Monday Holiday in Rome

Today is a Canadian holiday so I have the day off and a beautiful day it is. We visited with Nancy de Concilliis, who has lived in Rome for 40 yrs and has one of the best walking tours in Rome. All exclusive spots off the beaten track and quite different from what the crowds go to see. She is also a professional and has a sense of humour.
Today we went to the Aventive Hill which has 2 spurs with both ending in cliffs above the Tiber river. We took the metro to Circo Maximo ( the ancient roman chariot racetrack) and got off there. This is where the FAO ( food and agricultural agency) of the UN has its HQ. We then walked up the hill to Santa Sabina which is a 4th century church this was the first church we visited today with Nancy. We then visited San Alessio, who is believed to be an Eastern Saint next door and then San Prisca. All 3 buildings are of the same age about 1600 years old. But only Santa Sabina has kept the look inside and out of the old Roman basilica style. So when you walk in, it is as it was all those centuries ago, you are stepping back in time. This is also the church where Saint Dominic lived and worked all his life, today Dominican friars tend the place.

The 3 churches are also built on top of once private roman homes, once owned by the Saint after which they are now named. Sabina, we known little about her, except that she was a wealthy Roman lady and her house was a meeting place for early Christians. This church is amazing because the doors of the Church are carved wood and have miraculously survived to this day. In the top left panel of the door is one of the very first representation of the cruxificion. It is rare because the cruxificion only becomes a widespread symbol of Christianity in the 7th century. Seeing these doors alone is worth the visit. The inside is austere and offers a glimpse of imperial roman style for temples and other buildings. It was so peaceful and quiet.

San Alessio next door to Santa Sabina is another church built above a private house which legend says belonged to Alessio's parents. He was amongst the first hermites and left his wealthy parents and his bride on his own wedding night, only to return 17 yrs later. No one recognized him and he worked for his wife and parents incognito, living like Harry Potter under the stairs until the day he died. Only revealing who he was on his death bed, the Pope canonized him because Alessio symbolized humility.

Santa Prisca is a church which in the 1500 was modernized by Pope Sixtus, unfortunately today it looks like he vandalized the church removing magnificient early Christian mosaics for reasons that are not clear to us. Only one large panel remains today and it is magnificient.

We also visited the Rose Garden of Rome in what was once the Jewish cemetery of Rome (1546 to 1934). Mussolini had the cemetery moved out to make for a green park overlooking the Circo Maximo. Today it is a beautiful rose garden with thousands of different rose plants, all blooming now in the bright roman sun.

It has been almost one month since the puppies, Eleonora and Nicholas came to live with us in Rome from the Farm in Capena a few minutes outside the city. This week both will turn 3 months old, first Nora and then Nicky. They are going next Saturday to the Vet for their second series of shots for their health. Will see how that goes.

Well needed update

It has been a long time since I have updated this blog. Reason was that I was trying to arrange the blog into something I wanted and finally it is coming together. I am happy with the new look and will try now to post regularly instead of using Live Journal has I have so far. I could have 2 blogs I suppose. Let's see this as a new beginning.

Christmas in Rome

Borrowed from my friend Larry in Rome who lives near the Old Appian Road. These calculations are intriguing on how we came about having a date for Xmas, thanks to all those people in the Vatican or at St-John Lateran who thought this up.

The Proclamation of Christmas from the Roman Martyrology.
In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year
of the creation of the world

from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth;
the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood;
the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham;
the one thousand five hundred and tenth year
from Moses 
and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt;
the one thousand and thirty-second year from David's being anointed king;
in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;
in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;
the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome;
the forty second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus, Imperator;
the whole world being at peace,
in the sixth age of the world,
Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,
desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming,
being conceived by the Holy Spirit,
and nine months having passed since his conception,
was born in Bethlehem of Judea of the Virgin Mary,
being made flesh.

Now in Rome

I have been living in Rome for 4 months now. Life is pretty good, cannot complain. Had a wonderful bottle of Sauvignon blanc Vulcaia 2005 from the Veneto tonite at my favorite wine bar Trimani on Via Goito. This was after an evening at the opera.
What a nice city to live in. I am not complaining.

A description of my self in a Tarot Card

You are The Devil

Materiality. Material Force. Material temptation; sometimes obsession

The Devil is often a great card for business success; hard work and ambition.

Perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major arcana, the Devil is not really "Satan" at all, but Pan the half-goat nature god and/or Dionysius. These are gods of pleasure and abandon, of wild behavior and unbridled desires. This is a card about ambitions; it is also synonymous with temptation and addiction. On the flip side, however, the card can be a warning to someone who is too restrained, someone who never allows themselves to get passionate or messy or wild - or ambitious. This, too, is a form of enslavement. As a person, the Devil can stand for a man of money or erotic power, aggressive, controlling, or just persuasive. This is not to say a bad man, but certainly a powerful man who is hard to resist. The important thing is to remember that any chain is freely worn. In most cases, you are enslaved only because you allow it.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

House sold

Yesterday the last paper was signed with the people who are purchasing our home. I was a bit sad and apprehensive. I was wondering will they take care of this place we worked so hard to improve and maintain. I had grown attached to it. Though I find that a silly attitude after all it is just a building, this house represented history of the small village where we lived and though I did not live long in it, I spent a considerable amount of cash renovating it and keeping up its historical appearance. Now we have to move on. I don't think I will buy another house or condo just yet. Will take a wait and see attitude. For now the priority is elsewhere. Now on to sell the car and some furniture.