Arrivaderci Roma! The last bits of Rome

Rome is a world,

and it would take years to become 

a true citizen of it.

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Letters from Italy, 1786

It was an amazing 9 days in Rome, though it wasn't always easy. It's hard to explain because though I enjoy traveling on my own, on the days when it was pouring down rain, in the city, and I was visiting all the martryed saint paintings, it got a little strange. 

Anyway, for the most part, I was ready to move on and very excited to be back in Assisi. But, it was still difficult to leave Rome, my favorite city. There is always so much left to see! I guess that just means ... I have to go back? ;)

Basilica of Santa Croce in Via Flaminia

December 6th was a full day. I'd started that morning in the Capuchin Crypt, visited the Caravaggios and Berninis in Santa Maria del Popolo, I took a million photos in the ultra modern MAXXI museum and had lunch, and now it was time for me to head back to the tram, and make my way South to meet up with my new friend Dawn. She had invited me over, for a home cooked meal, with her family in Monteverde. (Southeast of Trastevere)

Here's a little music for my last day in Rome ... ;)

I mentioned in the previous post, that MAXXI museum is in a lovely neighborhood ...

And as luck (or synchronicity) would have it, there was a little flower shop next to the tram, so I could pick up a hostess gift!

You can see the potted Christmas trees, in the photos below. It was the 6th of December, after all. I decided to give them a little holiday color with a pot of bright red cyclamen, with red wrapping. (also below!)

Below, I am heading from Piazzale Flamino, through the old Porta del Popolo. That's Piazza del Popolo, through the gate, with it's 73 foot Egyptian obelisk. The obelisk was originally from the Sun Temple in Heliopolis, and built in 1300 BC. Emperor Augustus apparently thought it would be nice to have it in Rome, and had it brought to town in 10 AD. 

Seriously, are there any obelisks left in Egypt?! 

The twin churches you see on either side of the obelisk are Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto.

I headed through the gates and made my way over to to Piazza di Spagna where I was to meet Dawn. I walked around the neighboring Piazza de Mignanelli and the Colonna dell'Immacolata, just to the East of Spagna.

Virgin Mary by Giuseppe Obici 

Colonna dell'Immacolata

Column on the Immaculate Conception

designed by Luigi Poletti 

It was commission by Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies. It was dedicated in 1857. 

David, by Tadoni

The big tree lighting in Piazza di Spagna would be the following day, so many more lights were going up that day.

I'm hoping that pile of lights was more organized than it looked!

One last view of the Piazza!

Dawn met me on the Spanish Steps. We got in her car and headed to pick up her kids.

This, below, is Giovanni, a total sweetheart, who warmed up to me very quickly and had a lot to say! So cute and about the same age as my nephew, Benjamin ... and a fellow fan of Lego Spinjitzu. Some things are universal! 

They helped me find a striped neck warmer like Giovanni's, that evening, for Benjamin, for Christmas. Super cozy.

We went to the grocery store to pick some things up and the kids showed me this bag of cookies ... their favorite breakfast cookie. Don't you love the idea of a breakfast cookie? 

I promised I'd buy a bag before leaving Italy, and give them a try. I did. I got a huge back and lugged it in my carry-on back to California. Yum! Like a very crunchy butter cookie. Perfect for dunking, but I learned that sweets for breakfast aren't the best idea, unless you are walking all over Italy all day long. 

Anyway, the cookies were a great treat to have over Christmas, but now I'm obsessed. While putting this post together, I found them on Amazon. Danger!

Dawn and I met on this trip, through our mutual friend Mark Avery, who I've known since I was 21. She had me beat, though. I think they met in High School. 

Here we are talking to him on the phone in New York State!

Dawn says I should get one of these. An Italian food mill. 

She started up the veggies ...

Dawn and her darling daughter Elena. (Who is smart as a whip!)

For pasta al forno ...

Layers and layers of pasta, cheese, veggies and ...

bechamel ... mmmm

I had so much fun being with them and it felt so wonderful being around the warmth of a family. 

I wish I'd payed better attention. She learned the recipe from her Italian mother-in-law. Maybe she'll email me the recipe!

Thanks Dawn for showing me around, taking me shopping, to the amazing mural at the monastery at Trinità dei Monti, the Protestant Cemetery and inviting me into your home!

I left Rome the next morning. After closing the door to Golden Rooms, I realized the shop next door was finally open! I had been spying charms for my sister's and my charm bracelets, in the window, but it was never open when I came "home" in the evenings. 

I barely made it through the door with my huge bag and my carry on. I didn't want to be late to my train so I quickly asked to see the charms. The sweet older man and his granddaughter were very sweet.

For my sister, I got a tiny charm of a temple, at the Roman Forum, and gave it to her for Christmas. For myself, the Bernini Elephant and obelisk from Piazza Minerva, the first place I  ever stayed in Rome. It now lives between a little blue and white Dutch charm, from my grandmother, and a silver feather my parents got me in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 6th grade.

I hope you enjoyed this very long journey through Rome! 29 posts, including this one! It took sure took awhile. I can't believe I left 7 months ago!

Arrivederci Roma!

(Until we see each other again!)

There are many posts of Umbria, Liguria, Piedmont and Lombardy to come! (I got around!) Plus, an amazing dinner I helped cook with our friend from Afghanistan, and some recent Southern California day trips. It's been a busy summer! Hope yours is going great! 

Arrivederci, Roma

Goodbye, goodbye to Rome

City of a million moonlit faces

City of a million warm embraces

Where I found the one of all the faces

Far from home

~lyrics by Pietro Garinei and Sandro Giovannini

blessings and light!

400th Post! Pasta and Piazza Navona!

Ciao Tutti! I can't believe it's my 400th post! 

To celebrate, let's have a little vino rosso, pasta and enjoy a little festa, at Piazza Navona!

It was a Saturday night and had I met up with a friend of a friend, Inta, who'd moved to Rome a year ago. She met me at my little "Golden Rooms" and we headed Southwest toward Piazza Navona. She suggested Enoteca Cul de Sac ... and, it happened that I had been there in 2010 with my folks! They had a great wine selection and I loved their homemade ravioli!

So ... I ordered ravioli again. :) Oh, how I love a good ravioli! This time it was duck, which I don't usually order but it was really good. 

The wine was so good on the previous trip, that I went on my iPhone, and looked at my blog post, from a couple of years ago, to see what I had ordered. And they still had it on the menu! Handy, these blogs of ours!

Inta ordered a meat platter ... very tasty with the wine!

We sat outside under an awning, while it rained around us. As usual, people were standing around waiting for tables. Fortunately, we got there just before the rush.

Here's the inside of the restaurant. They have a HUGE wine selection. To see my other post about Cul de Sac, click HERE.

Mmmmmmmm ....

Before going on the trip, I tried to find out if all the booths and carousel would be up, in Piazza Navona, when I was there, but it was it was unclear. As I mentioned, a lot of decorations don't go up until the 6th or 7th. It was December 1st in Piazza Navona and ... see for yourself!

Piazza Navona! 
Buon Natale!

OH, and I have to mention that on my two previous trips to Rome, the big Fountain of the Four Rivers by Bernini, in the middle of the piazza, had been covered in scaffold both times! But now?

Yay! The fountain was in full view!

The venders set up all along the piazza, except for in front of Borromini's Church of St. Agnes.

I loved all the nativity pieces and  was looking for a baby Jesus. I have Mary and Joseph but the baby Jesus I had was way to small for the set. In fact, so small, he looked like a premie. So, I was on a hunt for a (reasonably priced) baby Baby Gesù, of a certain size.

Lots of sparkly Christmas ornaments ...

Pile o' nougat ... which I got for my sister. (not the whole pile, just the coffee flavor.)

Perfect Baby Gesù, but only came in a set ...

There were TONS of Befanas! So, choosing the right little Befanas (Sort of an Italian Christmas witch) for members of my family, became another fun hunt! I actually ended up with a "bag o' Befana" ... But more on the little witch later!

On our way back to my little "hotel," we rounded a corner, and there it was! NOW it really felt like I was in Rome. The Pantheon. There is nothing like it. 

Inta suggested we stop and have a drink. We had the perfect view. The shot above was taken from our table! A much easier table to get with the wet weather! The awnings, once again, protected us from the downpour. I can't remember the name of her drink, but I had a limoncello and chatted, and enjoyed the wonderful view. Thanks Inta! 

It was great to get out and be social, and have someone to chat with! I am someone who doesn't mind spending time alone. Sometimes, I might even prefer it. But, by this time, it was really nice to have someone to hang out with. All the chatting inside your own head can get old, even though I'm pretty good company. ;)

Oh! And I found my baby Gesù! I put him on my bedside table in Assisi. I brought him home, and he's the perfect size.

On Facebook, Marianne Williamson posted something, that I want to pass on to you. Jean Houston had shared this quote. Victor Hugo claimed Galileo spoke to him in a seance! Whatever you think about that, and whether it was Galileo who said it or Mr. Hugo that wrote it, it's ... well, read for yourself! 

"You know what I would do if I were in your place? 
I'd drink from the milk basin of the Milky Way;
I'd swallow comets; I'd lunch on dawn; 
I'd dine on day and I'd sup on night;
I'd invite myself, splendid table-companion that I am, 
to the banquet of all the glories,
and I'd salute God as my host!
I'd work up a magnificent hunger, an enormous thirst, 
and I'd race through the drunken spaces between the spheres 
singing the fearsome drinking song of eternity."

Happy St. Patty's Day!
Blessings and light!