A little bit of lots of things

What have we been doing?  So much and yet so little is seems.  The days are full of the tasks that keep life going.  It has been interesting to get to the point we are doing things over again, like Thanksgiving.  I've learned a lot in the time we have been here.  So much about Rome and how to live life here.

Weeks ago we went out to Lido di Ostia on a warm fall afternoon.  It was a beautiful day to walk along the beach and look for shells.  It reminded me of sunset walks in Santa Cruz, but with tiny pseudo-waves, a narrower beach and more shells.  For dinner we found a great place where My Boy could indulge his new-found love for shellfish.  I had a hamburger.

This is the more modern town near the ancient port of Ostia Antica.  From what I've heard the ruins there are spectacular.  I haven't seen them yet.  Someday.  Right now all of the museums and archeological sites are closed.  There are still beautiful and interesting things to see from the outside, but inside visits will have to wait.

We met up with some friends for lunch and to show them around our neighborhood.  We went into San Giovanni in Laterano  and across the street to the Scala Sancta.  Churches are open while museums are closed.  Fortunately there is a lot of art and history in the churches so there is still plenty to see if you can catch them during their open hours.

I don't remember if I've written about these spots yet, so I'll do a short-ish version in case it is a repeat.  Our neighborhood is short on historical hot spots, so this is the one and only tourist draw nearby.  It isn't as frequently visited, but it is quite an important building in the Catholic church.  Before becoming a church this was the site of the Laterani family palace.  The palace was donated to the bishop of Rome by Constantine I in the 4th century after he (Constantine, not the Pope) married into the family. The basilica of the palace was converted and extended and became Cathedral of Rome, the seat of the Pope, the bishop of Rome.  It is the official residence of the Pope and the highest ranking church in Catholicism, higher even than St Peters at the Vatican.  Over the centuries it has been burned, rebuilt and remodeled into the Baroque Cathedral it is today.  This church and the Scala Sancta are part of the treaty creating Vatican City as a separate state, so are technically not part of Italy.

The Baroque sculptures of the 12 apostles inside are quite impressive.  The Danish neoclassical sculptor, Bertel Thorvaldsen, was inspired by these apostles when he created his own version for a church in Copenhagen.  Digitally recreated marble copies of the Danish apostles are now at the visitor's center for the Rome temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Thorvaldsen's original Christus statue in the same Copenhagen church is known and copied worldwide.

Across the street are the Scala Sancta, or holy stairs.  These are the marble stairs that at one time lead to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.  They were made holy when Jesus Christ walked on them during the time of his trial prior to His crucifixion.  The entire staircase was brought to Rome by Helena, the mother of Constantine in the 4th century when she was sent to Jerusalem to bring back religious relics.  There are a lot of relics in the city's churches.  This one, unlike so many others, seems plausible.  The steps were later moved to their current location leading to the Sancta Sanctorum and covered in wood to protect them from wear.  Pilgrims still come to ascend the stairs on their knees and say a prayer at each step.  Incredible frescoes illustrating biblical stories line the walls of the Scala and the alternate stair cases on either side.

The Sancta Sanctorum at the top of the stairs was likely built in the 7th century.  This was the private prayer room of the Popes until the Renaissance.  It is a little jewel box of a room with walls covered with incredible frescoes and mosaics and housing opulent reliquaries.

So much history in such a tiny little spot of city.

On weekends we take walks though the city and the parks.  There is always something beautiful to see.  Often it is just the way the light is bringing out a little bit of something to make it glow.  I love the quality of the light in the fall and winter here.  It is quite different from the glaring wash of sun in the summer.

View across the Tiber from the Ponte Sant'Angelo

Sant' Agnose in Agona - Piazza Navona

Fontana delle Tartarughe

We celebrated our second Italian Thanksgiving with missionaries from our church.  They are a great group of guys.  Three were American and one Chilean.  The Americans had been telling their Chilean companion all about the traditional foods of the day.  I was happy to oblige with plenty of stuffing, whipped cream, and pumpkin pie.  This year I knew where to find the turkey and the pumpkin and I was able to ask a friend to get me some cranberry sauce from the embassy commissary. It was such a fun evening.

Before coming to Rome, one of the missionaries was studying opera.  He and his accordian playing Chilean companion sang and played for us.  It is amazing to hear so close and in a small space.  I'm sure our land lady upstairs could hear us.  After a couple of songs we invited her to listen in from her balcony upstairs.  (She is older and in person visits aren't always the right thing.)  She got a lovely serenade.  I think she really enjoyed it.  This is one of the songs they sang for us.

This missionary is from Chile, but his family is Italian. He learned Italian from his mom at home.  There are many Italians in South America.  Many left Italy during the early to mid 1900s.  Anyone with Italian ancestry can claim citizenship so many people from these families are coming back.

I've been having fun with my black sketchbook and colored pencils.  It is quite different to work on black paper.  You have to think a bit backwards to leave the shadows and work on the lights.

The mornings are getting earlier and earlier according to the sun.  My girl gets on the bus for school before sunrise at this time of year.

The kids are cooking.  My boy was inspired by the mussels, cozze, he had in Ostia and wanted to make some himself for lunch.  They are cheap and easy to find so we found a few recipes and put something together.  I couldn't bring myself to eat them.  The shells look fine, but the little bits inside are just...  It makes me shudder.  My Boy loved them and ate all 2.2 pounds of them, minus the shells.  The broth was really tasty and we saved the leftover liquid gold in the freezer for our Christmas cioppino.

Until next time...