Settling in

Today has been bright and clear in Rome and, to my mind, not all that cold - certainly not cold enough for either gloves or scarves.  Granted, I was out the door well past mid-morning after a lazy start to the day and several cups of coffee so the sun was well and truly up.

I'm very happy with my apartment.  The sitting room, which looks out over the piazza, has lots of squashy sofas for lounging and reading, and the light streams in from the tall windows with a view opposite to the local museum, the Rome Museum of Trastevere. 

By day there is a pleasant hum from people walking through the square on their way to Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere.  At night the local bar, the Ombre Rosse, is a popular spot for drinks before people head out to eat.

I've hooked up all my electronic devices to the WiFi so I've been able to skype Jim and talk with friends.  It's super-easy to blog at the kitchen bench or at the bedroom desk, and this is where I envisage I'll do most of my italian homework (when I'm not out communicating by touring, eating or shopping, that is).

Trastevere has it's own market, San Cosimato, which is a smaller version of the Campo dei Fiori.  At the moment there are artichokes, blood oranges, fennel, brilliantly red tomatoes, apples and leafy green kale.  I'm itching to make some sicilian caponata with the beautiful black eggplants and red peppers, or maybe an eggplant parmigiana?  Easy to exist almost entirely on vegetarian dishes here.  The produce at San Cosimato is perhaps half the price of its neighbour at the Campo dei Fiori.

Sari, the owner of my apartment has put in (for Rome) a large kitchen, with lots of good equipment for cooking and eating.  A window near the sink opens out to a sort of little conservatory, with climbing plants winding their way up along the grillwork.  Watering these requires a bit of acrobatic work involving standing on one of the kitchen stools and leaning out over the tiny ledge.

Leading off the kitchen is a long and narrow bathroom with the usual bidet.  I don't know any non-italian who is comfortable using the bidet aside for foot washing or cooling wine! 

When I arrived yesterday, I dutifully unpacked all my clothes, hung them up and stored my suitcases so I'm really settled in now.  I'm finding the bedroom is a very cocooning space, with an entire wall of books and a built-in desk opposite the window, and tons of cupboard space and storage.

Today I've had an easy sort of a day, finding some beautiful black knee high boots to replace my several-season's-old pair.  I managed to talk to the shop owner in rudimentary italian, which is encouraging.  It's one thing to be understood by a patient tutor and entirely another to converse in everyday living.

Topped off with further italian at lunch locally here in Trastevere at La Tana de' Noantri, my first bucatini amatriciana and a couple of glasses of Corvo white wine, it's been a great first day in Rome.

 

Time to get serious about the language

Anyone who has suffered listening to me rhapsodise about Italy, and in particular Rome will know that I have skirted around the edges of learning the italian language for about twenty years.  I've listened to language tapes, gone to classes, bought various text books and generally been full of enthusiasm without the necessary follow through.

Twelve months ago I decided to get serious about learning italian and bought the Rosetta Stone software, which is an 'immersion' program that promises to deliver a level of fluency.  This doesn't work on its own (not for me, anyway) but in addition I discovered the Michele Thomas language tapes, and also found two language tutors who've been helping me learn the basic grammar.  I've struggled with masculine/ feminine nouns, verb conjugation, past/present/future/gerund/ imperative tenses and started to form rather clumsy sentences.

Next step towards fluency is three months real immersion in Italy and I'll be taking a full term with the Leonardo da Vinci Scuola here in Rome until the end of March.  Jim is joining me half way through and we're hoping to enjoy a few weekend excursions out of Rome to further the language exposure (and food, wine, architecture and all things italian).  Cross fingers I'll actually nail the language this time :-)

So here I am, back again in my favourite city and staying in the Trastevere district.  My apartment is on a little square called the Piazza San' Egidio and it's a very comfortable, one bedroom book-lined and wood-beamed space that looks out over the square.  Down in the square are two restaurants, a museum and a bar.  Around the corner is the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, which is very picturesque; lined with sepia-tinted buildings, it has the requisite important fountain, and course houses the ancient church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.  I can hear the church bells from my apartment sitting room window.

On my first evening here, I took a walk through Trastevere, past the Santa Maria church and on to the Ponte Sisto bridge.  The sun set at around 5.30pm, and the Tiber, and St Peter's in the distance took on a rosy sunset glow.

The christmas lights are out in abundance.  Along the Via Ballauri strings of lights and stars can be seen stretching some way towards the Campo dei Fiori.  I passed on through the Campo Piazza, said hello to the Bruno Giordano statue and crossed over the Corso to Piazza Navona.  The square is packed with stalls for the Christmas market, and especially the little figures of the witch Bettana in time for Epiphany on January 6th.  In fact, the piazza is so crowded with stalls it's almost impossible to see Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers.

Thankfully the Pantheon square is free of merchandising and people were still milling about at 6.30pm, getting a last glimpse of the interior before the doors close at 7.30.

By now the long day has caught up with me and I'm back at my apartment, central heating on, enjoying being comfortable with a G&T and a simple dinner.   It's very exciting to be here and school starts on Monday, which means a little revision on the weekend and some more walks through the city.

Hopefully this beautiful clear weather lasts - its cool but not cold and my tweed coat has been too warm for walking today.

Buona notte all :-)
 

Rome

Blissful to be here in Rome. Our apartment is on the Via Banchi Vecchi, between the Tiber and the Campo dei Fiori. It's a comfortable, first floor place with a typically Roman kitchen (small and cluttered), a light-filled bedroom, tiny bathrooms and a lavishly furnished lounge room. There's some nice cafes and wine bars close by.

Lizzy and Sarah arrived last night and we had a late dinner in the Piazza Navona before finishing off with gelati at the Pantheon.
Today we've been to the Borghese Galley, and Spanish Steps and Trevi. It's rained all day and we're all a little damp, but will catch up later for dinner at the Pancrazio, a restaurant that houses remains of Pompey's theatre in its basement.

Jima and I are off to meet Sari, the owner of my apartment in Trastevere next year, for a quick hello. We had at look at my language school yesterday and it looks like a great place to study the language. Next year's study plan in Italy is seeming like it's really going to happen!

 

London again

We leave London tomorrow morning for Rome. It's been a great week here, most of the things on our 'to do' list have been checked off!

The National Portrait Gallery today - a great couple of hours, though again, missed the earlier works up to the 1700's. Simply not enough time in one visit.  Great additional works of the London olympians and the BP National Portrait Prize but I loved the Bloomsbury era and the pre-Raphaelite painters.
A long walk for us too today, though Kensington, Hyde and St James parks. Another wish this trip - to see the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Park (a gift by J M Barrie in 1912 and one that 'magically' appeared overnight).  The parks were alive with dogs, people strolling, runners, kids on scooters.
Earlier this week we saw Tim Minchin's Matilda at the Cambridge Theatre, which was an absolutely delightful production with lots of Roald Dahl original humour in the story. Great reception from adults and kids. We had an early dinner at the NZ restaurant Kopapi with some good Sauv Blanc from the region.

Explored the Borough market (below are the huge pans of paella ready for lunch), walked along the Thames to the Golden Hinde at Southwark, and on to the Globe Theatre.

All in all a fantastic week!

London

We are living very comfortably in Palace Gardens Terrace, near Hyde Park. Our terrace flat looks across to identical white Victorian-fronted buildings as far as the eye can see.

Just down the road are Kensington Gardens, which in turn becomes Hyde Park, then St James Park.

The past two days Kensington and Notting Hill have been alive with Europe's biggest street Festival, which celebrates world cultures with street parades, ethnic food and dance. The area is absolutely teeming with revelers and performers and it's one big party on the streets.

At midday we made our way through thousands of people to get to Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace and on to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. London weather is overcast and we've had some light rain, although things cleared up this afternoon when we took an open-topped bus through the city, passing the Tower Bridge, London Eye and the Temple, Cleopatra's Needle and the Embankment.

Tomorrow - the British Museum and particularly the Egyptian collection. Some of Carter's finds from the Tutankhamun expedition are housed here. Excited!

Marazion, Cornwall

Today we trekked five miles to St Michael's Mount along the coastal path.

The castle rises up rather dramatically from it's granite outcrop and is only accessible by foot for around four hours a day when the tide uncovers the causeway, allowing adults, kids and dogs to cross. (I have to mention the dogs as they accompany their families everywhere in the UK - we've seen them on the decks of riverboats, under tables in pubs and at most places where people gather.)

We reached the causeway by about 2.15 in the afternoon and around 3pm the path was dry enough to cross.  We had a steep climb to the upper reaches and our leg muscles were screaming.  Amazingly tropical plants abound on the island, as the granite rock heats up during the day and keeps the plants going through the cold nights - the gardens are really beautiful, as of course are the views back to the mainland.

Below is the mount from the coastal path, looking up at the castle from the island, and looking back to see the causeway with lots of people crossing.  We were a bit footsore last night and had to hobble over to the Admiral Benbow pub for a few restoratives before dinner.

Bath and Stonehenge

Today we are on our way to the western tip of the UK - Penzance - after three days in the old sandstone city of Bath.

Our first view of Bath is of a village of honey-coloured buildings clustered around the River Avon.  As it's late Summer here, there are a lot of boats out on the river; mostly the brightly painted narrowboats that can navigate the Kennet canal. From the window of our guesthouse we can see hot air balloons floating above the valley.

 

On our first day we visit the Roman baths in the city centre where historians believe the Celts enjoyed the natural hot springs as far back as 860BC, before the Romans came along and developed the site - hot and cold baths, ingenious piping,  mosaics, the odd temple or two. That's the 'other' J.C. seen here presiding over the baths.

  

On a day mixed with rain, sun, cloudy and sunny skies we take a trip out to Stonehenge and navigate the stone circle, listening to conjecture about the significance of the 5000-year old site. I'm leaning towards the ancient calendar theory - it seems the most likely reason to arrange the stones on the Salisbury Plain, enabling the sun to shine through the sequential arches in the circle. Dotted around the site are burial barrows, small mounds where human ashes, animal bones and trinkets for the afterlife were interred.