My column this week shares a little bit of what I have learned from Rome about time and perspective:
When your daily life is an encounter with nearly everything that has come before you, you develop an appreciation for what is important, and what is not, what is passing and what will last, and how quickly time marches forth and away from even the greatest of artists, the holiest of men, the loftiest of ideals. To be a Roman is to remain unswayed by tempers and trends, because all of them fade into the shadows of temples and time.
You can read the whole thing on the home page
The view from our window; ancient ruins still being excavated, beside a taxi stand and a streetcar.
Communist rally around the block:
A ha. That’s why St. Catherine was the first pic — you’re staying just a couple of blocks south of the Pantheon. Nice area, tons of stuff nearby.
If Italians shrugged a little less & got irate a little more they might not be ruled by someone like Berlusconi. The man makes David Camoron look like Churchill by comparison.
Afraid I can’t offer any words of wisdom on the place itself as I haven’t been there. If I did I’d try to make time for a trip to Lake Nemi (about 20 miles) so I could visit where Rex Nemorensis used to live. I don’t think it’s on the tourist trail so it might be a bit quiet & hard to reach. But anyone who has heard that tale won’t be in a hurry to forget.
Yes we lucked out in our location, we are near everything, and my knees have been very challenged by the cobblestone, but we have managed a few tidy walks, including my determined jaunt from Mary Major to Santa Susanna, which was not too bad for a fat girl with arthritis!
Those men with communist flags need a good
spanking and to bed with no dinner.
Foolish people.
I know you are not in Rome, just to see the sights, but have a nice time while you are there.
Don’t forget about the food. The food is very good in Rome.
Hooray! More pictures and new stories!
It’s wonderful that you seem to be enjoying your time there.
Love the picture of the cat sanctuary (Largo Argentina). Can you let us know where your rooms are – hotel or apartment or ??? – and can they be booked by us other travelers? Keep posting!
Signora Elisabetta!
I love that neighborhood. I used to catch buses there to other locales. And, we’d come back in from Trastevere, well, we’d come sailing back in on red wine singing arias and waking the dead (and Romans). A! Roma! Ti manco!!!
Keep walking on that arthritis. Better to have your knees roaring in pain than to live with the pain of regret in missing glorious sites. Plus – - you can offer it up for those commies.
Did anyone notice Our Lady (her birthday is tomorrow!) looking down from the building above them. Don’t worry. Just pray to her to kick their red behinds…or to kick their behinds til they are red.
Ci vediamo, Anchoress!
Buona vacanza!
xo!!!
From the cold, dark fog…
Don’t forget about the food. The food is very good in Rome
Yes, and I even tried a Cinese place last time I went. Consistent with serving in courses, when I asked for rice with my order, they brought it out alone, and then brought the entree ten minutes later.
From the “I did not know that” file –
Apparently that was the site of the assassination of Julius Caesar (at the Theatre of Pompey, a portion of which is in the excavations at Largo di Torre Argentina).
These pictures make me more impatient than ever. I cannot wait. The economy be damned. I am determined (after years of disappointment in having to change my plans) to finally be in the land of my ancestors – mia famiglia – in 2011 for the celebration of 150 years of the Risorgimento & the reuniting of Italy!