Italy Top 10s

 Posted by  Italy, Travel
May 072013
 

Approximately one month after we returned, I asked Barb and Mike to list the Top 10 things they enjoyed about Italy. I didn’t define “things”; they could be anything from days to sites to experiences to ideas. Anything goes.

Mike added a Bottom 10 to the assignment.

While we usually did our Words together and had a rule against repeats, these lists were generated independently, and I find the repetitions interesting but not really surprising.

Top 10 Things About Italy

Barb

Mike

Jen
Venice City views from above Grand scale of things: miles of terraces, giant duomos, and wall-to-wall-to-ceiling frescoes
Venice at night

All three of us name Venice in our Top 10. No other city is singled out on any of the lists.
Climbing Brunelleschi’s Dome Walking through walled hill towns Complex and colorful patterns
Cycle-of-life capital on the Doge’s Palace Hiking the Amalfi coast Rolling countryside punctuated with hilltowns
Jen and Mike on the Path of Gods hiking trail.

Mike specifically mentions hiking along the Amalfi Coast in his Top 10, while Barb and I mention the terraced cliffs.
Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi, and the monastery at Subiaco Cathedral at Assisi Venice
Art and architectural details everywhere Early-morning, pre-crowd walks Discovering old beneath the new and seeing how they fit together
Ancient ruins and pavements Driving the back roads of Tuscany and Umbria Colorful rocks
Early morning and nighttime sightseeing in Venice and Rome Parking at and the view from Piazzale Michelangelo The long history
Mediterranean views and terraced cliffs Art and architectural details Towers and the views they afford
The view of the campanile and Firenze from the top of Brunelleschi's Dome.

Both Barb and Mike mention climbing Brunelleschi’s Dome, and I list towers and the views they afford. Yep, Il Duomo was a highlight.
Driving adventures, including the cinghiale drive and the dirty road, the “hole” episode and Cinque Terre washouts, and the Gubbio mountain road. (Not so much our arrival in Vietri sul Mare.) Venice Plaster people at Pompeii
Walking the battlements of Castiglione del Lago Seeing and climbing Il Duomo Monk-bone art
A carved church pillar.

Art and architectural details, including complex and colorful patterns, made all three lists, too.

Bottom 10 Things About Italy
“No photos” Inconsiderate drivers A dearth of milk chocolate
Random closures Inconsistent photography restrictions in churches and cathedrals No large size or bulk foods at the grocery store
Italian posturing Pay toilets Eensy-weensy, poorly-functioning showers
Italian driving Pushy, annoying, intrusive hawkers City trash
Plastic bottle and Styrofoam caught in tumbling waves of the Tiber River.

Trash in the Tiber River in Rome. So much trash! High water over the winter has left river trash hung up on bordering trees. It’s sad and ugly. I think interested beggars, homeless people, and obnoxious hawkers should be paid to pick up trash.
Italians Crowds Odd hours, including too-late dinner and lunchtime closures
People Odd, inconsistent opening hours Crowds
Crowds High cost of gas and tolls Inconsiderate, dangerous, and generally awful drivers
A crowd of people at the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Crowds, like this one here at the Spanish Steps in Rome, made the Bottom 10 for all three of us.
School groups Repetitive religious motifs Pushy peddlers
Inefficiency, red tape, hoop-jumping Wacky religious excess (Viewed another way, this could be a Top 10.) Secondhand smoke
Entrance fees to churches and other public sites (and toilets) The trip was too short Religion

Italy, In Hindsight

 Posted by  Italy, Travel
May 042013
 

Hindsight

Daily Wrap-Up

One Word
  • Barb: Revisiting
  • Mike: Antiquity
  • Jen: Stonework
Two Words
  • Barb: Artful history
  • Mike: Hill towns
  • Jen: Thought fodder
Three or Four Words
  • Barb: Ah,…(argh!), Italy
  • Mike: Churches and cathedrals
  • Jen: Tip-top travel team
One Sentence
  • Barb: That can’t be the road…
  • Mike: As something I’m not familiar with firsthand, I really enjoyed the “oldness” and history of human civilization in Italy.
  • Jen: Where to next?

A rose window from a cathedral
I asked Barb and Mike to do one more round of Words: hindsight words, looking back on the month. We’re also doing another Top 10, but that’s not finished yet. If there was any resistance to my silly games, I didn’t detect it. (See? I told you this was fun.)

Name That Saint

Now, here’s a silly hindsight (hint!) game for you faithful readers. You know how I had fun learning some of the stories of saints and playing Where’s Waldo with them, looking for the identifying markers that were used over and over: John the Baptist’s bear suit and pointing finger, St. Sebastian’s arrows, St. Rocco’s pants down, St. Lawrence roasting.

Well, here is another of the saints I got to know and have mentioned here on the blog. I only recently discovered we have a picture of her. Your challenge is to see if you can recall who she is.

This is the Big Picture. I believe it was in Santa Maria Novella in Florence. I would not be able to identify her from this image at this size, but…

A woman with a dagger in her neck holding a feather and a plate with a man praying to her or something below.

The complete painting. Who is this saint?

…if we zoom in, the identifying feature I know and have shared with you becomes clear.

I’ll give you a chance to Name That Saint using just the image. I’ll be very impressed if anyone can do it. Below the image, I’ll give some hints. I’ll still be impressed if you can guess at that point. Below that, I’ll disguise the answer. See if it rings a bell.

Close up of the previous image showing her neck and hands.

The identifying marker that I need is here.

Anyone?

Hints

1. I didn’t know why she had a dagger (sword, call it what you will) in her neck until I looked up the story, so that isn’t what I use to identify her.
2. I have no idea what the feather is for, either. Is that a feather?
3. A Beatles song plays in my head when I think of her.

Anyone?

The answer is in white type between the asterisks below. Highlight it as though you were going to copy it, and see if you remember her.

************
Saint Lucy or Santa Lucia, “Lucy in the sky-y with eyeballs…”
************

Anyone?

Representations of Life

I’ve been thinking about how these characters are represented the same way by different artists. It reminds me of a how-to-draw book I once read that points out how we tend to all draw trees the same, inaccurate way. I don’t even need to describe this inaccurate tree because I’m sure the image is already in your head. Since the ability to draw a tree accurately is not universal, we’ve come up with a representation of a tree that gets the point across, and we stick with it.

I’ve been wondering how this habit of using common representations extends to other aspects of life, and embroidery in particular, since that’s one of my creative outlets. Samplers come to mind immediately. They sort of represent the whole of embroidery. I confess I get as tired of samplers as I do of Madonna and Child paintings. This is what motivated Mike to design The Great Outdoors and The Toy Shelf: In his mind, they’re non-traditional samplers; although, I think sampler collectors might argue with that designation.

Two Funk & Weber Designs embroidery patterns.

The Great Outdoors and The Toy Shelf. Mike’s non-traditional sampler designs. Samplers are all about letters and numbers, right? Well, that and practicing stitching.

What are some other ways that we repeat representations of things in embroidery? I want to really think about this and identify as many ways as possible so that I can look at these representations more closely and perhaps differently. (See the connections—hindsight, eyeballs, looking at things in different ways? I love connections.)

What are some other aspects of life for which we have oft-repeated representations?

Amsterdam and Home

 Posted by  Italy, Travel
Apr 302013
 

Day 32 – Amsterdam

Daily Wrap-Up

One Word
  • Mike: Detour
  • Jen: Grounded
Two Words
  • Mike: Arrivaderci, Italia!
  • Jen: Belgian ponies
Three or Four Words
  • Mike: Sneaking into The Netherlands
  • Jen: Mr. Pushy ShortsInaBunch
One Sentence
  • Mike: The fanciest digs of our entire trip come courtesy of KLM and a canceled flight.
  • Jen: Sure, I’ll spend an extra day in Europe.

There is nothing left to do but get to the airport and on our planes. On the flight here, we met Barb in Minneapolis and flew the rest of the way together, but this time she’s on her own the whole way. Her flight left two hours before ours, so we went with her as far as the security checkpoint and said goodbye.

And then we waited. Air travel isn’t as fun as it used to be, what with the security hassles, class segregation, and sardine seating, but I still rather like how I’m essentially forced to do nothing thanks to a lack of connectivity and being prone to motion sickness.

The first leg of our journey took us to Amsterdam. When we arrived and checked the board to see where to proceed for the next leg, we found that our flight to Minneapolis was canceled. We were told to see the nearest KLM customer service kiosk.

You can imagine the kerfuffle: the confusion, the anxious and angry passengers, the long lines, the unanswered questions, the harried and abused service reps. The explanation for the cancellation was that there was a mechanical concern. Far be it from me to argue with that: Safety first. Lucky for us, our schedules didn’t demand we be home at any particular time. We were re-routed onto a flight from Amsterdam all the way to Seattle the following day, and then from Seattle home to Anchorage. We had checked our bigger bags this time, and KLM would keep them overnight and (in theory) get them on the correct plane tomorrow.

Thankfully, airlines still accommodate passengers when flights are canceled. We got dop kits and dining vouchers from the airline and were sent to the shuttle area for the Van der Valk Hotel Schiphol.

The Van der Valk Hotel Schiphol.

The Van der Valk Hotel Schiphol.

The hotel wasn’t especially near the airport, nor was it near the actual city of Amsterdam. It was, in fact, in the middle of a giant farm field. To get into Amsterdam for a walkabout and look-see, we’d have to take the shuttle back to the airport and take a train to the city. It was already late in the afternoon, and we decided to not make that effort.

But old habits are hard to break. We couldn’t just sit there. So we did what we’ve been doing for the past month: We walked…out the back door and straight ahead.

A straight walkway and flat, open farm pastures.

Uh, welcome to Amsterdam. Sort of. Geez, it’s flat.

Here we are in the middle of nowhere. And how comfortable it feels, well, except for the brutally cold wind. Belgian ponies greeted us down the way, but the sheep ignored us and hoped we’d go away.

Jen petting short, black ponies.

Short, round ponies say hello and ask if we have treats. When we admit we do not have treats, they decide they have more interesting places to be.

We saw the canals that make Belgium’s wetlands and swamps liveable. Did you know that Amsterdam was built like Venice, with buildings on wooden piles? I didn’t.

One tiny part of the extensive Belgian canal system.

One tiny part of the extensive Belgian canal system.

And we laughed at street signs that sound funny to our American ears. Say these words in different tones: as if you’re scolding a toddler, cheering for a sports team, horrified, etc. It’s great fun! (What do you mean I need to get out more?)

Belgian street sign

Let op drempels, ya’ll, let op drempels.

Dinner and breakfast were extensive buffets in the hotel dining room that looked every bit like American buffets, particularly in the quantity of food that was available, i.e., too much.

Plate full 'o food

Does that look like buffet fare or what? Fried calamari ring anyone?

Getting back to the airport and onto our plane was slow but easy. Security personnel in Amsterdam interview all the passengers getting on a flight. I wonder how many languages those six or eight security folks speak between them. I counted four within earshot.

We had wonderful views of mountains, fjords, glaciers, ice, and ocean as we flew over Greenland.

Flying over Greenland: mountains, glacier, fjord.

Flying over Greenland: mountains, glacier, fjord.

Ice in the ocean after flying over Greenland.

Bye, Greenland.

Catching our connection in Seattle, however, was a bit of a scramble. Oy. First, there was customs, and we truthfully declared the carrot sticks and cheese we’d brought along for the flight and hadn’t eaten. We coulda shoulda thrown out the carrots, but there was a good bit of cheese, and we were allowed to keep it; we just had to go through the rigamarole.

Then there is Mike’s name which he apparently shares with someone on some watch or most-wanted list. On the Galapagos trip, he was removed from the family and taken into a back room. I wondered if we’d ever see him again. Seattle let him off with just a phone call, some whispering amongst the customs peeps, and a good hard look.

And then there was picking up our checked bags and getting them to the luggage handlers on the other side of customs. KLM didn’t change our bag tags, and the clueless, uncreative, and unmotivated luggage handler was hopelessly stumped and unable to contrive a solution in spite of the fact that we had boarding passes and could tell him what flight the bags needed to be on. Fine. We’d handle it ourselves. At this point we had about twenty minutes to get to the gate; the guy probably wouldn’t have gotten the bags to the plane in that time anyway.

Our bags are carry-on size (hooray!), so we’d just take them with us. I had to collect liquids and gels and divide them between two quart Ziploc bags to get through security, and then we had to do the awkward, time-consuming security dance: empty pockets; remove jackets, belts, shoes, laptop, Kindle, liquids and gels—that is, unpack—step through the magic gateway and repack.

We weren’t the very last people to board. But there would be no room for our bags in the bins; we knew that. We tucked in the handy-dandy backpack straps and handed the bags to the gate-check guys.

We were rewarded with seats in the pay-more-for-extra-room section. Suh-weet! It was a pleasant flight home.

In Anchorage, we caught the shuttle to the parking area; we didn’t have to shovel our car out of a mountain of snow; the battery was not frozen or dead; and the roads were clear.

The Chugach Mountains

Home sweet home.

How’s that for way-yonder more than you wanted to know about our boring flight day? Can’t. Stop. Blogging.

Roma: Bonus Day 2

 Posted by  Italy, Travel
Apr 282013
 

Day 31 – Roma

Daily Wrap-Up

One Word
  • Barb: WALK!
  • Mike: Old
  • Jen: Fountainous
Two Words
  • Barb: Via Gregoriana
  • Mike: Carved columns
  • Jen: Door mouth
Three or Four Words
  • Barb: Ancient Roman stories
  • Mike: Mystery of the knives
  • Jen: Et tu, Kitt-eh?
One Sentence
  • Barb: A sunny midday on the Pincio Hill, I enjoyed revisiting some old favorites.
  • Mike: What haven’t we seen yet?
  • Jen: Peanut butter gelato helps me set my sights on home: I’m looking forward to my giant tub of Kirkland natural pb.

Our last day in Italy. Today’s plan was similar to yesterday’s. We indulged in the following treats from the all-you-can-see sightseeing smorgasbord:

  • Area Sacra di Largo Argentina, the first stop turned out to be my favorite of the day.

In the 1920s, when this area was cleared for two luxury complexes, ruins of four temples were discovered. The 1920s. That wasn’t that long ago. When do you suppose a new discovery might be made? The idea that discoveries can still be made excites me.

These temple ruins are among the oldest in Rome, dating from the early 3rd century BC. All that was visible of these ruins in the 1920s were a few columns in the courtyard beside the medieval San Nicola di Cesarini church, which was built over one of the older temples.

Columns and floors from ancient temples.

These are the ruins in the Area Sacra di Largo Argentina. The temple in the foreground is Temple A. Temple C is the oldest. A is from the 3rd century BC, but this is the one that was incorporated into the medieval church of San Nicola di Cesarini. Some of the remains are from the medieval church and some are from the earlier temple, and I can’t distinguish the two.

Archaeologists have a good idea of what this area looked like in its heyday based on writings, paintings, and drawings of the time. This map gives us some idea, too. Note the four temples—A, B, C, and D—on the map.

A blueprint of Area Sacra di Largo Argentina

A blueprint of how the original area was laid out back in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.

Now take a look at the bigger picture. The area that’s been excavated is in the red circle. All the rest remains under the roads and buildings of modern Rome.

Blueprint showing the ruins in the context of the larger ancient site in the context of modern Rome.

Temples A, B, C, and D in the context of the wider ancient site in the context of modern Rome. The ruins we’re seeing are in the red circle. The black blueprint lines are what the area looked like in ancient times. The tan shapes and white spaces are current buildings and roads.

This alone is great: It’s another view of ancient ruins beneath medieval ruins beneath the modern city. It helps hammer home how ancient ruins can become lost. But the story of this site gets better.

Behind temples B and C are the remains of a great platform of tufa blocks. These are part of the Curia of Pompey, the building where the Senate met and where Julius Caesar was killed by Brutus, Cassius, et. al. on March 15, 44 BC. Et tu, Brute?

Where the Curia of Pompey used to be, behind the ruins of Temples B and C at Area Sacra di Largo Argentina

These are temples B and C. Temple B is the circular one in the center of the image, and the corner of C is on the right. I’m not sure if this is in front of the temples or behind them, and I’d like to know, but I’m content to just be this close.

Super cool, right? No wonder this was my favorite part of the day. But wait! There’s more. (No, not knives that cut through aluminum cans.)

These ruins are part of the Largo Argentina Cat Sanctuary, a no-kill shelter for homeless cats. The shelter spays and neuters cats so they aren’t breeding, and they provide food and healthcare. There are many such sanctuaries in Rome, and as we’ve seen at other ruins, feral and stray animals (Hi, Pucio!) find these areas useful. Most of the residents are cats with special needs that no one wants to adopt: They are blind, missing legs, or come from abusive homes and so are wary and distrustful of humans.

And that, to me, is the icing on the cake for this fascinating site, and this explains my three/four word summary for the day.

Two black cats in the ruins at Area Sacra di Largo Argentina

Residents of the Largo Argentina Cat Sanctuary. Do you know that black cats are the least likely to be a adopted?

  • Pantheon, which wasn’t open today. In the empty early-morning streets, we finally found the Gelateria della Palma.
  • Palazzo Chigi, the Prime Minister’s palace.
  • Piazza Colonna, with the Column of Marcus Aurelius, inspired by and modeled after Trajan’s Column. Three meters of the base have been underground since a 1589 restoration. Ground level was then three meters higher than when the monument was installed. Also, while the statue on top was originally most likely Marcus Aurelius, the statue now is of the Apostle Paul. Umm…huh? What’s up with that, Italy?
Carved column honoring Marcus Aurelius

The column of Marcus Aurelius was modeled after Trajan’s column and is a spiral relief of images depicting his war life. And look, we’re the only people in the square!

Detail of the spiral relief on the Column of Marcus Aurelius.

Detail of the spiral relief on the Column of Marcus Aurelius.

  • Trevi Fountain, here is where others began arriving on the streets, and crowds took over. It was as if someone just opened the doors to Rome and people streamed through.

The first time we saw Trevi Fountain, the smoking crowd prevented me from getting very close or even lingering to look from a distance. Today, we briefly had the place to ourselves, and I was able to look closely and notice details. What a difference that makes. Now I love this fountain.

This site originally marked the end of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct, built by Agrippa in 19 BC to bring water to Rome’s new baths. The fountain wasn’t built until much later, though, finished in 1762.

Trevi Fountain.

Trevi Fountain, designed by Nicola Salvi, features Neptune and two Tritons, one trying to calm an unruly seahorse, the other leading a quieter seahorse. The two horses represent the two contrasting moods of the sea.

  • San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, This is a teeny-tiny church cleverly designed by Francesco Borromini to fit in small space on a street corner, but it was closed. The four fountains on the street corners looked very dirty and neglected.
  • Via Gregoriana, the door mouth.

My second-favorite thing of the day. If it’s in my guide book, I can’t find it. Barb discovered it on a previous visit—I think it was an unexpected surprise then—and she didn’t set us up for it, but just sprang it on us.

Via Gregoriana. Barb and Jen are walking across the street like the Beatles on Abbey Road.

Via Gregoriana. There’s something down this road, but Barb’s not telling what it is.
Sure. We won’t pretend to hold up or push over the Leaning Tower of Pisa while gazillions of other people are doing it, but we’ll do this when no one’s looking.
Huh. I wonder what’s down here.

Palazzo Zuccari

The Palazzo Zuccari. Or the door mouth. Surprise!

This is the Palazzo Zuccari. It was built by the painter Frederico Zuccari in 1590 and was the house and/or studio for him and his artist brother, Taddeo. Hmmm, what might we do with our doors at home?

  • Spanish Steps, from the top. There’s a lovely view from the avenue at the top of the steps, and we lingered here, locating familiar sights, admiring rooftop gardens, and taking pictures. These steps are called the “Spanish” steps because the Spanish Embassy to the Vatican was nearby, but the steps were actually funded by the French. How do you suppose the French feel about the name?
  • Villa Medici
  • Borghesi Gardens, I liked these.
  • Spanish Steps, walked down them.
  • Piazza del Popolo
Toeless dog socks on a statue.

You’ve worn, seen, or at least heard of fingerless gloves. Well, these are ancient toeless boots decorated with doggies for the tunic-wearing, well-heeled, manly men of Rome. This is from a statue in the Piazza del Popolo.

  • Santa Maria del Popolo

We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the Piazza del Popolo listening to a cello player.

  • Mausoleo Augusto
  • Gelateria della Palma, at last! Our three cones, see if you can determine who had what: 1-Mars Bar, caramel, millifoglie; 2-black forest, chocolate raspberry, chocolate-chocolate; 3-peanut butter, caramel.
  • Bernini’s elephant
  • Trajan’s column
  • Campidoglio—Roman and Imperial Fora—Colosseum
  • Santa Maria in Cosmedin
Madonna and Child painting.

In addition to being yet another Madonna and Child, I find the baby with a man’s head disturbing. I’m told that people of the time didn’t want to portray Jesus as an actual infant. They felt that was somehow wrong.

  • Santa Maria in Trastevere

It was a wonderful last day and month in Italy.

Roma: Bonus Day 1

 Posted by  Italy, Travel
Apr 272013
 

Day 30 – Roma

Daily Wrap-Up

One Word
  • Barb: Atmospheric
  • Mike: Tiber
  • Jen: Afoot
Two Words
  • Barb: Nighttime Roma
  • Mike: Obnoxious vendors
  • Jen: Keyhole view
  • Bonus: Crap map (Every visitor has one. They’re free, they’re terrible—ads cover important info—but, in the end, they are good enough.)
Three or Four Words
  • Barb: Liked the sacred music
  • Mike: Rome: day and night
  • Jen: Ancient receding-gum roads
One Sentence
  • Barb: Easter at St. Peter’s was much less of a madhouse than I was expecting.
  • Mike: Easter at the Vatican comes complete with trinket hawkers, hotdog and pizza vendors, and plenty of gawkers (guilty).
  • Jen: Rome without all the trash, homeless people, beggars, and pushy peddlers would be better.

Oy. I did not sleep much last night. This place is noisy. There were city noises—all those locals and visitors enjoying Trastevere’s pubs and restaurants; there were neighbor noises—the upstairs neighbors had friends over for a loud time; there were building and apartment noises—I can get used to loud regular sounds, but our heater has a surprising array of different and irregular noises, and who was banging on the wall with a broom handle right by my head? Oh, that’s not what it was? Well, that’s what it sounded like.

And I was cold. The noisy heater and blankets never solved that problem, so I got up and put on some warm layers. Ahhhh, that helped.

Nonetheless, we were up at 6:00 a.m. to enjoy Easter morning in Rome before the masses (pun intended). Well rested or not, this is my favorite time to be out and about.

As on previous days in Rome, our plan was simply to walk hither and yon and see as much of the city and as many sights as we could. Today, our selections from the sightseeing smorgasbord included the following, in this particular order:

  • Trastevere, because we’re staying here, because it’s near the Ancient Center.
  • Ponte Sublicio, “ponte” means “bridge.”
  • Knights of Malta and the Keyhole View, I’m still confused about what, exactly, the Knights of Malta is or are. It’s a group of people. It’s a religious order. It’s a sovereign state. Right? Wrong? Feel free to educate me.

We heard about the Keyhole View from Barb’s friend, Kelly. It wasn’t in our guide books, and we were relying on remembered directions and luck to find it. It was touch and go for a while, but sure enough, we happened upon it.

Green doors that are very worn around the keyhole.

The doors with the keyhole through which there is a view. I guess we’re not the first people to peek through this keyhole, eh?

Mike taking a picture through the keyhole. Barb awaiting her turn.

Any guesses as to what we’ll see?

The tree-lined path on the other side of the door. The light at the end of the tunnel obscures the view of what lies beyond.

On the other side of the door is a walkway through a tree-lined tunnel. And what’s beyond that?

St. Peter's dome through an arch of greenery

The view is of the dome of St. Peter’s Cathedral. Fun! The path leads to a courtyard next to a church.

Don’t you wonder who first noticed this view and how that discovery was then developed into this?

  • Circo Massimo, Circus Maximus, where chariot races were held.
  • Boca della Verita, the Mouth of Truth at Santa Maria in Cosmedin (as seen in Roman Holiday).
  • Ponte Palatino—Isola Tiberina—Ponte Fabricio—Tiber River. The Ponte Fabricio is the oldest Roman bridge, built in 62 BC, still in its original state. Yes, we walked across it, and it didn’t collapse. That’s some quality construction, folks.
  • Campo de Fiori, Field of Flowers, where we would have had lunch or dinner if the recommended restaurant had been open, but, of course, it wasn’t. Historically, this was a rough place. Caravaggio killed the opponent who beat him at a game of tennis here; the goldsmith Cellini murdered a business rival here; and philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600 because he suggested the earth moved around the sun. (Oops, their bad.)
  • Piazza Navona, surrounded by palaces and cafes, filled with artists hawking their wares, and decorated with three large fountains, including Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fioumi (Four Rivers), considered one of his finest works.
Two of the four river statues from Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi.

Bernini’s Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. I have to say, I was comparing these figures to Michelangelo’s David and wondering if they were somehow inferior. To my eye, they were not. I thought they were extraordinarily good. The muscle definition, the poses, the fine details were all realistic and lovely. And the scope of the project was even grander than David.

  • Ponte St. Angelo to St. Peter’s Square, for a bit of Easter mass on the Square.

The approach to St. Peter’s Square was littered with hotdog, pizza, and gelato vendors; souvenir carts filled with cheesy stuff, including the requisite Superman and Sponge Bob t-shirts (the perfect reminder of your trip to Italy); beggars; street performers (in case mass isn’t entertaining enough); and gawkers. Audio was piped out to the crowd, and the music was particularly nice at that volume, filling the wide, outdoor space. We expected a much bigger crowd than we found, but it was still more than we wanted to contend with for long. Smoke, smoke, smoke everywhere is, as you know, my big complaint; although, I am well medicated this time to minimize the effects, and it’s helping.

Souvenirs, hot dogs, ice cream, and mass all in the same picture.

Easter in Rome: Souvenirs, hot dogs, and ice cream on the left, mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral on the right.

The choir and people near the front of the cathedral.

Easter mass in St. Peter’s Square.

  • Piazzale e Passeggiata del Gianicolo, a park on Gianicolo Hill with views out over the city and monuments to Giuseppe Garibaldi and his wife, Anita. Every day, a shot fired from a canon here marks 12:00 noon, precisely. I admit I’m skeptical about the precision—not Italy’s strong suit—but we did, indeed, hear it today at what might have been the precise time.

Home for lunch, a long nap, and dinner. And then a wonderful nighttime stroll.

  • Ponte Garibaldi
  • Teatro Marcello, an unexpected discovery for all of us. This is an ancient ruin in the middle of modern Rome. I think it’s being actively excavated now. Seeing how the old was incorporated into the new fascinates me.
A modern building with part of the ancient structure revealed.

Here, the Teatro Marcello is partly excavated from a more modern building in which people are currently living. The old is incorporated in the new.

  • Campidoglio, to look at the illuminated Forum.
  • Colosseum, in night lights.
The Colosseum with lights in the archways and a spotlight on the side.

The Colosseum illuminated at night.

  • Parco di Constantino
  • Circo Massimo, again, because it’s on the way home.

Home to bed, ever so grateful for my healthy legs and feet.

Lucca to Rome

 Posted by  Italy, Travel
Apr 262013
 

Day 29 – Lucca to Roma

Daily Wrap-Up

One Word
  • Barb: Carless
  • Mike: Homestretch
  • Jen: Pecora
Two Words
  • Barb: Lucca details
  • Mike: Clockwork connections
  • Jen: Last stop
Three or Four Words
  • Barb: Rainy road trip
  • Mike: Hundred-mile car wash
  • Jen: Aperto per cena lunedi?
One Sentence
  • Barb: Ah, another surprisingly smooth transition.
  • Mike: Italian drivers are awful: This comment could have been used on any and every day of our trip.
  • Jen: We’ve seen lots of sheep and oodles of pecorino cheese but no wool or woolen goods.

We took one last lap around Lucca this morning, noting and photographing some of the details we’ve picked out during the past week.

We never did visit Palazzo Pfanner, though we walked past it every day to and from the car. This impressive 17th-century house with its 18th-century garden contains a collection of court garments from the 18th and 19th centuries, many made from silk, which I understand was the source of much of medieval Lucca’s wealth.

Elegant seventeenth-century house with eighteenth-century garden.

Palazzo Pfanner and its garden.

Then there’s San Martino with its squashed facade. The church was built after the campanile on the right, and rather than design or re-design the church to fit in the available space, the right side was just smooshed in, making the facade asymmetrical. I think that was a bizarre choice, perhaps even lame.

The asymmetrical facade of San Martino.

The asymmetrical facade of San Martino. Do you think St. Martin is disappointed?

And then there was this cool lion statue. I love the tongue and curly mane. I imagine the lion saying “I look…I look…stupid” in reference to that perfectly curled mane. That’s from an exchange between Lumiere and Beast when the hat rack is doing Beast’s hair for dinner with Belle.

Lion statue with curly mane and tongue hanging out.

Lion statue in Lucca. What’s up with those ribs?

Some lampposts here in Lucca have a trio of lion feet for the base. Lampposts along the Arno in Florence also had lion feet.

Bent lion legs with feet serve as the base of lampposts.

A trio of lion legs and feet adorn the base of lampposts.

And then it was time to pack up and head to Rome for three nights. This Rome extension over Easter weekend is a bonus. We had planned to fly home just before Easter, perhaps out of Florence rather than Rome, to avoid what we assumed would be a super-busy and crowded time in Rome. That was even before the old pope resigned and a new one was installed. However, flight prices were so much cheaper after Easter that we tacked on an extra three days.

We contemplated staying elsewhere in the country during this time but decided instead to throw ourselves into the fray rather than attempt to avoid it. Sometimes it’s fun to do the opposite of what you’d most like to do. And when in Rome….

So off we went through the hardest and most continuous rain we’ve had all month. It was good: We turned in a cleaner car than we expected.

Returning the car to the airport was surprisingly easy. (No way are we driving in Rome—are you completely nuts?!) From there we found the train station and fumbled our way through purchasing tickets to Trastevere, which is ridiculously hard for me to pronounce—tras-TE-ver-eh. I think that’s it. I want to say tras-te-VER-eh.

The hardest part was validating our tickets. We got little stubs of paper instead of the larger airline-boarding-pass-size tickets we got in Chiusi. The validation machines don’t seem to readily recognize the stubs. I tried and tried, but the machine wouldn’t punch my stub. I tried to see if the machine could read the bar code somehow. Other travelers were similarly clueless and hoped I’d figure it out. In the end, Mike had the touch. He was the only one to be able to get the machine to see the stubs and punch them.

Whatever. It’s Italy. We know better than to expect procedures will be clear and efficient.

When we got on the train to Trastevere, Mike called the home owner, and he met us at the other end with a car to transport us and our luggage to our apartment. Easy peasy!

Trastevere is said to have retained its original character (whatever that may have been), with its narrow cobbled streets and medieval houses. Residents and visitors alike flock to the area at night for the restaurants and pubs. And there are a number of foreign educational institutions in the area. Our apartment is fine but rather bare bones. My favorite parts are the marble floor in the entrance and the wide, curving marble stairs to the first floor.

Barb and Jen looking out the apartment windows.

Another first-floor walkup (up wide marble stairs). Barb’s in her room which doubles as the living room, directly above the front door of the building; Mike’s coat and hat are in the kitchen (he’s across the street taking the picture, du-uh); the bathroom is to the right of the kitchen; I’m in our bedroom.

The other side of the street.

Trastevere street.

The buildings across the street look a bit better than the one we’re in.

Guess what the first order of business was.

Seriously, you don’t know? I’ll give you a hint: Tomorrow is Easter. We expect lots of things to be closed, and we’ve learned that many things are also closed on Easter Monday.

So the first order of business was food! The homeowner recommended a restaurant that he and his friends frequent, but I called and asked “Aperto per cena lunedi?” (Are you open for dinner on Monday?), and the answer was no. We’re hoping to get lunch there sometime, but I’m not counting on it. Our dining-out track record is dreadful. I can’t imagine it will be convenient when the time comes.

We found a grocery store on the opposite side of our block and a produce shop around the corner. Now, even if we find nothing open from now until we leave on Tuesday, we won’t starve. That’s a good feeling. Bring it on, Rome!

Bare bones living room

Our living room, dining room, and Barb’s bedroom. There’s an orange sofa bed opposite the TV wall. See? Orange is a popular color here. We never did turn on a TV in Italy.
This is a still photo made from a video. There may be a frame that is more clear than this one, but I don’t have the patience to try and find it. Note to self: Stills from videos are not the best.

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