tiny counter behind the busy Pantheon square in a much quieter square for a delicious tub of ginger & cinnamon, pistachio, nocciola etc gelati.

Following the busy map marked with pink fluoro the night before, we found the jewel of Piazza Nuova, once a Roman circus and now spacious & airy with 3 incredible Baroque fountains only one of which we reckon is beautiful given the wonderful piece of white marble it ‘grows’ out of.  The other 2 are characterized by the ugly, almost grotesque figures with water spouting from their orifi.  

The piazza is now full of cafes & artists and…... men roasting chestnuts!  But the men look foreign and Wil noticed, weren’t turning the nuts with love in the coals but rather had them stacked on the top plate.  They were more expensive, were barely warm, lacked the crispy skins thinned by the coals and were not quite cooked in the middle.  The had no signs saying “yummy nuts.”   We’re over them.

Orangely, blue end of day light showed us the way home over another beautiful bridge at the end of which was the grand vision of Castel San Angelo, Hadrian’s mausoleum, fiery red in the sunset. Nowadays it looks more like a fortress.  

In times of threat the Pope takes a secret pathway over to it from the Vatican (the kids imagined him disguised in one of the maroon bob-sled like, bullet shaped street cleaners whizzing along the top of the wall).

Confronted by the volume of deformed beggars, we dug into our bag pulling out the half loaf of bread left over from lunch.  The old lady was so incredibly grateful & tucked in hungrily immediately.  Kel made us promise to pack extra every day.

All that walking and many small information booths later, we were struck by the poor resources about Rome (other than museum passes etc).  What about cycling & running routes??  What about bike paths into town??

With tired legs but otherwise exhilarated, we took the shuttle home for a swim & relaxing coffee,(can’t drink one sitting down here; costs double so we jam in tight with smokers & dogs at the bar whilst the kids sit on the curb outside).

The kids has a cracker time in the bathroom drying & quaffing their hair into crazy styles, blow drying Snuggy’s yellow mohawk and chasing each other through the salon like swinging doors.  With disco level noise, Wil bravely asked the pack of German teens to be more considerate tonight to which they responded positively but then shortly afterward like cowards, ran through the campsite in a yelling stampeding herd.  And so the night went…..

18/10 DAY 3 ROMA

Sometimes we really miss our Castile Street and long for a LONG, still, dead quiet night, to be roused by kookaburras and lorikeets.  The campground went off last night again - it’s more like a nightclub.  Only it woke really early as well with luggage being dragged noisily across the cobbles & the masses having an outdoor breakfast alongside the huge catering semitrailers that house kitchens traveling with them from Germany.

We tried to beat the traffic by rising early to find our way 5 odd km to the closest city park for a run but alas the roads were thumping already.  There are no lanes really.  Everyone just weaves around in any gap despite the correct direction of traffic, the colour of the light or even the ever present large police presence.  On the bike it is a truly wild experience as cars & scooters hurl straight toward you, straight lining around corners and riding up on any skinny footpath if there is one.  Doesn’t matter that it is for pedestrians or mothers with prams or the disabled.  We made it to Villa Dorian Pamphilj, a glorious centre city oasis, where we bush bashed on the bikes dismounting for push ups etc before catching even crazier traffic on the way home.  It is just so unbelievable that we both laughed out loud all the way home and by the time we were close to camp, we too were just riding out across 5 lanes of criss crossing mayhem because being cautious, stopping and squeezing over causes much more confusion. Jeff comically dragged off scooters, elbowing his way to the front of the line if there was one.  Being a pedestrian requires the same rules - make eye contact and just walk out in full on screaming traffic.  Rome makes the roads of Amsterdam look very tame.

We took our €2 return Vatican shuttle from the campground once again and with

24 hours on our hop on & off bus pass, we made for the Vatican pick up stop and took the ‘yellow Rome circuit’ once again, admiring the grand layered glittering but grungy Capital of the World, full of contradictions, where extreme poverty is juxtaposed with unfathomable wealth.  The day was beautiful, the sun softer and the crowds thinner. 

Roman Bagman

novel busker

Roman Baldrick

Jumping off at ancient Rome’s Palatine Hill, we were prepared for a long line up but skipped right to the front because a second ticketing line existed for those wanting audioguides.  We were mistaken as EU citizens and so were charged less.  At only €31, we got a 2 day ticket for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Imperial Forum.  We’d hoped that our preparatory reading & study and the DVDs we’d viewed would help unlock the mysteries of the miles of ancient rubble…… but it was still utterly overwhelming until we found ourselves tagged onto an amusing English tour led by a native Roman with a Pommy accent.  

Archeological evidence shows humans were here more than 100,000 years ago.  Then Ancient Rome was founded here in 753 BC by its first king Romulus, one of the twins that floated down the Tiber in a basket only to be rescued and suckled by the she-wolf Lupa. Then follows a trail of squabbling kings, then emperors who all claimed the hill above the city centre or Forum building ever grander palaces, stadiums, gardens and baths the ruins of which are so incredibly enormous & so extra-ordinarily extensive.  Their balconies have commanding views over the Circus, the Forum and the Colosseum stretching all the way to the river and the mountains.

Circus Maximus from the Palatine Hill

Colosseum viewed from Palatine Hill

Now one can also see all the densely packed layers of Papal Rome with all it’s domes and Risorgimento Rome and all it’s white marble monuments & sculptures.

We spent several hours ‘Roming” about on the breezy hill, stopping for a slow lunch, making out interesting features, sharing our knowledge from our collective reading, the sign posts, the audioguide and the tour leader but a full day could easily be spent just in this part of old Rome. 

By the time we came to over-looking and then venturing onto the grand imperial road, Via Sacra, which runs through the economic & civic centre, the Imperial Forum, where court houses, market squares, the House of the Senate (where Cicero orated), abundant pagan temples, basilicas & monuments crowd the ancient city centre, we were exhausted! 

Senate Building

Magnificent arches mark the grand entrance to the public space through which victorious conquerers would return home and, to the adoring crowds, cruise the Via displaying their spoils (whilst a soldier perched close behind them on their chariot would whisper reminders in their ears of what idiots they really are, thus keeping their monstrous egos in check! Wil thought this was really funny.)  

Each emperor since Julius Caesar’s consecration of the place in 46 BC added more enormous temples, marble sculptures, and fountains.  We were really taken with the idea of Rome’s fire kept alive at all times in the small central beautiful circular Temple of Vesta by the Vestal Virgins.  At the end of the road is the imposing court house where there was a magnificent provocative display discussing the truth of the widespread fascist myth of ‘Romanity,’  largely brushed up by Mussolini, who presented a warrior, ferocious conquering force as opposed to other evidence which discusses the Roman success to be as result of their political flexibility, religious openness and their intolerance of cults.  They were keen to learn all the good bits from their conquered, and offered them citizenship and justice describing themselves as ‘mongrels‘ in contrast to pure breds like the Greeks (and so many “civilisations” since) preferred.  This inclusivity apparently made the defense of their extensive borders less necessary with many often wanting Roman citizenship.

Constantine's Arch

Having originally decided to see the Colosseum as well today, we wisely opted to return again tomorrow and instead chase down a GROM gelato on our hike home.  So with a deadline of 1830 (last bus), the kids grew “gelato legs” and strode out with astonishing purpose, speed and energy buying us cruisey time savouring our frozen creamy delights.

19/10  DAY4 ROMA

In anticipation of the obligatory gelati, we olds pumped away in the playground at the crack of dawn before joining the family for cardboard & milk - and always our lovely mocha pot coffee.

Ready by 1000, we took the shuttle in again, walked to the metro which only has 2 lines and thus is barely used.  We easily got seats on both trains into the Colosseum.  Having spent some hours learning about gladiator games and Roman amphitheaters in France, we felt well prepared and elected to simply walk around with no guide & no audio equipment but rather just soaking it in and reading the displays.  Whilst bigger than the others we’ve seen it is not as well preserved and is far, far busier.  With our combined tickets from yesterday, we walked straight in whilst the poor buggars in the queue miles long just looked on enviously.

Wonderful models helped us understand the amazing wooden arena floor beneath which were all the props and animals.  Great numbers of slaves winched things up and down through trap doors and periodically the whole thing was flooded for spectacular naval battles.  All of this was free for the masses and clearly, together with the teatro and 3 circuses (athletic tracks and chariot racing tracks) all with in coo-ee, made for a very livable and entertaining city for all citizens.  The entertainment also allowed for the varying class structures to become one temporarily, in a way, as seating was strictly arranged according to class.  The emperors and gladiators reached the Colosseum (or the Flavia as it was named after emperor Flavia Vespasian who began it’s building in 72 AD) through secret subterranean tunnels thus avoiding the crowds. 

Wonderful re-creations depict the scenes of drinking and laughing crowds of ~ 60,000 in an area much smaller and steeper than Suncorp stadium.  Same crowd, about ¼ the field size, imagine the atmosphere and the noise!  They could buy food and drink in stalls as well as cook their own picnics on small fires (try that at Suncorp). They all toileted in the open peripheral latrines - imagine the stench.  Whilst majestic in it’s artistic red and white austere ruins with such pleasing curves, it’s sad to see all the holes gouged in the walls where beautiful iron handles etc were pilfered as well as all the wonderful cladding marble, columns and other sumptuous decorations.  One can see however the exposed OPUS CEOMENTICUM or what was to become know as cement, which revolutionized building.  Damaged extensively in earthquakes, bits were taken from it, like from a big convenient quarry, for the emperor’s arches & basilicas and then more for the Pope’s churches and colonnades and then more for the Risorgimento crowd and finally more for Mussolini’s propaganda public works - thus pitifully reducing it’s unbelievable grandeur and spectacular design. 

from the Colosseum to Constantine's Arch

Christian Revenge

ex Temple of Venus

Having lingered to satisfaction, we went on a trail of more lingering.  First, we munched biccies in front of wonderful marble wall plaques demonstrating the expansion of the Roman Empire, reaching it’s biggest size under Trajan in about 100 AD and then, over the road, we bought up some more amazing DVDs and educational stuff in the tourist info centre.  Just a wee bit further down is the huge and beautiful Trajan Forum with it’s spectacular market amphitheatre and the majestic Egyptian column. 

Trajer's Market and Forum

Trajer's Column 

Column detail

We lingered here for ages reading more about Roman life and enjoying our simple lunch.(Jeff walked for 30 minutes or more to find bread though - different to Germany!)  Wil entertained, educated and amazed us with his knowledge of ancient Rome (& Greece) as well as symbolic flags and coat of arms largely based on his extensive reading over the years, a lot of which is clever historical fiction - Dan Brown.  Kel continued to amaze at the “sweet happy looking little nuns” in all their different habits from around the Catholic world. Somehow, we all found it curious seeing a monk, priest or nun licking a gelato and buying undies!  One of our highlights as parents on getting up with full tummies & ready to move on, were some really generous compliments about the kid’s behaviour & manners from an older Amercian couple - they’d been watching us for about 30 mins! 

Next, we climbed the gargantuan “White Wedding Cake” or “Type-Writer” as the locals call it, which is Victor Emmanuel II’s memorial to himself.  He was Unified Italy’s first king in 1861.  The gleaming white angular monstrosity sits right on top of, thus dwarfing & distorting the proportions and balance of Michelangelo’s neighbouring beautiful palaces. 

Michelangelo's Piazza

The palaces once occupied the highpoint with commanding views from a beautiful piazza garnished with statues and fountains and reached by a really pretty gently sloping staircase.  Nonetheless, the views were incredible.  We were amused by the plethora of guards blowing whistles at anyone resting on one of the gazillion steps, never mind resting against a wall.  Flames were burning for the unknown soldier, and a massive series of massive images of himself sitting atop massive steeds.

We put on our ice-cream legs and made for a new highly recommended gelateria (“The Old Bridge”).  On the way back to our shuttle, whilst spotting “pope mobiles” (little buzzy purple street cleaners that we imagine scuttling along the secret high tunnel to the Fortress of San Angelo when the pope is under threat), we crossed yet another beautiful bridge lined with monuments,

Found the Old Bridge, it was marked by a line all down the foot path that thankfully was moving quite quickly with people emerging with the most ginormous gelati we’ve ever seen.  In the small wee shop, like a cupboard in the wall, were 5 young smiling guys patiently guiding an overwhelming choice & whisking up great piles to disbelieving queuers.  Well, for the first time, we felt positively stuffed with ice-cream and will return tomorrow!  To contrast with our indulgent feast, Kel has always made sure at the outset of each day since in Rome that we take extra bread to give to the many maimed beggars especially gathered around the Vatican walls - she reckons she’d love to be a nun but “the only problem is they can’t marry & have kids.”

choc chunk!

Back home, we settled & swam and then did some evening lessons on the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and Catholicism - tomorrow’s adventure.

Our wonderful day was topped off with an e-mail from Elaine & Steve in Spain who have accepted our offer of sale.  If it all comes off, we’ll be taking Ed back a sweet complete circle to Alicante to proudly deliver him to his new owners!

20/10 DAY 5 ROMA - VATICAN DAY

Jen shook the lazy Jeff to life and onto the bikes in the fog heading for the park and a jog. Saturday traffic a lot less dense and exciting, we made it to the park in 20 min, locked the bikes and set off in the blue pink orange of dawn across the park, looking for the eastern exit, and then a few blocks across to a hill that stands looking across the whole of the city, with Signor Garibaldi atop a grand steed, sword in hand surveying his mighty nation of conquerors (or not). The Italians have not been great soldiers since the distant ancient organised Romans who made conscription compulsory & were the first to pay them a salary! It’s a lovely view of the great things - the Pantheon, St Peters Basilica, St Angelo’s Fortress (Hadrian’s tomb), the Wedding Cake, many other buildings we don’t know the significance of, and the Roman remnants sat incognito somewhere there.

Back to Ed and the Squids for our usual breakfast routine and then into the 10am shuttle bus to the Vatican for a good look at the Vatican Museums, especially the Sistine Chapel and then the Basilica.

Dodging the tour touts, keyring, bag and squishy gel ball toy salesmen and beggars we joined the end of the queue which was 100m+ long, 4-5 across but moved surprisingly quickly.  Did the security check, they missed the carving knife again, stashed the bags and then joined the crush as all roads lead to Rome and in Rome all to the Sistine Chapel it seems.  

hallway to the Sistine Chapel

The crush took us along endless hallways shaped like train stations or the underground lined with material relics of the past, Christian and not, with regular reference to this Pope or that and their greatness.  If you didn’t know better you could be forgiven for thinking that Christians worship Popes.

Squeezed past vendors selling stuff like Chapel ceiling jigsaw puzzles and books about Popes, then into a narrow corridor, the heat/humidity and general crowd impatience rising, down some stairs, around a corner thru a door and there it was - open and airy, much cooler, people everywhere gawping skywards, heads cranked back at awkward angles, (chiros must love this place!) pointing, chatting, stealing sneaky photos and every few minutes one of the security guys yells out “silence please, no pictures!” and everyone hushes and stuffs their phone cameras back in their pockets, and then it starts to build again, the official tour guides leading the way.  Then the guard makes his pronouncement again and we repeat the sequence.  Sort of funny actually.

The Conns looked hard and long at all that famous work and came up with some typically low brow, uneducated conclusions:  

Michelangelo used light and colour in a way we like a lot more than most other Renaissance painters, especially the blues and yellow/oranges.

Michelangelo was a great sculptor (see The Pieta below), painting for him was 2nd.  It seems that so many of his human forms come from 1 muscley prototype - even the women - they’re just a muscley guy with devil’s dumplings daubed on the front.

Some say his best work was the Last Judgement on the wall of the Chapel, we don’t.

And the subject of it all????  Genesis on the ceiling?  Yes, but we would have to pay a guide to make it mean something more for us.  A grand depiction of a favourite fable and much ado about it too.  May the gods of art strike us down…….we ignorant plebs!

Moving on from the Capella back into the hallways of Popey art and memorabilia we skirted past/thru a few other galleries, dragging the kids along, re-fueling with a coffee and a lemonade.  The kids were close to the end of their seemingly shortening tethers for this adult arty stuff and knowing that we had St Peter’s to see yet, we couldn’t come at dragging them to the Raffael rooms, which was a shame as we are sure they might have enjoyed some of his work.  Later Kel told us she’ll return here on her honeymoon because there is so much to see and do including seeing Raffael’s work!  So we resigned and took them down the beautiful modern spiral walkway that’s lined with a most enjoyable display of model boats of antiquity from all around the world - dugouts from the Sepik to fat junks from China.  Very tastefully presented indeed. An information board said it shows the Catholic interest in indigenous peoples and art from around the world. 

Into the round square of St Peter’s we found the sun blazing hot and the queue about 300m long, 4-5 across.  So we plonked ourselves in the shade and had lunch, watching humanity pass us by in all shapes, sizes, colours and get-ups.  A large group of Mother Teresa’s nuns joined the end of the line.  Presumably they could have got a back door entry and skipped the queue, but they preferred to wait with the punters. Once again, Kel got all gooey.  She just wants to hug them.

Into the line and again it moved quickly, the log jam being the security check.  Again the carving knife sailed by under the nose of the ever vigilant screen watchers and we entered the Basilica, dragging our jaws up off the ground with the initial impact/assault of the sheer decadence and grandeur of it all. 

The sheer size of every sculpture is so large it makes appreciating them unpleasant because of the need to crook one’s neck….and you’re not allowed to sit down anywhere. Again, those not in the know might think it was a temple for worshipping Popes with grand gargantuan sculptures, paintings and sarcophagi to these men who pood, peed, and belched like the rest of humanity. Some of them even lied, stole, and murdered - allegedly.

Many of them paid for (with the poor punters money) and commissioned the greatest artists (Mich and co) to commence building their own grand tombs while they were still alive.  Blurk.  The floors, the walls, the ceilings and the dome, and the groovy ovoid ceiling apertures that lead up to round skylights - all the great work of Michelangelo in his architect hat, all splendidly proportioned and maintained.  

Basilica Dome

oval skylights

But then the “Pieta,” the magnificent sculpture Michelangelo produced in only 2 years as a 23 year old, surely he was the Mozart of sculpture.  The subject (Mary and Jesus) must be one of the most heart wrenching known to humanity - a mother holding her dead son.  Wil chose to write a Feldman analysis of it and discovered so much for himself from it.  As he stood taking it in he was nudged and pushed by impatient fellow gawkers, and one guy even used Wil’s head to balance his camera on!  You can’t get close enough to really appreciate it’s awesome beauty but later we found in a bookshop a collection of large close up photos taken from all angles and then you could appreciate an even greater level of perfection.  It was hard to drag ourselves away.  But we did and we joined the queue to touch St Peter’s stone foot, which over the centuries has been polished to a paddle.

The Pieta

Outside into the beautiful afternoon, a look at the dashingly attired Swiss Guard, 

around to “The Old Bridge” where we lined up again in the sun out onto the street for a best value gelati, which having had 2 now we all agreed is not the best in taste - Peché No in Florence still holds the title there.   But it is good and so much great conversation/re-hashing seems to happen as we lick ‘em up and share “taste for taste?”

Back onto the shuttle for home, the kids and Jeff to the pool and showers while Jen prepares a light dinner, over which the chatter continues about Popes (Wil is intrigued by JP2 having read about him in a bookstore) and Michelangelo and gelati. Wil tells of feeling proud to be baptized a Catholic when learning about some of the later Popes and admits to saying a prayer for Steve Swatman at JP2’s feet asking that he rid him of his leukemia completely.  Cautiously, we discuss ferries and flights from Alicante to London pending Ed’s sale and getting home to everyone.   

21/10  LAST BITS IN ROME - DAY 6

Knowing it was Sunday and the traffic to our running park would be easier, we scraped our heads from the pillows, scorched 20 minutes back to beautiful Villa Doria Pamphilj where we locked up the bikes and set off on our 40 minute run across parks, manicured gardens, wonderful enormous overgrown stone portas and bits of gigantic thick stone city walls (some topped with sections of ancient aqueduct channels ) and down the tree lined boulevard to Garibaldi’s look out at Rome’s highest hill, Gionocolo.  There we paused for a sweaty kiss & cuddle and a spot-the-amphitheatre-and-other-sites gawk over the layers of Roma, watched by 20 odd white marble busts of the Garibaldinios and then turned for home. 

Having more time over breakfast & coffee, we had two.  The kids went to the shops to get bread and milk and came home with a bag of 6 croissants as well having carefully worked the money & budget (shame about the crappy bread but 10/10 for initiative).

With a smaller sight-seeing agenda, the Blue Hat Family ( quite handy for spotting each other is the crowds; no-one here wears hats no matter the burning sun and if they do, they are very stylish not luminous like ours!) took the 1100 shuttle and then metro to the white grand Spanish Steps, paid for by the French, that sweep in beautiful curves up to a French church high on the hill - don’t quite get the Spanish bit but then Wil pointed out that they connect the church to the Piazza Spagna. 

Spanish Steps

At the bottom is a pleasingly proportioned fountain by Bernini of a boat and the usual funny water spurting Baroque gargoyley creatures.  After sitting up top for a bit and taking in the arithmetics of aesthetic design, we then wandered down Rome’s fancy street, Via Condotti and giggled at the madly priced mad fashion (season’s new stuff is a smallish Hitler looking hat with a skinny trench coat, ankle twistingly high skinny heels and rubber leg warmers to the knees - all in black or kakhi; really they are all so yesterday because the fashioned next season is crumpled beige shorts with tuna stains on one leg only and bilateral brown axillary sweat stains on ill fitting shirts).  We detoured via a trashy overpriced tatty Ferrari store, to a much anticipated but closed English bookshop (searching for a nice wee book about Jesus for Kel amongst other things - seems odd we can’t get this in Rome, only stuff about Popes & the Vatican).

So next was the Trevi (tre & vi - 3 roads that converge here) fountain built in the early 1700’s and supplied by water from one of the city’s early aqueducts.  Whilst the theme has been done a million times of near-naked muscley Neptune wrestling with the sea (horses) it is every bit as beautiful Mom as you described it even with the monstrous human crush and pedestrian police whistling and gesticulating loudly at everyone to curb unacceptable behaviours - like sitting on the edge.  We got the kids to do the kitsch thing and throw that coin for you and chuckled at the zillions of other posing adults doing the same thing. They reckon some €3000/d is retrieved!

Though we were keen to see the Ara Pacis Augustus column from 13 BC, only recently uncovered beneath 4 m of dirt, we were tiring of the crowds, noise, heat and expense (now housed in a pavillion that would cost us some €28 to see) and voted instead to pull up a tiny piece of lawn for a tuna sandwich before seeing the magnificent Pantheon once again.

Even though we’d thought of skipping a gelati today, the kids were smashing once again and we both know we would regret not eating as much Italian gelati as possible before leaving Europe….so we stopped by the Old Bridge once again and feasted on the flavours.

Being home before dark, the kids played shop games, and we all mooched about before showers and then tucked in with books.

22/10 HOME DAY 

Started with 10BX in the carpark along with 2 googleplex mozzies and flies!!

Then it was about 3 industrial loads of washing - bedding, undersheets etc, PJs, towels and stinky exercise gear.  We’ll probably only need to do this one more time. All was going fine with washing in and BREKKIE!! 

Before busting into the day’s jobs we had #28 Italian lesson (of 30) and still feel we’ve no idea how to string a sentence together!

But, then there was a power outage and all the washing was suspended before the spin cycle.  So 2 hours later, with it all wrung out, we strung a million lines about the place and were blessed with a sunny breezy day to do the rest. 

A late morning tea allowed us to string the kids out before lunch because the next large job was shopping over the road and lugging it all over the highway, up the hill and to Ed.  Once again, good luck struck and a campground maintenance man caught us at the bottom of the driveway, piled us into his golf buggy and escorted us to Ed.  Phew!

SOOO, next was internet business, e-mails, topping up phone credit (!!?! - sometimes find we’re running out of energy; all the simple things are THAT are much harder & take so much longer), doing itinerary research…..whilst the kids did their writing work (Wil writing a review about “The Old Man & the Sea”, and song set to the tune of BlackAdder about Rome, and Kel writing as a Roman princess in Imperial times).

We broke it up with a fantastic ravioli late lunch with HUGE cold milks.

Then back to work. We buzzed about cleaning Ed, re-making the beds, turning the washing to dry optimally and vacuuming whilst the kids played shop & swam.

By 1900 our day was done - time for relaxing and telling yarns. 

23/10 STILL IN ROMA

We were all up and organised early, skipping exercise & planning getting to Maurizio on the other side of town by 1000 for him to replace the control panel for the solar power.

All was going well until we learned that the mail from London containing our renewed registration, that was posted 7 days ago, had STILL not arrived. 

So, first hurdle, Maurizio did the job perfectly charging only €100 with a decent amount of labour. A phone to the campground - still no mail - so, plan B.  We drove out to the beautiful ancient Roman aqueduct coming in from the SE and stretching elegantly for miles.  Water was obviously a real priority to their sophisticated civilisation with the town sitting on a major river, the Tiber, an extensive aqueduct from the mountains somewhere as well as a separate dug out irrigation channel kms long for farming land. 

We lunched alongside the park with it’s magnificent ruins like lost giants, and made phone calls about ferries and flights thus firming up our discharge of ole Ed.  Still no mail.  With time to kill before calling the campground back to see if the post lady has come, we took the kids up to Garibaldi’s lookout with it’s wonderful view over Rome, so full of HUGE buildings that one can’t elucidate the Colosseum amongst it all.

Garibaldi again

We opted to try another campground given the extreme noise of the other only to drive through the guts of the city like & with the locals to find it doesn’t exist any more.  Jeff now doesn’t even flinch as scooters screech full bore toward him weaving around large trucks on the wrong side of the road and then pull back in just in time, nicking the bumper bar of the cars/trucks/buses in front of them.  Wild.  We ended up cruising the Appian Antica, a Roman road built in 312BC flanked by porta to catacombs, Rome’s underground of graves and the odd eroded artistic column sitting like placed street art.  So with only 6 kms on TomTom, we took another 1 hour to get back to the campground we left  early this morning - groundhog day.  Wiser, we parked on the lowest terrace to limit the party noise a fraction and had nanna naps as the kids played shops again outside for a few hours.

After a simple bean soup & bread, we watched a DVD on Pompeii, the Roman Beverley Hills buried & thus frozen by Mt Vesuvius’s surprise eruption in 79 AD, that we hope to visit tomorrow - all going well - pending post. 

24/10 WAITING FOR MAIL

Not all is bad having to hang in Rome another day or so.  OK, the night was bearable but was soo exhausted that simply putting in the ear plugs was enough for us olds.  The kids were as usual fine.  We whizzed past the confused campground attendant who checked us out yesterday on our bikes as he was opening up at 0700 and sang out ,“we’re back again - didn’t get enough!”

We rode our frightful and reasonably demanding path to Ville Doria sucking in the fumes, dashing about with the best of them, locked up and took off on our magnificent run to Rome’s balcony in the clouds. 

So, with hang time, we re-opened maths, did our second last Italian lesson, research (Kel looked up some cool history about Jesus and Wil, more on the Roman empire and info about Ernest Hemingway) and then some writing punctuated by swims, shop play, morning tea, a huge salad lunch and business about ferries & flights to get us home.

With a glass of soft Chianti red, we had fruit for dinner and then watched a DVD about Herculaneum before bed.  Plans are to leave tomorrow for Pompeii after the postman has been. Time is running out!?

25/10 TO THE SOUTH OF ITALY to see for ourselves.