May 27

Owen and me in the (restored) garden of a perfumer - who grew olives for oil and basil, lillies, and violets for scents. . . They also had rosemary and lavendar growing now. The lararium (shrine for the household gods) in the garden was dedicated to Hercules.
"Caveat Canem" mosaic at the doorway of a Pompeiian house
temple of Apollo in the forum of Pompeii
oven
ruins of Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background
Owen "chop, chopin' aspar'gus"
Pompeiian
Pyramus and Thisbe
Venus in a conch shell
gas station on the sidewalk of Naples


Yesterday we visited Pompeii, about a 1/2 hour train ride from here. We spent the entire day wandering through the large, ruined town and taking a bit of shade in the nineteenth century gardens interspersed throughout the ruins. We had a picnic in the garden of the house with the painting of Pyramus and Thisbe. Owen enjoyed several long breaks to pick up junk and pretend with it. He cooked asparagus and hamburgers at one rock using sticks, pebbles, and some broken palstic. Later on we overheard him pretending, "I have to go to my very old buildin'."
We learned that Pompeii had remained a greek colony until 80BC. (It was destroyed in 79AD.) We also learned that it was supposed to have been founded by Hercules on his way back with the cattle of Geryon, one of his 12 labors. The name is from Pompe, Greek for parade, because he paraded his cattle through the town.
After a long, tiring day, we really enjoyed dinner at a local diner - sauteed mussels (Owen loved these), grilled veggies, grilled meats (pork, sausage, and beef), grilled seafood (some sort of fish, octopus, and squid), green salad, and local red wine.

May 26

parked cars - Nope, not a driver in site!

street marketBATH time!


We left Rome for Naples this morning. The train we took for this leg of the journey had compartments (like the Hogwarts Train!). This made it nice for Owen to run up and down the car a bit and work off some energy. We arrived - money in money belt and suitcases locked - and checked into our hotel just across the street from the station. We have been warned that Naples is a rough town, but people here are exuberantly friendly. It is by far the nastiest place we've been, and I am glad we're not driving! Double, parallel parking seems to be the norm, and I have absolutely no idea how they get out. Do people just wait until the person/people blocking them in comes back?
Owen got a good, long, cool, on-the-bed nap, and Abram found a street market with wonderful and affordable fruits and vegetables right behind the hotel. I started getting these posts pasted into the blog and pictures uploaded. After naptime, we found a park for Owen to run in. Then he cooled off watching the "video-show" (Star Trek the Next Generation episode) with Abram while I did some laundry by hand - attempts at finding a laundry having been unsuccessful. Owen had his first real bath since we left home; we have a bathtub in our bathroom here! He has had showers and baths in the sink but no soak in the tub and get the grime out from under your fingernails baths. Yay for bathtubs!

May 25

goddess (Isis?) nursing
The Nile
Swiss Guard talking to a nun outside St. Peter's
fountain in Piazza di San Pietro

St. Gregory's 6th century libraryone of many public water fountains that run continuously
Owen at playground of Villa Caelio Monte


We spent this morning at the Vatican Museums and passed through the Sistene Chapel. Owen did really well riding in the carrier and looking with us. He, of course, requires a lot of engaging, but he really likes picking out animals or people on the objects. He was a bit confused by the
leaves covering many of the penises on these statues. He got a LONG nap in the
carrier on me before we had lunch.
Afterwards, we went around to Piazza di San Pietro where Owen played in the
fountains, and we all took a quick tour through the Basilica of St. Peter. Then we
headed back to the monastery to drop off our things and stretch our legs at a much
nicer park than the one from a few days ago up the hill a bit. On the way we learned
a bit more about the monastery and saw part of the library built between 535 and
536 by St. Gregory.
While Owen played in the sand and fought fires (one of his favorite pretend subjects
these days), Abram looked after him, and I picked up supper from a deli. The first
grocery store I tried to go into at 7:55 turned me away because they closed at 8. The
next one listed 8 as their closing time, but they were still gladly serving new
customers in the deli and greeting them as they entered the store at 8:20 when I left. I
clearly do not get it.

May 24

Baths of Caracalla

interior of baths with intact mosaic floorsVia Appia
Villa of Maxentius - circus turned hay field
Capitoline Wolf
Theater of Marcellus
interior of Pantheon

This morning we walked over to the Baths of Caracalla. The baths once covered 27
acres; they were built in the early 3rd century AD by emperor Caracalla who, after
assisinating his brother, gave all inhabitants of the Empire citizenship. The baths
were a HUGE public work for all the people of Rome. It took 9000 men 5 years to
build them. There is quite a bit of the structure still standing and there are some
very large, colorful floor mosaics still intact. Owen liked the large open spaces where
he could run.
After quite a wait, we caught the Archeobus down the Appian Way. We got off at the
Tomb of Caecilia Metella. Then we walked back toward town to visit the ruins of the Villa of Maxentius, who was succeeded as Emperor by Constantine (the Great).
Owen picked up hay from the circus which had been recently mowed. Heading
closer back to town we tried to visit the Catecombs of St. Cecilia, but alas, we arrive
around 12:30, and they are open 9-12 and 2-4. What is it with a 5 hour work day? At
least they had their hours posted; we have found countless establishments that seem
to open and close randomly with no posted signs. Often places are closed after lunch
time, but that is not always the rule.???
We caught the Archeobus back into town and were dumped at the main train station
while the driver and attendant had a 40 minute break – no warning that the route
was not continuing on its regular circuit! We felt rather gypped out of the 20 Euros
we paid for the bus as they were very infrequent, the head phones (for the audio
commentary) were testy, and they didn’t keep running.
We took our sleeping baby, boarded the metro which is dependable, and went to the
Capitoline Museums where, among other things, we saw the Capitoline Wolf with Romulus
and Remus and the Dying Gaul. Owen woke up to recognize all the penises on the
statues; he pointed them all out for us. The pieces in the museum, like many things
here were sorely lacking signage. If there was identification, it was generally
translated into English which was nice, but many, many pieces, and whole rooms
lacked identification. We have noticed a general lack of interpretation and
identification at other locations, but its absense was particularly noticable in such an
important museum.
We walked by the Theater of Marcellus and to the Pantheon then headed back to
Trastevere for some Indian food Abram had noticed on our walk last night. We
picked up some things for breakfast (grapefruit, salmon, dried tomatoes in olive oil,
and grilled zucchini with olive oil) at a grocery on the way. Of course they weren’t
open until 6:30, so we walked to the Piazza of S. Maria Trastevere where Abram and I
took turns looking inside the church (which we hadn’t been able to do last night) and
playing with Owen in the Fountain. Owen finds fountains like he finds parks! The
inside of the church has an amazing mosaic completed between 1140 and 1143 –
Mary and the adult Jesus at the center of a dome over the altar with lots and lots of
gold tiles. We also learned that much of the marble in the church was "mined" from
the Baths of Caracalla.
On our walk back home, we walked over the Tiber Isand, then over the Capitoline
hill past the modern capitol building of Italy. Owen pointed out the Colosseum for
us, and as we rounded the corner, he announced, “I see my monastery!” He was also
informing us as we walked that he is not a cat because he does not have wiskers and
has two legs.

May 23

San Gregorio in Caelio
San Gregorio in Caelio Monastery courtyard

Roman Forum
orange tree on the Palatine hill
Owen getting some rest at the Colosseum
all of us inside the Colosseum

After opening up a birthday gift from Abram and Owen (who announced, “I have a pretty necklace,” as he handed me the box), this morning we made our way to the Colosseum - I mean Flavian Amphitheater – where we decided to pass on the long line and then to the Palatine Hill and Roman Forum. We had intended to do a walk from a book we brought but it proved too difficult as many areas seem to be closed (though they seem to be open at other times). It was very sunny, hot, dry, and dusty. Did I mention that it was dusty? These places take a LOT of imagination, and I was glad when we headed out for some lunch. Owen got a nap in the sling as we walked by the Imperial Fora across the street from the Roman Forum – you know how malls go out of fashion and new ones get built, right? There’s nothing new under the sun, they say. Then we headed back to the now less busy Colosseum with our combination tickets. After Owen woke up, he enjoyed running around and looking out from way up high.
Then we caught a bus over to Trastevere which means “across the Tiber” river. We successfully did another walk from the same book and enjoyed the bohemian side of town. We noticed lots of children with families and lots of children at restaurants – something we have seen very little of here. People have mostly been very polite and playful with Owen at restaurants, but they are just not set up for kids at all – poor little thing has to stand up to eat because almost no one has booster seats or high chairs. I digress. We saw a building that onced housed a secret synagogue, numerous churches, and Santa Maria in Trastevere, the first church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The current building, started in the 12th century, is really interesting. It has hundreds of very early Christian monuments and some statues included in its facade – just sort of stuck to the wall and plastered around – whole or broken. A quick bus and metro ride back, and we were ready for showers to wash off that dust and bed.

May 22

view from our monastery room
view of the Palatine Hill over the Circus Maximus
Owen winning the race at the Circus Maximus - Daddy is clearly not so fast a horse as Owen.
seafood salad for lunch - octopus, shrimp, squid, mussels, olive oil

Orthodox Baptistry
San Apollinare
San Apollinare mosaic of Ravenna
exterior of Theodoric's palace
interior portion of Theodoric's palace
interior portion of Theodoric's palace - a great place to run!
returned, restored mosaic fragment in Theodoric's palace
Owen climbing the spiral stairs of Theodoric's palace
view from Ravenna hotel

We are headed for Rome (from Ravenna by way of Bologna). The countryside here is very hilly and quite picturesque. This morning we visited the ruins of the 5th century Palace of Theodoric the Ostragoth a few steps from our hotel, the tomb of Dante whose bones have wandered about over the centuries, the Basilica di San Apollinare Nuovo, and the Orthodox Baptistry. The palace housed a number of original, restored mosaic remnants; the Pope had allowed Charlemagne to gut its decorations in the late 8th century for his new palace at Aachen in modern Germany. The basilica is very close to the palace ruins and was originally the personal chapel of Theodoric; among the other mosaics, there were scenes of Ravenna and the palace in its full glory. We found Ravenna very easy to get around by foot and still see all we wanted to.
. . .
Our accomodations in Rome are at the Monastero di San Gregorio al Celio. We are on the Caelian hill, facing the Palatine Hill and within 2 minutes walking distance to the Circus Maximus and the Colosseum (or as Abram informs me, the Flavian Amphitheater). It looks and feels much more like I expected a monastery to be. You enter through a gated courtyard, and you wind around through halls that look out onto other court yards. Pope Gregory the Great sent out St. Augustine (not the famous one) out to Christianize the Angles (of England) in the 6th century.
After checking in, we found a rather dirty park for Owen to stretch his legs then let him run in the Circus Maximus which is open and serves as a large public park.

May 21

Arian Baptisty dome
Mausoleum of Theodoric the Ostrogoth
Basilica di San Vitale
Ravenna park

mosaic in Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

sleeping baby

Today we headed to Ravenna. We found a small park outside the train station at Farrara between Padua and Ravenna, and afterwards, Owen slept well on the train. We visited the Basilica di San Vitale, the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia, and the Arian Baptisty to view the most amazing mosaics from the 5th and 6th cenury. We also visited the Mausoleum of Theodoric the Ostragoth (early 6th century). Owen got to stretch his legs and get sand in his hair (and everywhere else!) playing over an hour in a huge public park near here. We enjoyed dinner at little trattoria: craklings (or some sort of pork rinds) yum!, risotto made with stock and red wine, mixed grilled meat including sausage, pork ribs, steak, and a thin strip of very fatty pork with sauted eggplant, and chicken. This was by far the best (and fattiest!) meal we’ve had so far. We walked about a bit before turning into our hotel which was certainly a 3 star establishment, as advertised – the computer for internet access didn’t work, nor did the shower drain, and the remote control for the AC was gone. To their credit, they did allow us to hook up our computer in the lobby, let us shower in the “private” bathroom two floors up, and replaced the remote.