Once up in the morning and through our Kung Fu Panda 2 cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios) we are out for a small adventure. You would think there would be some sort of fabulous Roman cereal descended from the ancient world that has multiple health benefits...but there apparently isn't. Kung Fu Panda sugar Cheerios it is. No regular Cheerios in sight at the local Carafour Express around the corner. In fairness, we also had yogurt and bananas and, my new favorite, blood orange juice. Yum.
In case you want to know where we live, here is our apartment:
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Great apartment with a great location. Internet works almost all of the time and their are two toilets and three bedrooms (probably 2.5 is a better count). That's HUGE by Rome standards.
Our trip for the day comes straight out of Rome with Kids, a book we picked up beforehand. We are going down to Campo dei Fiori, across to Piazza Farnese, over to see the skull church (Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte), then under Michaelangelo's bridge from Palazzo Farnese, over to Palazzo Spada and back. Don't forget stopping off for pastries Forno Campo dei Fiori - supposedly the best bakery in town. Some highlights below.
Flowers in Campo dei Fiori - about a 10 minute walk from our apartment (15 with kids)
One of two bathtub fountains in Piazza Farnese. The kids love to play in/with/around fountains. We now bring "fountain backup clothes" on our excursions since they can and have gotten quite wet.
Hadden and Clara at the fountain in Piazza Farnese.
The upper roof area (I think there is a real architectual name for this) on Palazzo Farnese. Michaelangelo did this part as well as the third floor and big window on the 2nd floor. In Italian terms that means he did the 2nd floor and the window on the 1st floor.
The 116 bus drives through Piazza Farnese. This tiny bus seems to go everywhere you need. We call it "our bus", and "the magic bus" since it seems to be everywhere. It has to be this small to fit down the narrow side streets on which it drives. And in Rome, the rule is "if your vehicle fits...drive it there." Cars and scooters are everywhere. As a pedestrian (especially with 2 kids) you have to be on the lookout - head on a swivel...in football terms. On the plus side, drivers seem to be pretty good and generally avoid running over folks.
The left is from the door frame of "skull church", or more formally, Santa Maria dell'Orazione e Morte. The right shows the bridge Michaelangelo designed to go from Palazzo Farnese to the Tiber river. He never finished thus leading to his grade of "I" (in UW parlance, "incomplete").
This is Clara in the Palazzo Spada courtyard. Singing away. Apparently, because it's Rome, you can drive your motorcycle through the courtyard. So we had to watch out for a few of those in an otherwise peaceful setting.
Highlight of the day: playing with two old strawberries dropped into the "boobie fountain". Although you can't see it clearly from the shots (it's a TV-Y blog) the water comes out of the woman's breasts to fill the fountain. Poking the 2 strawberries with sticks was at least a 40 minute activity. Would have been longer if we had allowed.
In the evening Yvonne met a work colleague in Piazza Novana for drinks and Nona and Hadden went with and explored the Piazza - and ate gelato (a recurring theme). Clara and I strolled over later, viewed the Pantheon in the early evening and then joined up for dinner at a local pizza joint. There are PLENTY of places to get pizza in town.
Inside of the Pantheon at night.
Until later, Ciao,
steve
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