Now, back to Italy. Here are some random shots that I thought you might enjoy. Above, an ancient Roman mosaic from the National Museum of Rome at the Palazzo Massimo. I love the cat; she reminds me of Sookie, our fearless hunter kitty! (Cats are the subject of my Friday post, so stay tuned!)
While wandering around the church of S. Rocco in Rome, we came upon this dog who was asleep, and practically dead to the world. (This one is for AL!) It was quite interesting to venture into all these churches and to see how many people milled about, took pictures, or prayed. 
I love this shot. We went up to the fortress in Spoleto but still couldn't see the famous bridge below. While descending from the town's stronghold, I almost tried to scale the walls, I was so desperate for a view. Finally, I peered through the slits in the walls - for the archers - and got this shot. Thankfully those medieval builders were very strategic in their defensive architecture! 
Mom and I searched and searched for the Roman amphitheater in Spoleto until we figured out it no longer really existed - houses had been built on top of it, like many other amphitheaters, in the Middle Ages. The only thing left of it is the outer city wall and the curve within it. Judging from all the graffiti, this is where the local youths hang out at night. 
Our last view of Spoleto, seen from the train bound for Rome. We climbed all the way up to the fortress!! I think, just maybe, all the walking helped balance out all the gelato.
And what flavors of gelato were consumed? Well, let's see.... Stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate chunks, my absolute favorite by far!), strawberry, lemon cream, mango, milk chocolate, mint chocolate, strawberry yogurt, yogurt... I really meant to try the pistachio but ran out of time. I guess I'll have to go back!
I know I said to expect pictures of Italy this week, but I wanted to write this before I forgot anything important! I bought The Concubine's Secret, by Kate Furnivall, in the Rome airport to read on the ten hour flight home. It's the sequal to Furnivall's action-packed The Russian Concubine. When I got home, I learned that the book I had bought is selling under a different title in the US: The Girl from Junchow.
Furnivall has picked up Lydia's story where she left off... Lydia has left 1930s China with two companions in search of the father she believed to be dead. In reality, her father has been a Russian prisoner for ten years, held by Stalin for his engineering abilities. He has been forced to create a weapon that would kill thousands.
Meanwhile, Lydia's love, Chang An Lo, fights for a Communist China. Lydia has lost her mother and left behind her love; her pain is great but she is hopeful for her father. The search for him is dangerous and no one is left untouched by Stalin's merclessness.
Furnivall keeps the action flowing at a reasonable speed and, truthfully, I read for probably six hours of our flight. I had only a few pages left and I finished those last night. I have no idea why Furnivall is so focused on 1930s Communist countries as they're not exactly romantic settings. Her The Red Scarf was brutal in its descriptions of labor camps. But I will keep reading because her strong, intelligent female leads are a delight.
I get amused at bookseller's attempts to sell "summer reads" - which they say should be light and fluffy. Furnivall is not light nor fluffy. After reading her, though, you will have a newfound respect for the human spirit.
I'm home from Italy and given the lack of blogging material, you'll be seeing more pics from the trip in the week to come. It was a great trip - a tiring trip - but I saw (and ate!) so much. Mom and I went to Assisi during our sojourn in quiet Spoleto and it was just as beautiful as I remember - and more crowded!
The flowers were in bloom - oleander, geraniums, roses - making the steep streets gorgeous!
Of course, part of the charm of Assisi is the view of the valley below. The old part of Assisi is perched on the side of a hill, three miles from the train station in the town below. I was super proud of Mom and I for figuring out and taking the bus (totaling all of 3.80 euros) instead of an expensive taxi. We were quite the frugal travelers!
The attraction of Assisi - the reason pilgrims crowd the streets - is, of course, St. Francis. The basilica built to house his remains would appall him (he was such a simple man) but this was how the Church chose to honor him - a man who breathed new life into a struggling, corrupt institution in the Middle Ages. It's ironic that this basilica, in Assisi, is the only property owned by the Vatican outside of Vatican City.
I've never seen so many pilgrims - and tourists - as there were at Assisi that day. The last time I was there, it was a quiet, sleepy town. It seems, however, that Assisi is now in vogue in Italy. There are more religious souvenir shops than ever before.
It saddens me to see the first friar turned into a money-making machine. Everyone wants a part of this man - or, at least, everyone wants to be able to say they've been to Assisi. Anyways, mom and I visited almost every church in the city and we walked our legs off! Then, once were again in the town below, we walked from the train station to S. Maria degli Angeli - the church that houses the church Francis rebuilt, and the place he called home. This place is almost more moving than the great basilica. To step inside Francis' church is always a humbling, thought-provoking experience.
And that was our day in Assisi.
Sunday was Ostia Antica day and boy was it a day! A long, hot, interesting day in Rome's old port town. A scholar from UT (Austin) has been excavating at a synagogue found in the city, and he gave a group of us a very nice tour of the town. Above, one of the many beautiful mosaics that's survived two thousand years.
Here, you can imagine a road lined with shops. Above the shops, apartments. Apparently the upper apartments were the cheapest...and the hottest.
Doniamarie amidst the ruins. 
The Capitoline temple was huge and built for the patron gods of Rome: Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva (I think). A very impressive sight!
A public latrine. Beneath the toilets was a steady stream of flowing water. Those Romans were very inventive.
My first poppy sighting, growing in an old Roman wall!!
This mosaic is from one of Ostia's baths (sorry, I can't remember which one!). Just amazing!
And here is what our UT guy (Michael White) has been working on - the synagogue. The only way to tell it's a synagoge is the menorah (look closely!). How incredible is that?!
One of our lasts stops was what I was waiting for: the mithraeum. Though Ostia has fifteen of these temples dedicated to Mithras, this was the only one we got to see (most are not open to the public). This mithraeum was beneath a bath complex and has this incredible statue of Mithras slaying a bull.
Yet another amazing mosaic. I love the swimmers!
I've never walked so much in my life as I did at Ostia but it was worth it. Just incredible! And only 1/3 of the town has been excavated!
Yesterday was a bit unexciting compared to some of our earlier days and I just don't have the energy to post more church pics. So, instead, you're getting some randomness from Rome. Above is a beautiful building on the Palatine. I have no idea what it is, but it was pretty!
The Arch of Janus in the Forum Boarium. On the walk back up to the Capitoline we saw a policeman directing traffic. When a man tried to turn right when the rest of his traffic was stopped the policeman threw a fit, blowing his whistle and telling him to back-up. It was hilarious! To see Romans being chastised for their horrific driving! Ha! We think traffic was stopped for some bishops - at least I saw some bishops in the ensuing motorcade.
At the Capitoline Museums, the famous she-wolf of Rome, suckling Romulus and Remus. She-wolf in Latin, of course, was another name for whore. 
When we exited the Pantheon, we saw two horses being fed. They were so beautiful!
The water in Rome is really great and it's so nice to be able to fill up the water bottle at any public fountain. Here, we did so at the Borghese Gallery. Just afterwards, a lab puppy jumped in the fountain and took a bath! My boss caught that on film and I'll have to get the pics for AL. So very cute!!
Yesterday was amazing. There's no other word to describe it. My boss has a connection that got us an invite to see the Raphael Loggia at the Vatican. This part of Raphael's rooms is closed to the public. If you look up above in the above pic, to the building with glass on three sides, the Loggia is located in a hall on the left side. These glass arcades were added by Bramante to a significantly older building.
After following a guard through the maze of the museums, he led us through a small, indistinct door to the Loggia. A Swiss guard stood at the end and two others watched us as we oohed and awed. Above is Adam and Eve. 
Because there were windows along an entire side, it was hot. Really hot. So, we oohed, aahed, and sweated. 
Raphael painted his Loggia in the early 1500s but there were much older decorations along the walls. They were charming!
I don't know who this is, but it's a woman on one of the arches.
We walked, took pics, and studied the relatively small frescoes of Raphael that began with Genesis and ended with Samuel - though he skipped Numbers and Judges. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity!! We even managed to sneak some pics of ourselves. I need to get ones of me from my boss so I have proof I was there. In the above pic, you can see my boss kneeling down. All this looking up is hard on the neck!
