Ciao a tutti,
Well my first week in Italy is over. And I haven’t done too much, I think the main reason really is because I caught a cold/flu of one of the friends we came to Italy with. So I haven’t been feeling too well. In fact I spent all day in bed today because of it, since I’m all blocked up and struggling to sleep properly at night time.
Oh the joys of being sick, it doesn’t matter where in the world you are, it’s still going to screw up your day!
On Saturday we had a nice morning at the family home, then went out for the afternoon to catch up with a friend from London who was over for a week in Rome, as hi mother lives in Italy. So that was really nice to see him and meet his girlfriend who was here with him. We went to some places that I had never been too before which was really cool.
we met up at Piazza Cavour, which was just across the river from the Pantheon, about a 10-15minute walk from there. Matteo and I arrived about 1 1/2 earlier, so we could have a look around and take some photos, unfortunately the reality of Piazza Cavour, is that there is a monument, some public benches and some stairs to a building and that is it. It did have some cute fountains, which I noticed a gypsy looking lady tossing a coin into one of them. But I don’t think many people do that, as it wasn’t like being at fontana di trevi where the coins are over flowing!
fontana di cavour… I don’t know if it’s actually called that, there were two of them exactly the same.
Photo Credit: Matteo Castellani
The public building in piazza cavour
The big memorial.
At around 2.45pm we finally caught up with Roberto and Andrea, and went across the river more into la città! As we were walking we came across San Luigi dei Francesi or the French Catholic Church in Rome, From the outside it just looked like your usual churches that are everywhere, but from the inside it was incredible beautiful, (as all the churches here are anyway), they even had original artworks from Caravaggio and they were just stunning, I think that is definitely something that makes me love Italy so much more, the amount of amazing artists that came out of this country, and the amount of original artworks that are still in perfect condition that are around for all to see! I mean, I know a lot of people are quite stick in the mud about the artworks and gold statues and all the other fabulous items the catholic church possess, but what I don’t think they realise is that, yes they are already helping the poor anyway, and if they sold all their wonders, it would be a great loss to an already crumbling italian economy, for all the pilgrims and tourists that come to see these beautiful relics and paintings and artworks for free. If they sold them all, they would probably end up with a private collector, hidden away from the rest of the world to protect the item from damage, but at least this way, everyone that ventures to this bella paese gets to experience the wonder and awe of these items that have been around for hundreds if not thousands of years!
Inside San luigi dei francesi
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani
La bella chiesa
Photo credit: MAtteo Castellani
The inspiration of Saint Matteo – by Caravaggio
Then after la chiesa we around a few corners to a “special” coffee shop that was well known for being famous, called Sant’Eustachio. When we arrived there was already a line outside the shop. It’s rather a tiny little caffè for the amount of business they get, which was quite a pain, as it was very squashed once you finally made it inside the shop. But that being said, it was an adorable little caffè and I did enjoy a delicious un tiramisu caffè!
Waiting outside the caffè
Photo Credit: Matteo
Goodies that you can buy to remember the Sant’Eustachio!
Photo Credit: Matteo Castellani
When we got inside!
Photo credit:
Matteo Castellani
All the sweeties you can buy
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani
un tiramisu caffè
nom nom nom
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani
After we had our yummy coffees, we headed over to the ruins of Torre Argentina where they have the roman cat sanctuary, and wow what they do is amazing, as I’m sure anyone who has been to Rome, understands that there is rather a large cat epidemic, especially in the summer, and What the Torre Argentina Roman Cat Sanctuary does is care for the homeless cats, feed them, spay them, attend to their every needs. What they do is amazing! If we ever move to Italy in our life time, I will definitely be going there to adopt a cat. The cats are so friendly as well! And beautiful! The ladies that worked there were so knowledgable and helpful, I would like to go back if we have a chance!
Enjoying love from one of the many gatti!
Photo credit: Matteo Castellani
Afterwards, we all had to depart, it was nice getting to catch up with some wonderful amici in roma! After we got back home, Papà arrived, in fact he bet us home, as we saw him on our way back from town. We then went to his place, to catch up with him and matrigna. We enjoyed a nice meal at a little pizzeria, where they had karaoke, so I got to sing 🙂 hehe, that was quite fun! Then we stayed at their place on bunk beds. I claimed the top one! It was like I was having a sleepover as a child again! haha!
The following day we went to visit Nonni Anna and Alberto! And we had a delicious lunch, and then got to go through all the old photos of their family. I love looking at old photographs, so much history in them! It was nice to be able to look through them, and see similarities in the family! We then went to the mall, and then it was home time.
Unfortunately I have ended up with a slight la febbre, I slept horribly last night, all blocked up, constantly waking in the middle of the night, so today I spent all day in bed trying to recover, unfortunately Matteo is not a sympathetic nurse, (I think he thinks I must be faking it), but I said to him today, we are in Rome, and I love Rome, if I wasn’t sick, I would be leaping at the chance to go outside and explore the city. I didn’t want to eat much today, but nonna being nonna made me! She even brought me food in bed, she is such a sweetheart!
well this has literally taken me about 5 hours to complete thanks to the joy of the italian internet connection!
I hope we get to explore some wonderful sites tomorrow!
Ciao a tutti!
Anna