Friday, September 16th

Last full day in Rome and so many more things I wanted to do. There is a beautiful golden light suffusing the apartment as the sun sets over another very hot day.

We are less tired today having spent the majority of it inside the Vatican Museum. What an extraordinary place! We worked hard for our Sistine Chapel reward at the end. I was going to leave the children at home for an hour or two and rush through early in the morning as they weren't keen but after a Skype conversation with Mark this morning, was persuaded to take them. Mark felt that they would be crazy to miss out on it.  In retrospect I think he was right, at least where Alex was concerned. I took along some entertainment for Sam and Eva should they get bored and start whinging, which they did. People were most amused to see the two of them plugged in through their headphones to the iPad watching pixar movies whilst wandering around the museum. Eva also did lots of drawing. She has been drawing constantly through this holiday so far. Delightful, interesting, colourful pictures. Maybe she will be the family artist. I was appalled by their sacrilegious behaviour of our children but it did mean that Carolina and I got to see the museum at not toooo rushed a pace. Though we unfortunately raced through the modern religious art towards the end.

We didn't take a tour and I rather regret it now. Overhearing the many tours around us, I think we might have learned more. We were accosted by potential tour guides from around 500m away from the museum entrance which I loathe. I always feel like I am being had. It is hard to judge what a fair price is and experience tells you you are unlikely to be paying it. We battled on with our guide books and audio guide which skipped so many interesting things. The museum was jam-packed with no room to move at all once we reached the Sistine. I would have loved to have been able to lie on the floor and just stare at the ceiling for an hour or so but not a chance of that.

My head is full of wonderful pictures and lots of questions and thoughts tonight. I hope the children got something out of it, even if they don't realise it at the moment.

We had hoped to go to Ostia this afternoon to see where Mark and his family lived when they first left Russia. By the time we left the museum it was after 4pm and the children refused point blank to go anywhere. We will try to get down there in the morning after checking out and before our flight to Paris tomorrow afternoon.

crowds in the gardens of Vatican Museum

Sam and Eva watching pixar movies in the museum. Sigh.

Excellent pizza restaurant within the museum.

Eva drawing her way around the museum

much needed ice cream afterwards. 

the foyer of our apartment building

The hall within our apartment. Checkout the gorgeous tiles. 

the living room

other end of the living room

view of St Peter's from the living room

skyping in the kitchen

the boys' bed

the living room again

Carolina is heading out with friends tonight for a very well deserved night off. Looking very glamorous too  I might add. She is in search of leather boots to take home. I've not managed more than window shopping. The shops around our apartment are full of wonderfully glamorous and oh so European winter clothes. The prices seem very reasonable but it seems inconceivable, given the heat to consider trying on anything with long sleeves, let alone made of wool and there really isn't much space in the bag. How very restrained of me. There is always Paris! Carolina has been a great companion. Infinitely patient and sensible and very tolerant of us all. Seeing Rome through her Catholicism has also increased my appreciation of this very religiously focused city.

Thursday

Another really hot day - mid 30s. Although we were out of the house early (i.e. before 9am) we were thwarted in our attempts to 'do' the Forum before it got too hot by the difficulties presented by Italian Tourism which seems to relish in a lack of directions or reliable information. Thus, it took us about an hour to find the entrance to the Forum. Meanwhile the children were entertained watching the filming of a roman film of some sort featuring Roman soldiers in chariots.

Nonetheless, the Forum was spectacular, albeit exhausting in the heat. Eva loved jumping from one giant flag stone to the next and collecting pebbles to put in her purse and playing with her princess sticker book. The rest of us were impressed with the weight of history beneath our feet and all around us. There was an exhibition relating to Nero which was somewhat chaotically laid out with a map provided that was next to useless. The bits we were able to understand were very interesting. I was impressed by how much the boys remembered over lunch afterwards.

After another delicious pizza lunch (Eva demanded pasta then refused to eat it and demanded Sam's Margarita instead, which she had previously not wanted. No logic at all), we staggered through the heat to the metro station and travelled south to San Paulo. Just this morning I had expressed my surprise that there was no St Paul's church in Rome when every other Saint known to Catholocism seems to have one, particularly since St Paul was no small time saint. A brief look at the map later and there was St Paul's Basilica, the third largest church in Christendom, built on the site of his execution none the less. After the hot morning, a cool, peaceful church sounded very appealing.

Not only were we impressed by the modest (if large) facade of the Basilica but also with the peaceful, suburban surroundings, at least relative to central Rome. Less traffic, less noise, less frenzy. Compared to the baroque splendour of St Peter's, St Paul's was a breath of fresh air. It was quiet, empty and peaceful with some decoration but not to the extent of having every square millimetre of wall bedecked in gilt and marble. To me it seemed a place much more open to contemplation and prayer. Above the main alter was a magnificent golden mosaic covering a large area of roof in an arc shape. For a gold coin, it would light up, looking most spectacular. At each end of the transverse naves were smaller alters decorated with malachite and lapis lazuli and devoted to Mary and St Paul. Around the ceiling of the centre nave were pictures of all the previous popes - small mosaics. There are 12 empty places left. Allegedly it is said that when the last place has been filled the end of the world will come.

In the centre of the church is an old stone sarcophagus housing the body of St Paul and above it in a glass box can be seen the chains that allegedly bound him in the final days before his execution.

When asked what was the best part of the day, Eva answered: 'the museum' by which she meant the basilica. What about it I asked? 'The cafe', she answered. I have to say that we liked the cafe too. It was air conditioned. We were hot.

We had planned to travel further South by bus to visit the catacombs at San Sebastiano but ran out of puff and time. Mañana.

Our other gripe with Italian tourism is TOILETS or the lack thereof. For the entire Colloseum area there are 2 female and 1 male toilet and 1 of each for the Forum. And they are Not Very Nice.

We are also underwhelmed with italian breakfasts. Too many sugary cakes with little substance that fail to fill. Boiled eggs for us tomorrow morning.

breakfast of sugary, empty cakes. 

roman charioteer near the Colosseum. very entertaining

And the Colosseum itself (in case you'd forgotten)

My favourite ceiling in the forum

and again

hot Sam

Alex with the Forum behind him

Eva (clutching princess sticker book) skipping on the flagstones

more sticking over lunch

Master Chef Italia

the interior of St Paul's Basilica

the incredible mosaic over the main alter

everyone exhausted, waiting for the train back

fish fingers, Italian style

Smurfs, Italian style

We were amused on the metro today to see advertisements for Italian Master Chef and for fish fingers - never imagined the Italians would stoop to that level. Also of note were the ads for the new Smurf Movie, which in Italian is called: Puffi .

Alex and Sam - Wednesday afternoon

Sam: we're just relaxing, playing DS, reading books, and I am thinking of doing some drawing.
Alex: We had a good day at St Peter's at first until we tried to get the stroller back from the storage desk. When we went to get it, we couldn't get it because we didn't have the card and then Carolina tried to get it but she forgot the card. Then Mum got it finally and we all went home and we've been relaxing since then. Sam and Alex: St Peter's was beautiful and very, very big. There were lots of good paintings and sculptures and we saw a dead man (a sculpture that looked very very real).

Best and worst things about Rome so far:
1) The fountains - it is very very hot.
2) The obelisks - in every square
3) Just by walking 500m from our house you can find two famous things - the Vatican and Castello d'Angelo
4) Food and Iced Tea and Gelato
5) too many churches, obelisks and fountains
6) some people are quite rude and just want to get where they want to go
7) the Colloseum was pretty Epic.
8) the cobblestones really hurt your feet and you get blisters
9) Eva gets too messy every time she eats an ice cream
10) everyone double parks and the traffic is crazy

Wednesday afternoon

It really is Very Hot. We braved St Peter's this morning. The crowds were not completely overwhelming and it was lovely and cool inside. All going well until they announced that we couldn't take the stroller inside. Eva had just fallen asleep in the stroller. It was all rather down hill from there. Eva, not surprisingly did not like being woken up and complained bitterly for the duration of our visit. I gave up somewhere on the left nave and left Carolina to visit the museum alone whilst I sought emergency gelato outside. We have decided not to take Eva to the Vatican Museum or the Sistine Chapel. St Peter's was, nonetheless, extraordinary. Of course. Every mm of wall bedecked with decoration and not a bible story untold. I do find myself rather fascinated by the stories of the saints. St Jerome particularly appealed to me this morning (large and incredibly fine mosaic in right nave). According to that wonderful resource: Saints for Dummies (on kindle), Saint Jerome is the patron saint of the Bad tempered and of translators. He spent 30 years translating the various books of the old and new testament from their original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic into Latin and chose to live as a hermit because he found it so difficult to control his temper, particularly when he was interrupted in the middle of his work. He was supposed to have been very brilliant but scared the living daylights out of St Augustine. I wonder whether he had a touch of Asperger's - Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory) springs to mind.

Perhaps it is my protestant origins, but I must admit to finding  these highly Baroque churches a bit over the top. Give me an austere Lutheran cathedral anyday.

As a complete contrast, and to at least 4 of us, rather more meaningful, we found the Jewish quarters (the old ghetto) yesterday afternoon, at the end of a very long, hot day of sightseeing which started with the Piazza Navona, progressed through the astonishing Pantheon, proceeded to the Piazza Venezia, continued through the Palatine Museum and ended finally at the Synagogue and Jewish Museum. The story of the Jews in Rome goes back to at least the 2nd century BC and is one of fluctuating tolerance and persecution, with an emphasis on the latter. After the Spanish Inquisition, the Jews of Spain, Sicily and Southern Italy all proceeded to Rome which was considered more tolerant. Each built their own Synagogue but when the winds changed, the Jewish population was confined to a Ghetto and allowed only to be money lenders. They were also allowed only one Synagogue which had to serve the many different cultural and religious variations practiced by the diverse groups. After the Risorgimento in 1870, Victor Emmanuele II granted the Jews full citizenship and the old Ghetto which was in a terrible condition, was destroyed and new buildings constructed. The new Synagogue is very beautiful. It has a very high dome (so that everyone can see where it proudly stands - no longer needing to hide) and it has beautiful art nouveau/arts and crafts decorations. It is strangely congruous to see Liberty textiles in the Roman Synagogue. There are now 16 synagogues in Rome, all orthodox.

Sam with Romulus and Remus in the Palatine Museum

Surrounding the synagogue we saw the Jewish school and lots of Jewish restaurants, which I was very keen to try but the children were beyond it by that stage and we crawled home instead.

Alex with his lunchtime pizza - Piazza Venezia

The children were quite taken with this shop selling Priestly and Nunly garb, near the Pantheon

The steps to the Palatine Museum take on a whole new meaning when pushing a pram.

One of several restaurants in the former Ghetto area specialising in Jewish-Italian cuisine

another Jewish restaurant

and another

and yet another

The beautiful Synagogue

Sam has been quite disapproving of the Roman way of life. In particular, he thinks they smoke too much and don't use enough sun block - they are magnificently tanned. He also complains about their driving and parking and has taken some incriminating  photos to demonstrate:

Surprisingly, very few cars appear scratched or dented. 

Rome day 4

Dear family and friends,

here we are in Roma. This is the first morning that I have been organised enough to make any entries into our promised blog. Every evening thus far we have collapsed into an exhausted heap after walking and listening, looking, smelling and touching the many wonders of Rome for many hours.

We arrived on Sunday morning after a very reasonable flight during which the boys indulged in an orgy of electronic gaming and movie watching thanks to the delights of the Singapore airlines inflight entertainment  system. Eva was also very good, though slept not at all from Singapore to Rome and hence, neither did I most of the time.

Despite the new rulings, Singapore security decided that my knitting needles posed a security threat and confiscated them. I was sure that would be the last I would see of them, but, to my complete astonishment, there they were at the other end, ready for collection. Not that any knitting has happened since. too hot. too tired.

 Here you can see us eating our first Roman gelati and pizza.

We arrived to a hot and sticky morning and found ourselves one of many buses promising to transport us to the city centre. Ours deposited us in Piazza Cavour, not very far on foot from our apartment. None of the taxis were willing to transport us because we were 5 not the maximum limit of 4 passengers, but one of them kindly called us a cab, which after all that, turned out to hold only 4 passengers anyway. We crammed ourselves in a few minutes later found ourselves outside the imposing 3m high wooden doors of our apartment building. Sam fell asleep on the footpath outside (see photo above) whilst we waited for Vladimir to arrive to let us in. The apartment is beautiful. The view from the living room over St Peters keeps reminding me of the closing seen of 'A Room With A View'. The floors are lined with beautiful terracotta tiles and it is very tastefully furnished with comfortable couches, beds, beautiful antiques and pictures. It is very comfortable. What's more it is directly opposite the fruit and produce market (see below) which we have been making very good use of. 

Meanwhile, the day is getting hotter and the children have been playing their DS games too long. Alex is talking to his friends on Skype. It is time to get out there and work our sore and blistered feet for another day. We now know to carry a spare set of clothes for Eva as the gelati take their toll on her t-shirts in a very short time. Unfortunately chocolate is her favourite. We have also discovered a gelato shop in the Piazza Navona that sells nutella flavoured gelato which is VERY popular. Some of our other favourite incidental finds have been the little (and big) fountains located all over the place. These offer wonderful opportunities to cool our hot faces, wash our dirty hands and refill our multiple drink bottles and wash off the latest gelato. They also offer great opportunity for fun. The boys rapidly discovered that when the main outlet is covered, the water shoots out a small hole in the top, supposedly as a drinking fountain, but also an excellent weapon (see above).

I will add more later .