Wandering aimlessly around Trastevere has become my favorite pastime here. It is such a lovely, old part of Rome. It has become touristy, but is still so authentic a neighborhood that it feels like home. Doesn't the term "wander aimlessly" sound so much better than "being lost"? I don't have to worry exactly where I am because I'm on vacation, right?

Sunday is flea market day at Porta Portese, which is just a couple of tram stops from me. You can, quite literally, walk for 2 hours and not come to the end of it. Clothes, shoes, household goods, antiques, etc., etc. The photos I took are from the sidelines because you can see nothing if you actually get in the thick of it.

My favorite part is this: there are tables here and there with piles of clothes for 1€. That's about $1.50. Too fun. The next time I come I will bring only one change of clothes and hit the market for all the things I will need for my stay. Seriously! It's too fun. Crazy, but fun. Some things are new and some are used. You can get heavy coats for 3€ or 5€. I got a really cool pair of dress shoes (used) for 3€. I am going to have to be really creative when I pack to return home because, though I have plenty of room, my luggage was close to the weight limit when I came. Hmmmm. My carryon backpack is going to be mighty heavy.

I got cussed out in italian for the first time today. I'm not exactly sure what he said, but it was clearly dramatic. I was walking between two tables and knocked over 2 shoe boxes. I was picking them up and this older gentleman came screaming at me and motioning for me to just leave. Now, I was totally boxed in and would have been happy to leave, but couldn't get past people. I just smiled and said, "I'm sorry, I don't speak italian. I don't understand what you're saying." He was not happy. I also got to briefly (pun intended) meet my upstairs neighbor when I knocked on her door to return her panties that had fallen from her clothesline onto my porch. She was sweet.... just laughed and said thank you, thank you.

Look at this picture of one of the many, many pastry shops I have to walk past every day. It's just not fair. Everything looks so good and, trust me, it tastes even better. Between pizza, gelato, and pastry every block, I may have to be one of those fliers that has to purchase an extra seat due to the fact that I won't fit in just one. Goodness.

As I was walking tonight I happened upon this cool group of kids playing in a piazza. There is always someone painting, playing accordian, singing, playing guitar, etc., on various spots in exchange for coins. There are also beggers at every church, on the trains, some busses, etc. This group was very good....... talented, colorful, energetic. Their instrument case was filling up quite rapidly as there was always a crowd around watching them. I enjoyed them. When I walked back toward home about one and a half hours later they were still going at it. Dancing, clapping, singing, and playing. I loved it.

Gionicolo

Today was an introspective day, so bear with me while I ruminate. I began the day by climbing many steps to reach Gionicolo hill, which is a spectacular hill within comfortable walking distance from my apartment. The hill overlooks Trastevere and ancient Rome with breathtaking views. The hill is green and lush with a variety of parks, walkways, and benches. As I stood there pondering the beauty of Rome many thoughts came into mind. You may not realize it, but, based on our Florida/fantasy world standards, Rome is quite dirty. There is litter around and graffiti everywhere. The city is old and you can always find scaffolding beside buildings. I realize that this is what I love about Rome - what Rome teaches me about myself and about God. I touched on this in an August blog post about why I feel drawn to Rome. It sort of expanded today. I had thought that there was value in finding beauty amidst the ruins and that it paralleled God's ability to find beauty in the ruins we sometimes create. That God looks beyond the ruin and sees beauty. I think that was wrong. I now feel that the ruins ARE the beauty. That, when one (be it person or city) lives - truly lives - there is ruin, messiness, and constant need for repair. When you open your arms to life.... to people.... you will most certainly get gritty and make mistakes. It's similar to gray hair or lines on the face as we age. Why try and erase the past? One doesn't tear down the past, one must work within the history to reinforce it. The history is what makes it beautiful.

What do you think? Do I make any sense at all? To me, Rome is real... it is so alive that it makes me feel more alive. Someone recently asked me if I get lonely here. Sure, I do. But I get lonely at home, too. Being alone has its challenges just like sharing your life does. I refuse to stop living because I must do it alone.

After I had my fill of Gionicolo, I listened to another podcast and took a walk through the Jewish Ghetto. I so enjoy these little walks that I downloaded from Rick Steve's website. They are informative, interesting, and encourage me to explore areas that I would otherwise overlook. The history of the jewish people in Rome is a testament to the tenacity of these people. Amazing and beautiful. This photo below is of the main synagogue in this area. I didn't realize that the synagogue has a square dome rather than a round one to differentiate it from a church. I thoroughly enjoyed my time listening to the podcast while walking through this area of Rome.

One of my silly favorite things in Rome are the water fountains. They flow freely all of the time and the water is refreshing and fine for drinking. Okay, here's the trick. Look closely at the picture below and notice that the spout looks sort of like a big nose. Right? Well how does one drink from it without kneeling down? If you stick your finger across the bottom where the water is coming out, it stops the water flow and forces the water out of a hole where the "nose" bends and you get a stream of water shooting up and out like our water fountains. If you look real closely, you can see the hole. I always make a mess, but love drinking this way.

So, that's it for today. There is a 20% chance of rain tomorrow and it goes up to 40% or 60% for the few days after that. Tomorrow I will stay in Rome, but then I plan to spend a few days chasing the sun by taking some day trips. I hope to see Naples and/or Capri (where the weather is supposed to reach the high 70's... uggghh) as well as just hopping the train and heading south and getting off where it looks interesting. Ciao!

Campo De Fiori by day, Lost by night

This first picture is of my street. Trastevere is a bit like a maze because it consists of narrow streets with tall buildings on either side. It can be difficult to get your bearings.

I headed out this morning to shop for produce. Here are a couple of pictures of the stands at Campo de Fiori. It was very nice and not too busy. After getting some yummy, colorful produce, I found a supermarket and got milk, eggs, jam, and bread. Of course, I could have gotten the produce at the supermarket, but it's too fun to find outdoor markets.

I headed home to put away my purchases and picked up my mp3 player and a map of trastevere and took a guided tour (via podcast I downloaded at home) through the streets of Trastevere. It worked very well and was easy to follow. I learned lots of information about the history of many things I would normally just walk past. I stopped off to pick up a Donar Kabob to go for lunch at home. I discovered Donar Kabobs on my last visit and they are beyond good. Hard to describe, though, because I don't know what type of meat it is. It's roasted on a big spinning skewer (like our Gyro meat, but not the same type meat) and served with lettuce, cucumbers, cabbage, tomato, onion, some white sauce and a little hot sauce. You can get it on foccacia bread, on a plate, or wrap. I saved half the meat (they are huge) and am eating it now at 10pm while I post this.

So... that brings us to tonight. I was planning on heading across the river to central Rome and grab a few night pictures of popular sites -- maybe Trevi Fountain, Coloseum, etc. Well, I decided to walk in the opposite direction for awhile (this began about 5:30) because it was just about fully dark and I wanted very dark. As I walked, things became unfamiliar and sparse. I kept thinking there would be crowded streets and shops just around the corner. I ended up totally lost for 2 hours. Like really lost. Not one shop or restaurant in sight. There was lots of traffic, but nothing to tell me where I was. I ended up on some highway with exit ramps and everything. Not on my map at all. I was beyond relieved when I saw a bus that said "Termini" (the main terminal in central Rome). I hopped on and, even though termini is the opposite direction from home, I knew I could find my way from there. I got on the bus about 7:45. It took until 9:30 to get home. Needless to say, no pictures for you tonight. We'll try it again another night.
Tomorrow I meet at Campo de Fiori with Franco for my italian lesson and his english lesson. I want him to explain what some of the produce I was unfamiliar with. According to the weather forecast, the next 4 or 5 days are to be sunny and warm. Should get some nice pictures with clear weather. I will head off to Orvieto by train probably Thursday.

Rainy day 1 Rome 2010

I arrived safely in Rome on a rainy day. It is about 7:30pm and it has been raining since I arrived 12 hours ago. I was able to find the right bus from the airport to Trastevere and then very easily found Federica and Franco's apartment. They are the owners of the apartment that I have rented. I dropped my luggage with them and explored the rainy streets of Trastevere for a couple of hours until my apartment was ready.

The apartment is lovely. It is quite clean and has everything I will need for my stay. I posted a couple of pictures to give you just an idea of what it's like. The bed is unmade, but you get the idea. I took a 30 minute nap before venturing out.

I walked to Santa Maria di Trastevere where there was a church service going on. Today is All Saints Day. I am only guessing that that's why there was service on Monday. There were also many beggers, umbrella salesmen, and tourists. As is true of most churches I've visited in Rome, it was ornate from floor to ceiling. Between services (which is when I took some inside photos) there was a children's choir singing. Their voices were very beautiful.

It began getting dark today at about 4:30 and was completely dark before 6pm. Their time changed just a couple of days ago, but it feels strange to be dark so early. It will be fine with me, though, because it has been a long 2 days of travel and orientation, so I'm happy for an excuse to turn in early.

Tomorrow I plan to go to Campo di Fiori where there is an outdoor market each weekday to stock up on some fresh fruits and vegetables. Because today is a holiday, the markets were closed so I've had one day of only airplane food and one day of italian "fast food" which mainly consists of pizza and panini. I'm looking forward to fruit for breakfast and salad for lunch.

In case you didn't know, the characters on an italian keyboard are organized differently than ours, so you would be amazed at how much I've had to backspace to fix my many mistakes.
I feel like I'm just learning to type.

I'll fill you in on what I find tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some sun - things look so much prettier in the sun, don't they?