Birthdays

Our little puppies, well not anymore, will turn 4 years old this coming week.

Imagine four years ago, we went shortly after their birth to Capena a small town just a few kilometers outside of Rome, a suburb by today's standard. Capena is famous for being in antiquity a town for wealthy Romans who had villas. Marcus Tulius Cicero (the father of lawyers) was one, Livia, Empress of Rome, mother of Tiberius and wife of Augustus, also had her famous summer villa at Prima Porta.

We had heard, I do not remember how, of the Casa degli Orsi, (the house of the bears) which is a breeding kennel for Wire hair Dachshunds and for Saint Bernard's, two very different breeds of dogs.
The kennel is owned by a well known Veterinarian Dr. Massimo B. and his wife Tiziana who have won many trophies and awards.

We loved the farm or kennel, lots of big trees and meadows and old stone farm house, there was also a big pool full of Koi fish. The two bitches who were with their litters were inside the house. The puppies being new born still had their eyes close and were very small, smaller than my hand. Tiziana picked up one little female puppy and then went over to the other box and picked up a little male. The two mothers looked alarmed and kept an eye out so that their puppies would not be harmed. When she returned them to their respective boxes the mothers licked them, checking that nothing had happened to them.

The male dogs who fathered the litter were kept outside in a pen with the other wire hair dachshunds.

With Will at the farm in Capena, left Nora and right Nicky at 6 weeks.

We decided then to adopt the two puppies and left them at the farm to return 6 weeks later to pick them up. We also had to think of a name for them, in Italy you cannot give just any name to your dog, there is a complex registration process and papers have to be filled out, it is as we say ''la bella face''. We had a contest on the internet and a friend came up with Nicky and Nora as in the 1940 movies about Nick and Nora Charles. It was explained to us that both dogs could not have names starting with the letter N, so a device was invented to go around this rule.

Our Nora before her grooming session at the Salon.

Nora close up in 2010, Rome

So our female dog was named Eleonora della Casa degli Orsi, we call her Nora for short. Her father was Hungarian, Erik Ligetfalvi, her mother was Italian and named Lucy.

Nora was born on 19 February 2009, feisty even has a new born with a hunting dog mentality, very independent.

Our Nicky, we named Fantastico Nicky, born 23 February 2009. Both parents are Hungarian, the father was Indian Catullus and his mother Filomena Catullus. Nicky is not a hunter more of a show dog  like his father, life is a catwalk, very vain, he knows he is beautiful, how can dogs know this, he knows, its his Italian side, all style.

Fantastico Nicky groomed for his birthday on Saturday 23 February.

We got proof of origin for pure bred dogs (Hungary) and registration of birth in Italy and then permits were issued by the province of Lazio (Rome) with their Health Certificates. We being the owners had to provide proof of identity and our Codice Fiscale or tax number. They also got their European Union international chip inserted when we went to bring them back to Rome.

This is by far my favourite photo of Nicky in our den at home in Rome on Via dei Villini.

The trip back to the City down Via Tiberina and then Via Salaria in our car was comical, Nora was happy to go and settled quickly, while Nicky whined all the way for 25 minutes, very unhappy to leave his family and the farm. It turns out that Nora has a large vocabulary of sounds to tell you things and will bark at you to indicate different things that she wants. While Nicky whines, he does not bark unless he is upset about something and it is usually one sharp bark. He may give a low ominous growl as a warning but that is all. He can also tell time, per example 7am is breakfast time, 17:35 is dinner time and 22:00 is bedtime, if you forget not to worry he will remind you. He is very precise about such things, we just find it strange. I suspect he as a little watch like a Piaget hidden in his kennel.

Nora and Nicky on the ancient Via Appia, posing by a funeral monument in the Spring time, Rome.

Happy Birthday to our little Dachshunds who bring so much joy to our life.

Ides of March

Well today is the 15 March, the Ides of March, fateful day in the Roman Calendar when Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Portico of the Theatre of Pompey (Piazza Argentina today), where the Senate was meeting. In all 27 blows only one was fatal all witnessed by Marcus Tulius Cicero who was sitting opposite him. Just think had Caesar listened to his wife and his friends and had not gone out without his bodyguard, none of this would have happened. In fact we know today that almost everyone knew something was going to happen at the Senate meeting, the plot had been uncovered the night before. Caesar walk the short distance from his house in the Forum to the meeting, he wore red leather boots because he had been acclaimed by the army as a great commander (imperator), a purple tunic bordered with gold. The world we know today would be a very different place for sure, probably no Emperors and a different outcome for Rome. Ironic really Caesar died at the foot of the statue of his political nemesis Pompey the Great, who had been killed in Egypt just a few years prior. His nephew Octavian who was only 18 years old was named in his will as heir. He had his uncle deified and a temple built to him in the Roman Forum.

in Winter in Rome

Rome is a city which lends itself well to la passagiata or a promenade in the numerous parks or back streets in the many neighborhoods of the city.
In the old Suburbia (below the centre) of Rome, which is a neighborhood as old as the city itself just behind the back wall of the Temple of Mars the Avenger built by Octavian Augustus, to thank Mars for the deadly revenge he had on the assassins of his uncle Julius Caesar, you will find Via dei Serpenti and a little narrow cobbled stone side street Via della Madonna dei Monti. No tourists here, North Americans might be afraid to walk down this little street at night, though there is little danger, it is mostly a quiet residential street.

From the street you would not be able to tell that this is the site of the Ice bar, located inside a building of the 17th century. The Ice bar is made of solid ice all of it, the bar itself, the shelves, the furniture and the glasses all solid ice. It is minus 5 C inside and you have to wear gloves and a thermal cape to keep you warm. It is a great deal of fun, but after 30 minutes you start to feel the cold and it is time to walk out. We then went for dinner next door in a lovely restaurant la Taverna dei Fori Imperiali. The name recalls the time in antiquity when Taverns were on every street corners and the neighborhood Gods where kept there. They were also neighborhood clubs were fraternities met, had a meal and a drink. See their web side www.latavernadeiforiimperiali.com

Then on the weekend on a bright but cold sunny Sunday we went to walk on the Via Appia. This is probably the most symbolic road of Imperial Rome, First built by the Censor Appius Claudius in 312 BC,as a military road it ran all the way south to Naples and then later was extended to Brindisi. Little did he know that this road would become so famous, today it stand in a large green park with old mausoleums and other reminders of Imperial Rome. Almost everyone of note walked or rode this road, Cicero was murdered on it by the men of Mark Anthony, every Roman legion walk up and down it, Spartacus and thousands of his followers were crucified along it as a reminder to all that no one defied the Senate and the people of Rome, it is said that St-Peter met Christ on the road and St-Paul also walked along it, St-Sebastian is buried here.

It is so peaceful with the wonderful cedar trees rising high into the sky, and to walk on the old stones thinking what they saw and witnessed through the ages. Makes you humble to think that this road has seen countless generation of men come and go.
As you walk away from the city walls look to your left and there you will see some of the great Aqueducts who for centuries carried the water to the Eternal cities, the Aqua Marcia is still operational and brings water to fountains in Rome to this day.

Also not far from the road, you can see the spot where Caius Martius Coriolanus, the banished hero of Rome met his mother who having learned that he had turned against Rome and joined the Voslci and was about to attack the city, shamed him for his treason, by asking him, is this my son who raises his hand against his country?

The Via Appia use to start at the Capena Gate which is located near the Circus Maximus but with the expansion of the city and the building of the city walls by Marcus Aurelius the Via Appia now starts at the Appian Gate known today as the San Sebastiano Gate. Just a another beautiful walk and when after all this fresh air you feel hungry, you can stop at a restaurant near the great Tomb Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella.