Tuesday, September 25 - Sunday, October 7
Now
that summer has ended, we are starting to see slight changes in our
surroundings here in Lisciano Niccone, Italy. It's been a
gorgeous
summer, dry and hot, but now that we are back from Switzerland, the days
are cooler, and in the mornings, a mist blankets the valley
below the house. We've been so inspired by the Swiss hiking trails,
now we take the dogs and go hiking in the hills above the house several
times a
week. We also spend more time taming the two feral kittens,
which we've named "Honeycomb" and "Brave Boy". They both start to
purr when we pick them up; they sleep on our bed once in a
while; and they
love
to sleep in the flower pots. Honeycomb is still afraid of the dogs,
whereas Brave Boy has really taken a
liking to being a domestic cat. He eats out of the dogs'
breakfast bowls, while they look on, perplexed, and a little
worried!
Our
wonderful home-owners, Tim & Louise, have left for Lou's sister's wedding
in England, and
right before they left, they had a load of firewood
delivered,
and told us DO NOT stack the firewood before their return, unless we really wanted something to
do! Well, we had gorgeous weather and a huge mound of sticks in the
driveway, and two days later we had two neatly stacked (local Italian
style!) rows about six feet high against the basement wall. The
house is ready for winter! As usual, the dogs want to help and
Jeanie is always ready to play with them (while Robert did most of the
stacking!).
Tim
& Louise returned from her sister's wedding celebration on September 29,
and we started planning a few day trips into the cities of Florence
(Firenze) and
Rome.
When the morning of October 2 arrived, we woke before dawn and drove 1/2
hour to Terontola to catch a train for our day-trip to Firenze, a
90-minute ride. It was another beautiful morning, and we arrived at
the Firenze
central train station by 11:00 a.m. We have decided that when you
want to visit a large city in Europe (Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Firenze),
the train service is the best way. Parking is very expensive and
hard to find, and the trains, if not brand new, are very reliable
and
great for sightseeing. Round-trip intercity train tickets to Firenze
for two: about 30 euros. Visiting Firenze: Priceless!!
Even at this
time of year there are tons of tourists roaming about.
The duomo and bell tower are lovely, and the old city has so much
character and peace about it. We both remarked on how clean it
looked; how comfortable it was to walk along the river and through the
city squares.
During
WWII the Germans bombed this area heavily, and only this bridge remains
from before those days. Firenze is certainly an interesting city
with so much to see, and we were quite content to spend the day walking
along the boulevards, through the open markets, and ducking into delicious
panini and
gelato shops for refreshments. Late in the afternoon we bought
a loaf of fresh bread and found a cool and quiet place to rest, in the
courtyard of a catholic church & college's faculty housing. An
attendant there eagerly granted us permission to eat inside the quiet
garden area, away from the vendors, tourists and city noise. We
spent a very pleasant hour there, reading and resting, before making our
way back to the train and returning home late that night.
The
next day we studied our guide books and planned our day-trip to Rome.
So many challenging stories about things to do and how expensive Rome can
be, and
although
we are ready to go, we are a little apprehensive. Nevertheless, on
Thursday October 4 we were once again up at dawn and back to Terontola for
the 2-hour train ride south, to Roma Central Station. Once again,
it's a beautiful day and tourists are everywhere, enjoying the magnificent
old city. We
knew that Rome had much more than we could hope to see in one day (or even
a month!), so we had brought a small suitcase with us, in the hopes of
finding a good place to spend the night. So when we arrived at
10:30am, we began looking. The first place our guide book
recommended wanted 90 euros, and the local Holiday Inn wanted 165 euros,
but another listing in our guidebook took us to a cute and very well-run
little hostel called "The Beehive" near the train station (owned by an
American,
Steve,
who also cooks in the cafe on-site)! We paid 65 euros for "the yoga room",
a huge, clean double room on the basement level (nice and cool despite the
90 degree temp outside), which doubles as their yoga classroom during the
peak summer season! So by noon we were outside again, exploring the
city, getting our bearings and taking it all in.
That first
day we spent 8 hours walking. Without really knowing
where we were on the map we were carrying, we found ourselves in front of
the US Embassy building, where they told Robert to cross to the other side
of the street before taking a picture of the building. Modern
security!!
This
grand building is historically known as Palazzo Margherita, built in 1890
for Prince Boncompagni Ludovisi and later named for the beloved Queen
Mother Margherita. Under Mussolini's dictatorship, the building was
converted into offices for the National Fascist
Confederation
of Farmers. In 1946, the U.S. purchased the Palazzo using Italian
lire war credits against U.S. surplus army property, and it was
extensively restored to its original grandeur between 1949-52. We
continued walking through neighborhoods and parks, and eventually came to
the base of the Spanish Steps
and the ritzy boutique shops that cover the entire area at the base of the
steps. We walked to the top of the steps and were rewarded with a
view overlooking a section of the city, as well as of the crowds of local
teenagers and tourists who flock to the steps as a
place
to meet and/or flirt with each other.
We
continued on, wandering through neighborhoods, filling our drinking-water
bottles from ice-cold fountains in public squares, until we
came around a corner, and there was the Pantheon! Absolutely
stunning! Built by Roman Emperor Hadrian in the year AD 123, with
walls 20 feet thick, it was the largest dome in existence for 1300 years,
and from the inside it looks as new as if construction were just
completed. Suddenly the history of this place really begins to come
alive around us. Even though the exterior showed the effects of acid
rain, rumbling subways and heavy traffic, the inside was in absolutely
grand condition.
We don't
know how many miles we walked that first day, over cobblestones and
concrete, but by 9 pm we were exhausted. It felt so wonderful to get
back to our
hostel,
shower off the grit and dust, and fall into bed and a deep, uninterrupted
night's sleep. So the next morning we were up early and ready for
more, especially when we discovered that, for about
six dollars each, we could have an unlimited metro & public transportation
ticket! Woo-hoooo, what a deal! So on Friday, we really saw
the highlights of Rome that we
wanted
to see: starting with the enormous Coliseum. Around the
entrance were several "entrepreneurial" gladiators, dressed in period
regalia complete with plastic swords. For a price they would pose
with anybody. Next we visited the Roman
Forum, with its remains of free-standing walls and columns, which only
heightened our imagination of what it must have looked like to live among
all the pomp of this once-great "center of the civilized world."
We took a
quick look at the Vatican wall and entrance gate, with its long line to
pay more than we had, the security guards and vending wagons out front,
and decided we'd rather go try a new
gelato from the shop down the street! We also discovered a fantastic store, Castroni, which specializes in hard-to-find foods from around the world.
We had so much fun looking at foods we hadn't seen in six months, like
Hellman's Mayonnaise! Hey, we
are
way too easy to amuse!
Late
in the afternoon, we meandered through a lovely area of the
city and followed the heavenly sound of burbling springs until we came to
the Trevi Fountain, a glorious work of art built in 1735, positioned
between palaces in the historic city center. This is a great place
to sit and enjoy the laughter of children, the spirit of fun in the air,
and the cool breezes around the fountain. According to legend, tossing one
coin over your shoulder into the fountain brings you good luck, and
tossing a second coin assures that you will return to Rome some day.
Rejuvenated, we headed back to the train station, and boarded the 7pm
train for a restful ride home... Oops, wrong train! Without knowing
the difference, we had boarded a "regional" train, instead of an
"intercity" train. The difference is that a regional train takes
less time, makes fewer stops, and costs twice as much. We were
informed of this by the conductor, a lady who came around to check our
tickets. So we were given the choice: pay an extra 20 euros or
get off the train at the next stop and catch the next intercity train,
whenever it came. She assured us we would not be stuck out in the
middle of nowhere, but she really didn't know
when
the next train was due. We took a chance and got off the train at
the town of Orte, and after just 30 minutes we boarded the intercity train
to
Terontola. Another good lesson learned. It's all part of the
adventure!
~ Robert &
Jeanie
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