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| Came across this on our way to have coffee yesterday! |
Okay, I am way behind again. We are just doing too much to fully recap everything. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I am getting a little bored with the travelogue thing. So, here is a quick rundown of 10/13/10 and 10/14/10 and a funny story.
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| Via Margutta |
Wednesday Dom still was not feeling 100% so we decided to keep things light (ha!). We took a couple of cards from our 50 Walks in Rome deck and explored some more of the Centro Storico. The only noteworthy spot we discovered was a street near the Spanish Steps—Via Margutta. In a little courtyard off of it can be found the location of Gregory Peck’s apartment in the film Roman Holiday. However, the entire street (it is only five or six blocks long) is charming. There is lots of ivy climbing up the palazzo and across the power lines so that it looks very sylvan. Many of the buildings are a faded terracotta color. There are interesting shops and at least one hotel that looks quite expensive. The street is definitely a hidden gem.
We also went to the Vittoriano complex and saw the Van Gogh exhibit that just opened there. It was a good overview of his career and the pictures displayed did an excellent job of showing how his style evolved. The audio guide was also good but too long.
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| View from Piazzale Garibaldi on Janiculum Hill |
On Thursday we explored the Janiculum hill and Trastevere. We took two buses to Piazzale Garibaldi on top of the hill and discovered the wonderful view of Rome from up there. We just missed the noon cannon that is fired off every day but really enjoyed picking out all the famous sites from afar. In Trastevere we discovered the Museum of Rome in Trastevere where there was a wonderful exhibit of photographs from 1850-1900 showing scenes from incidents key to the battle for Italian Unification. There were paintings showing Rome street life as it was in the late 1800s and a number of life size dioramas showing different aspects of Roman life such as a tavern scene, a pharmacy scene, wine being delivered, etc. I always forget how picturesque Trastevere is until we get there. The narrow medieval streets are very photogenic so I took lots of them. An exhibit at the museum of very modern pictures inspired me to try to see things a little differently.
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| Trastevere |
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| Trastevere |
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| Trastevere Garage |
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| Trastevere Medieval House |
While we were riding the bus to the Vatican area on Monday Dom got very excited about a “REALLY big bird” he saw across the river. I looked out expecting to see an eagle or hawk or buzzard but did not see anything. A little while later he points out a billboard and says, “There’s the bird I was talking about.” I am completely puzzled because I don’t see any sort of bird perched on the billboard. He keeps saying “It’s on the billboard.” I am beginning to think he is seeing things because there is not so much as a pigeon perched on that billboard much less a BIG bird such as an eagle or hawk. Finally, Dom makes me understand that he is talking about the PICTURE of the bird on the billboard.
Now I am really confused because the picture is a cartoon rendering of a penguin. “That’s the bird I saw across the river,” Dom says. Now I think he must be losing it because there is no way he saw a live penguin in the middle of Rome. I just say “Okay” and we drop the subject.
On Tuesday, on our way back from Frosinone, we drove across the river to pick up our laundry. As we are passing by a large sports complex Dom exclaims, “There’s the bird I saw the other day!” I burst out laughing because what he was pointing to was a giant blow up version of the cartoon penguin on the billboard. All this time I thought he was talking about a real bird. Everything he said suddenly made sense. I thought it was all hysterically funny as did Dom once I explained what I had been thinking.
Yesterday we got off the bus near the giant penguin so I was able to take pictures. It advertises a seasonal ice rink that is set up there. We are still laughing about the “really big bird.”
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| "Release the penguin inside of you" |
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| Dom and the REALLY big bird |
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