Monday Nov 8, 2010 - Day 4 in Rome

Buongiorno -
Stiamo avendo un grande momento a Roma.  Oggi abbiamo visto tante belle chiese.
Il mio italiano sta migliorando notevolmente!
Arrivederci amici miei

Oh wait - I bet you want me to write the blog in English?  Silly me - LOL  Today we set out to walk beyond "Central Rome" -  we went across the Tiber River by way of the Ponte Garibaldi Bridge and walked to Trastevere.  Trastevere is considered the working class district, and is enclosed in a bend of the river.  The morning looked a little cloudy - but it did end up absolutely pouring rain - and one point there was a wind strong enough to turn my umbrella inside out.  But being the hearty ones that we are, we still walked the picturesque quiet streets but quickly decided it was a great day to visit churches!  

A view across the Tiber River

San Francesco a Ripa Church

Front Alter

Beautiful ceiling

Side chapel

All the candles are LED lights - sigh

Entrance

My favorite side chapel

The first church we visited was Saint Francesco a Ripa, it dates back to the 10th century and was a convent and was actually where St Francis lived when he was in Rome.   There is a Bernini statue - called The Blessed Ludovica Albertoni. (1671)  The church was quiet and dry - and very peaceful and reverent.    The art work takes so long to really appreciate there is so much detail - and to think it dates back so far, just amazing.


There are actually reportedly over 250 churches within the city of Rome, 94% of Romans have had their children baptized, however only 23% of Romans attend mass (THAT is why there were only 7 of us in church on Sunday!)


The Basilica di St. Maria greeted us with beggars, but stands to preserve the memory of one of the very first places of Christian worship in Rome.  This church was built in the 3rd Century.  It was the first church to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  A grand mosaic design adorns the center of the church - supported by 21 Athenian columns of granite.   There are 11 chapels in total.

The front of Santa Maria in Trastevere - note the purple jacket and purple umbrella is EC

Fountain in front of church

We lit candles for loved ones

Beggers and people staying out of the rain - like us!

Mosaic roof

Front main alter

From there we walked along the great side, quiet streets, even though it was raining it was a wonderful walk.

Note random tourist, purple bag, purple umbrella, purple jacket :-)

Santa Maria Della Scalla has an interesting history, the church was built between 1593 - 1610 to honor the Madonna. Tradition holds that the icon of Madonna is placed on the landing of a staircase of a neighboring house of a mother who prayed before it, that a deformed child may be cured.  That reminds me of the teaser from HS that asked what the relationship was between Jim and Tom and if Jim is Tom's twice removed cousin by his other mother!

Santa Maria Della Scala

This has been dubbed KS's favorite Roman church - small and off the beaten path.

Obviously the ceiling :-)

 By now it was definitely lunch time - we walked in to a great cafe that was started by brothers - they wanted a restaurant that was FAST (quite Un-Italian I guess) and that had salads that were main courses!  This has been our VERY best luncheon meal - EC had chicken (any surprise?) and I had a salad - we ordered panne without knowing what we would get (the waiter kept asking us so we finally just said yes)  For the worldly - panne is bread - but here it is thin flat bread with garlic butter and rosemary.  Yes Jenelle, it was GREAT - despite the rosemary :-)  We almost cried when they cleared our table and too the rest of the panne!    Note - a 10 oz Coca Cola light costs more than a liter glass bottle of still water! 

After we had dried out for the most part and had renewed energy from our great lunch - we "trudged" up to San Pietro in Montoria - this was a church that EC REALLY wanted to see.  We took to the winding road - and felt lucky to reach to top (or at least as far as we were going) without injury from speeding cars and that no one fell walking on cobblestone streets slick with rain and alot of leaves! 

The view even though it was not clear was wonderful - and then we found two things:
1) The church is all locked up tight
2) There are stairs that take you up and down - walking the road is not a popular past time

So the wise ones we are, we took the stairs down the hill :-)

The stairs we found to go down

Random tourist taking pictures in rain

City view

City view

Exterior facade of locked church

From here we walked down the stairs - so much quicker and alot safer - and meandered back to the Antique district.  We worked to figure out what hours they are open - since we have now been there twice and everything has been locked up.  We crossed back over the Tiber River by way of the Mazzini Bridge - and yes, it continued to rain.

View of Tiber River from Mazzini Bridge

As we neared Piazza Navona - the piazza near our flat that we are consider "Our" Piazza, we came by Domitian's Stadium - our Piazza Navona was set on the site of Domitian's Stadium, and these remains are from 1576.    Domitian's Stadium was Rome's first permanent venue for competitive athletics. It was patterned after the Greek model and seated approximately 15,000 - 20,000.  The remains, that have lasted so long are made of brick and concrete.

Remains of Domitian's Stadium

Just as EC had our flat in her sights, and only thoughts of shedding wet clothes, shoes and raincoat - I waylaid her to the Thai Massage center for a 30 minute foot massage.  Most foot massages that I have gotten you sit in a chair (remember Amsterdam Jean?)  well, this one we got to lay down - we got "Induced into a deep state of relaxation" or least that is what they advertised.

It felt GREAT - although EC did mention that pain was involved - but she is willing to go back - so must have been good :-)

Left overs, dry clothes and day 4 in Rome comes to a close.  50% chance of rain predicted until Friday.  But Tuesday is tessuti day - that is Italian for FABRIC - yippie!!  I may not be able to sleep tonight -
Chai
K and EC