When in Rome...

All is well here in Texas. We're still having far more rain than usual (flash flooding!) which means that while the temperature is ramping up (getting close to 40, so is the humidity (ick). Our Friday nights sitting outside at the pub are more like a mass group sauna session! The dreaded lurgie has all but moved on leaving me with a residual cough that may be more force of habit than any great morbidity. Jo has survived her first few weeks of full time work at the Foundation and already knows the names and locations of more people than I do! She's fitting in really well and seems to be the "Nanny McFee" of our research group ;)

This post is horribly delayed for many reasons, including a general level of slackness and the fact that I have been poked and prodded for a few weeks by specialists, ending in minor surgery last Thursday to remove a breast lump. Looks like it's all ok but I get the results sometime this week so I'll keep you posted.

The other news is that Jo's parents are winding up their world tour with a stint here with us in San Antonio. They were supposed to arrive on Wednesday night after flying from the UK, but their flight out of Chicago (the last one) was cancelled! Leaving them bagless in a "Super 8" motel with red walls and far too many mirrors... The eventually arrived in San Antonio late Thursday, again bagless! Anyhow, all is well now and their bags have finally joined the party, and the rest if fodder for another blog entry!

However, back to Italy and the promised update on Rome. This is a tricky entry to write because we managed to pack so much into our six days there, so I'm going to be led more by the photos than anything else.

In short we spent the first 4 nights in a very mod but swanky hotel with a stunning rooftop pool but very odd rooms. You can check them out online - it was like living in an Ikea catalogue. The room came equipped with a huge lawn-green shagpile rug, a lamp contained within a big white balloon that blew up to a huge ball on the wall when you switched it on and fruity bathroom products in shotglasses...



We managed to get to the Trevi fountain at night, the Spanish Steps just before sunset, a full day at the Coliseum and Palatine Hill (my favorite) just wandering through all the ruins and a day at the Vatican. We had wonderful dinners (fortuitous timing for asparagus and porchini mushroom season!), lovely local wine and even some great cheese, olives and other deli delights from markets and corner stores. I had some wonderful coffee and even learnt (the hard way) how to order one at a proper Roman bar. We didn't get to the Pantheon (it was closed) but we did hit a great modern art gallery where we got to see a range of wonderful surprises including 'the wounded angel' (and some wonderful bronze sculpture which I never dreamed I would like!)

But I know that all you guys are really interested in are the pics so here we go...

We hit the Spanish Steps on a public holiday, destroying our plans of handbag shopping, but we had fun just wandering. Sadly the holiday meant the pantheon was also closed, but there was plenty of other stuff to look at!

A tiny Roman street in Trastevere on a lazy Sunday afternoon...

We had a great pocket guidebook, which is incredibly daggy and touristy of us perhaps, but it came in handy on more than one occasion!

A tiny grocer in one of the back streets

Aside from billions of tiny tiny cars, Rome was also brimming with vespas! I had such a craving to ride one but Jo wasn't so keen. I can just imagine how fun (and scary) it must be to fly along those tiny cobbled streets!!

We found this scene in a tiny back street while walking from A to B.

We decided that if we ever lived in Rome, this is the apartment we wanted to live in! Not only did it have a spunky shape and great outlook it had an amazing looking rooftop garden Gorgeous :)

This is part of the old wall surrounding Rome (I think)

The photos of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill might have to wait for Rome part 2 or this will end up being my most epic post yet!!