“Ciao” from Italy. . .

Where we’ve found ourselves happily busy. . . we landed and settled in last Saturday evening.

Since then, on Easter Sunday we walked through Trastevere to the Vatican (one day; two countries!) and saw the top of the Pope’s head over tens of thousands of other heads; we couldn’t hear him, at that distance, but knew he was giving his “Urbi et Orbi” message and that we were included in his blessing. (Couldn’t help wish I could tell my Mom and Dad that.) If you haven’t already, you can see photos and video on my Instagram page where I’ve ben posting regularly — it’s a much easier platform than the blog, better suited to the sporadic moments I can find between activities.

But rain has changed our evening plans, so I have time to share a few photos here as well, if I keep words to a minimum . . . Postcard style . . .

Easy to keep up our training for next week’s Via Francigena walk. The least I’ve walked since getting here was a 7-kilometre day; the most 15! And I’ve been shapping shots on my iPhone as I go. . .

Monday: Walks across grassy fields with umbrella pines and ancient aqueducts (more photos on IG). And afterward, lunch at one of those serendipitous finds on the way back to the car — authentic, casual, really good local dishes with friendly, down-to-earth service. Full of Italians, always a good sign. . .

Tuesday: We had a full day with our granddaughter that included following clues to find a (virtual) treasure at the Colosseum (that’s her tying her shoelace in the photo below — we were trying to sort out the intersection of the Arch of Titus and the Arch of Constantine, and she’d done ten or twelve perfect cartwheels on those cobblestones between all those other feet and bodies!). Again, more on this adventure over on IG. (I’m happy to recommend the Trova Trails app we used for this — no remuneration received; just spreading the word about a great product developed by a mom who lives in Rome, a friend of my daughter’s.)

With her, we ate some favourite food at a favourite spot — refuelling for the afternoon. . .

(and on the way, she spotted and recognized Fontana delle Tartarughe (Fountain of the Turtles) from our visit with her last year! — way to make “i nonni” happy!). She and Granddad went for gelato later while I had a nap. Hey, a Nana gets tired!

That evening, after sharing a pizza just down the hill, we had a night at the opera . . . two operas, actually, Puccini’s The Cloak and Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, at the splendid Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. Paul snapped this photo of me, and I shot a video panning the gorgeous theatre from our box while the orchestra was warming up.

That was our busiest day here.

Yesterday — Wednesday — was more relaxed. We met our daughter and g’daughter for breakfast and then visited the nearby Protestant Cemetery again. Last year, just a few hours before my purse was stolen, I’d sketched a favourite statue there,

William Story’s Angel of Grief. I know I was quite pleased with my efforts, and since the sketchbook was in the stolen bag, the sketch has only improved in the ensuing months. In my mind’s eye, at least.

So this time, I filled five or six pages with sketches of sections, from different angles, some in pencil, later outlined in ink, some directly in ink with my fude nib. For example. . . .

Again, for me, this kind of sketching in situ is such a different experience from simply looking or from taking a photo. It folds time and space together, distilling them into marks on a page that trigger memories in surprising ways. The sharp blue of the sky, the warmth of the sun (and the cool concrete in the shade of the towering umbrella pines, their dark green, the pattern of their bark. Conversations with curious passers-by (although I try to avoid most of these, some are persistent and sometimes enjoyable chats ensue).

After the cemetery, we walked to a bookstore (and then another) in search of a giallo (Italian mystery novel) my Italian Book Club will be discussing, beginning later this month. Then lunch in a charming restaurant in a square with a big old oak tree, followed by more ambling . . . That evening (what? only yesterday?) we strolled through Testaccio, just down the hill from us, for a light meal of delicious street food

And, oh, there’s just something about that light. . . .

Today, Thursday, we’d thought we might have the morning with La Ragazzina, and another Trova Trails adventure, this time at the Pantheon, was on the agenda. But she needed some downtime, and I had a list of possible places to visit in “found time.” Only a 20-minute walk from us, in Ostiense, the brilliant museum Centrale Montemartini houses a wealth of stunning artifacts — ancient statues and mosaics and furnishings and wall coverings unearthed in Rome at various periods — in a converted power plant. Yes, something like The Tate Modern in London, except that here we have a provocative interaction between ancient and modern — both monumental and ambitious in their own way.

Scale and juxtaposition of material and theme, most provocative. . . and can be disarming, moving, the oscillation between grandeur and intimacy. . .

More on this later, when I’m back home and can think more about the photographs I took. Why so many, and what caught my attention in each. Some I’m hoping to be able to sketch later (and, in fact, I sketched some of the marble heads today — watch for those sketches to show up on IG eventually).

For now, though, the rain might be letting up a bit. . . or, if not, we’ll soon be hungry enough to grab our umbrellas and take our chances.

So bye for now,

Wish you were here,

xo,

f