Settemana Bianca

Settemana Bianca, is White Week or ski week for us Romans. Instead of skiing, we enjoyed Rome a little and watched a lot of tv!

In between Disney programs, we went on a brief tour of the inside the Colosseum for the first time. The stories of fighting gladiators and animals was intriguing. Our guide likened the ancient fights to the death to our current fascination with violent entertainment.

We went to Ostia Antica to tour the ruins of a former port. It was really cool to see 2000 year old mosaic floors, statues, and paintings. After an initial glimpse at some old rocks, the kids enjoyed playing tag in the necropolis (tombs).

We also went to a nearby beach, which was filthy. Despite the trash, we had fun walking with Gaia along the water’s edge, collecting shells, and playing soccer among the rubbish.

At the end of the week, we celebrated mass at Santa Susanna Church instead of at our usual Marymount chapel. The church has a long history in Rome. It is located on the same spot as Susanna’s house, which served as a secret center for Christian worship as early at 280AD. The church also is home to the bones of 5 saints. It is full of elaborate paintings of bible stories and saints.


We also saw the remains of the Baths of Diocletian (huge complex!) and admired some of the many fountains in Rome, including the fountain of the playful nymphs at Piazza Della Republica.

today's tour of Old Rome

We spent the entire day yesterday at the pool and half of today. I convinced the kids to walk with me through old (not ancient) Rome this afternoon (promises of gelato get me pretty far). So, we started at Il Gesu, visted Santa Maria sopra Minerva, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona before having dinner at McDonalds. We then walked off our junk food up the steps of Santa Maria d'Aracoeli church. Our impressions all these places?

-IlGesu is elaborately covered in frescoes, paintings of suffering Christ, multiple chapels and tributes to Mary and much gold. Gold. Gold everywhere. It's a trip how much priests and Popes looted in honor of God.

-The Santa Maria sopra Minerva has an obelisk in the piazza just in front with one of the wizest animals I know-the elephant-and a quote that translates something like "it takes a strong mind to sustain solid wisdom." I must say that I love the mixture of Christian and pagan.

- The Pantheon is huge and very old on the outside and very new inside. The dome is spectacular...truly awesome.

- Piazza Navona is a very lively, large piazza with a huge fountain that represents the four corners of the earth. So, there we see four, twisted, naked men squirting warter from various orifices looking tourtured. It's actually quite beautiful and remarkable that it is about 400 years old.

- Santa Maria d'Aracoeli church was built for the Franciscans in the 13th century. It is said that on the spot where the church was erected, a Sybil foretold the coming of Christ some 1400 years before it was built. What we know for sure is that it has a lot of stairs leading to its doors!

10 days

In 10 days we'll be off to our new adventure in Rome, Italy. We're certainly not the first to make such a move, and it's been great to get information from many friends and acquaintances about what to expect. So to prepare, we've got many pairs of walking shoes, a hearty appetite, and an openness to the unexpected. Our going-away party also yielded a book of Italian epithets, a souvenir shirt from Palo Alto (our now former home), and cash to spend on travel toys and art. Our sea-frieght of photo albums, favorite knick-knacks, books, & toys, and kitchen stuff will arrive by October (we hope). And we're looking for villas to rent in Cassia, or the northern part of the city.

What more should we do to get ready?

My children (ages 11, 9, 5) have mixed feelings. The older two don't want to leave friends but look forward to Roma games (they're soccer fans); the younger is apprehensive about change. We'll see what happens. I'm very slowly learning Italian (Come sta?)...hubby is preparing for a new, exciting job.