What remains to be seen. . .

Americans abusing monuments--what a cliche!

Monday, 9 July, 2012

Today is Monday in Europe.  Many museums are not open today, so we adjusted our schedule.  We walked to see several things we had not seen yet.  Our trek began with a small church near the Piazza del Popolo.  It was only open until noon before a four hour siesta break.  Sure enough, at noon, some guy came through saying “closed, closed!”   Then we went to the Piazza del Popolo.  It has a huge obelisk in the middle (probably the work of the illuminati!) with lions spewing water out their mouths.  Everywhere in Rome (Italy, actually, but Rome is the worst) are the men walking around trying to sell things and some of them won’t take no for an answer.  Usually, avoiding eye contact or saying “no” while looking in their eyes works.  But today, one gave me three of the roses that he was selling, I tried to give them back and say ‘no’, but he said, “yes, yes, gift” and refused to take them back then engaged me in a conversation.  Then he pulled a thin string bracelet out of his pocket and I refused but he said no, no, just from me to you and tied it around my wrist, then did the same to Shelby.  Well, now he asked me to get my husband’s attention, and I said, no, he won’t give you money.  So he got his attention, and, of course, Randy wouldn’t give him any money so he asked for the roses back and left.  They are everywhere--often getting in your way.  Most are selling roses, scarves, and umbrellas and these light up slingshot things at night.  Then, of course, are the sellers of fake designer purses, designer sunglasses, dancing magnetic dolls, wooden bowls, and every kind of art.  Then there are the wagons with multitudes of cheap souvenirs everywhere and performance artists.  Yikes!  Oh--and don’t forget the beggars prostrating themselves over half the sidewalk with a cup for coins and often a holy card.  But anyway, I digress....

This was inside the church--creepy-huh?

The 10 story obelisk in the Piazza

Some of the monumnets in the Piazza.  The park is behind that terrace at the top

Then we walked above the Piazza del Popolo to a large area containing many parks and walked for awhile, then took a break to do a pass-around story.  The children love these, and we do them most often on vacation.  Those are the stories that one person starts, then passes it on to another person, sometimes right at a cliff hanger that the person has to be creative to continue.  We go around many times until someone ends the story.  Sometimes they get silly (there is still the legacy of Steve the Cracken and his girlfriend Betty the Hammerhead Shark) but Randy insisted that today’s contain no magic or fantasy.  

In the park

After the relaxing park, we walked through an old section of city wall, past the famed Harry’s Bar, and down the Spanish Steps.  They are huge, in several different sections, and end down at a fountain.  

The Spanish Steps

Then on to a museum of Leonardo daVinci that Joshua was dying to go to.  It had some models of some of his sketches, some that were just to look at, and some that you could turn, or move.  The children loved that it was interactive, and Joshua loved that it was daVinci, one of his idols!  He did a presentation on daVinci’s life in second grade (complete with timeline) and enjoyed seeing models of some of the things we read about when he was researching his presentation.

DaVinci's design for a carillon

This is an armored tank--4 people to move it, 4 to work the weapons

Flying ideas

Back to the apartment for a rest and a visit to our favorite internet cafe to upload our last two blogs (they were closed yesterday).  Today they insisted that Randy buy a drink, so first he nursed it while using the internet, then I did.