Christmas Eve about Rome

Monday was Christmas Eve. In the morning Dee and Chiara walked down to Conad, the Chinese store, and the farmers market in our piazza. They had a great time, buying some Italian delicacies to try. The stores and their contents here are enough different from the US that it is always fun to show them to visitors. We sampled the food and then headed out to the subway to go downtown. The weather was nice, low 60s and cloudy. At one point it drizzled just a teeny bit for a few minutes, but even then it was very pleasant to be out. 

At this point I have a nice sequence of places to visit downtown that can be done on foot by those not faint of heart. We got off the subway at the Colosseum, which is always stunning to see -- you exit the subway stop with the edifice right ahead, filling up most of your field of view. From there we walked up to the Campidoglio (city hall), where there is a commanding view looking down on the Forum. Then we saw the Altare della Patria, a huge white monument for King Victor Emmuael II, known locally as the wedding cake, as well as housing the tomb of the unknown soldier. After that, about halfway through our walk, we grabbed lunch at a little place we passed. It was good to have a rest, some food, and a bathroom. Then we continued on to the Pantheon, followed by Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps. Along the way we bought some warm roasted chestnuts and enjoyed them, but Chiara was too full to even try gelato. By that point, having walked over two miles with lots of up and down, we were done. What I forgot was that walking to/from/into the subway itself was again nearly two miles, so no wonder we were tired.

At the Colosseum

Touching a column

The scale of the Colosseum is mind boggling, especially since it was built 2000 years ago

A Pope John Paul II lookalike on the street, complete with mannerisms!

Looking down at the Forum

A fountain in front of the Altare della Patria

  

Altare della Patria

Inside the Pantheon -- an amazing structure, well preserved

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Enjoying roasted chestnuts on the street

Throwing coins into Trevi fountain

At the Spanish Steps

I had ordered a 32GB SDHC card for Sorella Yanacallo's tablet. Amazon said it would arrive on Thursday, so my plan was to install it next Sunday. Instead, they delivered it to the mission office on Monday! The Thackers brought it home, so I can install it on Christmas day at the ward lunch. Amazon always amazes.

We spent the evening taking it easy at home, enjoying being together. For dinner I had some more of Dee's tortellini with pesto and chicken. We watched a few Dry Bar Comedy segments by Andy Woodhull on YouTube, laughing hard for twenty minutes. It was also the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 broadcast from lunar orbit. If you were alive then, it was an astounding and touching moment.  You can listen to it here. It will be interesting to see what they do to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing next summer. I was a huge fan of the space program as a kid, following and reading everything I could at the time. The whole thing still seems almost miraculous.

Merry Christmas to all! Next year in California...


Chiara tried Pandoro, which puts panettone to shame, IMHO. We also bought fresh mozzarella, mini breakfast croissants with a sprinkle of sugar, fresh wood-baked bread, and a befana! The befana is the witch who brings presents on Epiphany. It's a culture shock to see a witch in the Christmas season. Other surprises at the grocery store were frozen squid, flour sold in tiny bags of one kilo, and baking soda found near the water rather than in the baking aisle.

The weather was great. Chiara went in short sleeves, and I mostly took off my sweater. Doug wore a sweater and coat, but he feels the cold a lot more than we do. 

There were lots of street artists. One woman was carving dogs out of sand. Chiara was so impressed she walked over and gave her a coin. We should have taken a photo.

On the way home, Chiara said, "this metro is crowded." We smiled and told her it was not.