Just another magic monday

Howdy! I think I've finally caught up with myself! Yesterday, we had a lazy day. It was really hot. In the afternoon, though, we went out to the park. Not just any park, but the park Sabrina used to go to, where she learned to climb trees and ran around playing as a child. It's also a Baroque (broke?) villa, called Villa Doria Pamphilij. IT IS HUGE!!! My dad says it is 180 hectares, or about 450 acres. WOW! Anyway, we had a nice afternoon. When we got back, we washed off and went out to have pizza and pasta with one of Sabrina's old friends from school. She has a little boy my age and we played at the park before and after dinner. Afterwards, we walked around a bit in the neighborhood called "Trastevere," which is right down the hill from "Monteverde vecchio" where we live. There was a street performer, clown type guy, in Piazza di Santa Maria in Trastevere. He asked me to participate in his show! Dad took a couple of pictures, but it was dark. You can get the idea, anyway. I played a bull at one point. It was FUN!! Here are the pictures:

When we got there, we stopped to rest (it's about a 20 minute walk from home). We saw this ant super-highway carved into the dirt!

Here is the "Rome" of the ants; all roads lead there!

An abandoned fountain in a grotto seemed like it was missing a piece. So I jumped in to complete the picture! :-D

This is the "secret garden" of the house called "Casino del Bel Respiro". It looks like a maze, but my dad says it's called a "parterre." Neat!

This is me acting with the street performer in Trastevere. He was from England, but he spoke Italian. Very funny! :-D

I'm the bull and he is the matador!

A weekend trip to the countryside

On Sunday we got up late and drove out to Sabrina's aunt and uncle's countryside house near Manziana, which is close to the Lake of Bracciano. We had a nice big lunch and played with Sabrina's and Michele's old toy trains and blocks. It was fun, and not nearly as hot as in Rome. In the afternoon I went with Sabrina and dad to see the old castle of Bracciano, officially called: Il Castello Orsini-Odescalchi. Apparently Tom Cruise got married there... :-/ Anyway, it was really cool; especially the rooms with the arms and armor. I want some real Spanish armor for my birthday! (hint-hint ;-) Here are some pictures from the countryside and from the castle:

Zia Raffaella got out the lawn-mower and we had a race! My friend with the hat on the back is Alexander, the nephew of Sabrina's cousin Stefano's new wife, Katya.

The view from the gate, going up the entrance ramp...

At the castle. The bear is the symbol of the Orsini family, who had the place built.

Wow!!

This is the "secret garden" which looks out over Lake Bracciano. Beautiful!

A night at the museum!

On Saturday we spent the evening at "Trajan's Markets". Trajan was a Roman emperor who conquered Eastern Europe (Dacia) and built a column in the Forum with the story carved on it. His markets have been restored and are really cool to see at night, when it's not boiling hot! Here are some pictures:

A view from the old Roman street alongside Trajan's Markets.

Knock-knock! Anyone home?

Hanging out in an old taberna with dad!

All hail the emperor Aidanus!

The view from on top of the markets, down into the Imperial forum.

They had this crazy fashion exhibit in the "Imperial Forum Museums". Who knows why, but check out the cool hats!!

There were also some cool statues...

And some neat clothes!

Check out this hat! ... hmmm... ??

A Wedding in the Morning and the Vatican Museums at Night!!

This past Friday, we went to Sabrina's cousin's wedding. They got married in Saint Salvatore in Lauro, then had a really amazing reception at Palazzo Brancaccio. It was lots of fun! Especially because they had SO MANY DESSERTS!!! YUM!! After taking a nap when we got home around seven, we went to the Vatican Museums at night, between 9 and 11. There weren't as many people and it wasn't hot! IT WAS AMAZING! I had an audio guide for kids, and my guides were Dante, Michelangelo, an Angel, Mercury, and an Egyptian... it was cool. At the end of the itinerary was the Sistine Chapel. The ceiling and the altar wall were painted by Michelangelo. It was really amazing because we got to see it empty, without people, because we went late at night, and waited until they closed it. You can't take pictures, though, so I guess I'll just have to use my memory!

Me and Sabrina after the wedding. I like dressing fancy!

Looking for a taxi to take us home!

Saint Peter's dome from inside the Vatican.

A bronze statue of Hercules.

The famous sculpture of Laocoon and his sons. Wow!

Me in front of a statue of a Molossus. There was another one just like it on the other side of the door to my left...

The famous painting of the School of Athens in the "Raphael Rooms," all painted by Raffaello Sanzio.

On the Aventine Hill!

Another afternoon last week, Sabrina took dad and me to see the Aventine Hill. We saw the Basilica of Saint Sabina, the Piazza of the Knights of Malta, and the Garden of the Oranges. In the square there is a door that, if you look through the keyhole, you can see the dome of Saint Peter's at the end of a row of trees. We were lucky. They were delivering food to the Knights of Malta, so we got to see it with the door open!! We weren't able to see the Villa of the Order of the Knights of Malta (where there is this cool church that Sabrina wanted to visit), but it was cool anyway!

Sabrina and me in front of a relief made by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who she studies!

You can't see St. Peter's dome in this picture, but it was there, at the end of the hedgerow! Cool!

At the "Giardino degli Aranci" I had fun playing with some other kids! 

We got wet!

FUN!!

Around Rome!

During the afternoons this past week, dad took me around and showed me some cool places. We went to the old Jewish Ghetto, where dad used to go to school. Then we went to the Pantheon and to the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which is really beautiful! The Pantheon was awesome! One afternoon we took a walk on the Janiculum, down the street from where we live. There are a lot of statues there of Garibaldi and his "mille", which is important this year because it is the 150th anniversary of the Italian nation. But it is really cool there (because of the shade) and because you can see all of downtown Rome (by the way, my stepmom went to elementary school there). From there we went to Saint Peter's, but since there was a papal audience, there were thousands of people who wanted to see the church. We took pictures from the outside and will hopefully see the inside soon. It was too hot to wait in line for hours!!!

This is the obelisk in the piazza in front of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. It's called "Il Pulcino della Minerva". It was mounted on top of the elephant statue by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a famous Italian sculptor.

Here is the hole (or "oculus") in the ceiling of the Pantheon. Why is there a hole? I don't know. My  question to dad, though, was "Do you think a bird has ever pooped in the Pantheon's hole?" :-D

This is the view from the Janiculum. The white building in the distance is the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II (who is buried in the Pantheon), aka the "Vittoriano", the "Wedding Cake", or the "Typewriter". 

Who is this cool guy hanging out in the shade of the Janiculum? ME!!

This is Piazza San Pietro, or St. Peter's Square. It was boiling hot and full of people!! 

Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli

On Sunday, after getting to Rome on Saturday, we went first to the market at Porta Portese, which is just down the stairs from our house here. We got some sun glasses and a few things for me. There was a ton of people!Then we had lunch (I had bucatini all'amatriciana), and headed to Tivoli for the afternoon and evening. After walking through the ruins of the Emperor Hadrian's summer retreat, we had a sandwich and stayed for an evening performance of Le cirque invisible (a French surrealist circus). I was my first trip to the circus and I had lots of fun!

This is a nice picture of me and dad.

Oops! I went into a forbidden area!

Me on a bench in front of the Canopus.

Me posing as an Egyptian statue in the Canopus.

Taking a break at the lookout tower, Torre di Rocca Bruna.

This was an old old old olive tree. 

Taking a break, we had a laugh in the ruins!

Sabrina showed me a game to play with the poppies: "Gallo gallina pollastro pulcino!"

Me and Venus hanging out at her temple. She lost her head!

During intermission at the circus at Villa Adriana later that evening---as you can see, it got colder!

My first evening in Rome.... in Garbatella!

After a 4 and 1/2 train trip from Bari to Rome with my Dad, I rested some and then went out to spend the evening in Garbatella, where there was a street festival to celebrate local culture. Garbatella is a neighborhood in Rome, which is really neat, with small villa-like houses. My dad lived there his first time in Rome, and it's his favorite neighborhood. While we were there, we ran into Sabrina's cousin, Annalisa, who is a murga performer (if you don't know what murga is, check it out here!). After they were done, Annalisa let me try on everyone's hat, and play the drums. I ate a sandwich with porchetta, ice cream, and cotton candy. I had lots of fun! A few days later we went back there to have dinner with Sabine, our friend from South Bend, at a place called "Tanto pe' magnà"--they make traditional Roman food, which is really yummy! Here are some pictures of me in the murga hats:

This hat is Annalisa's handmade hat!

This is another handmade hat (Annalisa and Sabrina are in the background).

I'm in Italy!

Since my birthday.... a lot has happened. I finished school (and got good grades too!) and as you can see, I've gone to Italy for the summer. I spent two weeks in Matera with my mom, but now I've been in Rome with my dad and stepmom (Sabrina) for about a week. We have done a lot of cool stuff, so keep reading! I have another seven posts (with pictures) to do!