Today, we were up and out a bit earlier than usual. We took the Metro to Termini – the Main Rome Train Station – then caught a bus to our destination. Today was the Catacombs of Priscilla. There are 62 catacombs in Rome but only 5 are open. This one dates back to the 2nd Century. The early Christians buried their dead as opposed to the Romans who cremated. This was a donated piece of land, given by a wealthy woman named Priscilla.
There are over 44,000 graves in this Catacomb. They would dig down one level and bury the body, wrapped in a linen cloth. As the first level was filled, they would dig down in the soft volcanic soil and make another level. Imagine a narrow hallway with bookshelves on each side. This is how it looks. With turns and twists for acres underground. All of the bodies have been removed and reburied in the Pantheon or in St Peter’s. When the bodies were buried, they were sealed with terracotta tiles and Roman cement. A marble or clay plaque would be put on the face of the grave with the person’s name, perhaps their age, family or children’s names. The wealthy might have a type of room to bury their family in, and we saw beautiful frescoes painted in these rooms. Or it might be a society, say of bakers who would share one of these rooms. To go down into these catacombs to bury the dead, they would carry oil lamps no bigger than their hand. No one would come back to visit as it would be almost impossible to find the grave and it had terrible odors of the decomposing bodies.
In this Catacomb of Priscilla, there is the oldest known painting of Mary and the baby, Jesus. A man is standing next to them telling of the birth of Jesus (in the Old Testament) and a star…and there is a star over Mary’s head.
There is an ancient wine cellar there that was before the catacombs. Now it is a chapel. There were also artifacts found in the graves…jewelry, a hairpin, tools and the small oil lamps. Also some glass from bottles. We had a guided tour and the guide spoke in English and Italian. I found that I could understand most of her Italian because she was speaking slowly for a family of Brazilians with us. It was a very interesting tour and my claustrophobia didn’t kick in at all.
We took,the bus back to Termini, caught the Metro and went to lunch near our apartment. It is a German place and we sat at the table right next to table #6 where Pope Benedict used to eat often, as this was his favorite. I had the buffet to sample all the dishes…all good…and Andy had fondue. I will get the fondue the next time.
Came home and did what we usually do in the afternoon…read and sewed.
Think tomorrow will be housecleaning and I need a haircut. Nothing exciting. Big plans for Saturday…but you will have to wait!
Ciao for today!

We went back to Trastevere today and just wandered the streets for awhile. Found that we had missed a church yesterday, so we went in today. St. Dorothy’s Church. Beautiful Venetian glass chandeliers at each altar.
After St. Dorothy, we went to Villa Farnesina. Surrounded by lovely gardens, with all kinds of fruit trees in huge pots. Lemons, Roman limes, oranges, blood oranges, grapefruit. Then there are rows and rows of potted roses which will be beautiful in April or May. Inside Villa Farnesina are several rooms with beautiful frescoes and paintings. Some done by Raphael. It is a small Villa and quite lovely.
After that, we walked across the street to the Palazzo Corsini – the National Art gallery. The palace dates back to 1511 and is styled after the Palace of Versailles. We didn’t go to the gardens today, but they are supposed to be lovely. The walls inside are packed with beautiful art and statues, both in Bronze and Marble. There is a Reuben’s, a Caravaggio and the little Hare by Hans Hofmann. A lovely museum. We asked the lady at the ticket desk to recommend a lunch place. It was Carlo Mente Restaurant. The lowest prices we have seen for food anywhere. I had a huge bowl of mussels in a tomato and wine broth. They were delicious. Dipped my crusty bread in the broth…it doesn’t get much better than that! It was a beautiful, sunny day today as was yesterday. We were getting pretty tired of the rain and cold.
After lunch, back across the bridge, caught the bus and came home. Fun, full day. Will probably have leftovers for dinner.
Good evening to all…

Today, we went to Trastevere which means Across the River. Except we didn’t cross the river because Trastevere is on the same side of the river we are on. The Tiber to us…Tevere to the locals. Same side of the river the Vatican is on. Now in all my years of coming to Rome, I had NEVER been to Trastevere. It is a very old part of Rome. Winding streets and alley ways. We went to three churches. One is Santa Maria in Trastevere and it is a Basilica. Very beautiful church with a fabulous nave? Apse? …well, behind the altar as part of the curved dome is a fabulous mosaic in beautiful colors and lots of gold. It is banded by a row of sheep…with the center being ‘The Lamb of God.’ While we were there, someone was singing Gregorian chants to music. Very lovely. Then we went to another church….it is the national Lithuanian church in Rome. Small and very sweet. Then we went to church number three: Santa Maria Della Scala. That means Stair. It has a lovely Baroque altar. After all this church going, we met my friend Liz – she has a wonderful blog called Rome if you Want To. We had dinner at a wonderful Pizza place called Dar Poeta. I highly recommend it. Those of you who know me know I really don’t like thick crust Pizza…but LOVE thin crust and this was a cross between thick and thin…leaning towards thin. I had one with Buffalo mozzarella, artichokes, artichoke cream and olives. Andy had one with capers, anchovies and mozzarella. That would have been my second choice.
Oh my…was it good! We will go back. We walked across the bridge and caught a bus to take us home and Liz walked back to her home in the Ghetto.
I ‘met’ Liz a couple of years ago after reading a big article about her in the Dallas News Sunday travel section. She went to SMU and majored in Italian and moved to Italy after graduation. Stayed several years, then came back to Dallas to get her Law degree. Then back to Rome where she was living in an apartment that backed up to the Vatican wall. She sounded so neat…and I wrote to her after reading her blog, told her I wanted to move to Rome. She was kind enough to write back and we started corresponding and I met her when I came to Rome a couple of years ago. She is a treasure!
Hit the bed…very late night for us…almost 10pm.
More tomorrow….

Spent the morning looking up hotels to book for trips out of town, cooking classes for a trip to Orvieto this summer and looking at train vs air travel to Warsaw for a tour in July. We are thinking we will do the train and go a couple of days early. If we like the train, we can take one back to Rome or stop off in Brussels where I have a friend and go to Bruges also…then back to Rome. If we don’t like the train trip, we can fly to Rome.
At Noon, we met a dear friend at a great restaurant near our house. Bea and I met in Italian class at Richland years ago. She and her hubby moved to Killeen, but I got to see her in Dallas at a goodbye dinner before they moved to Tampa recently. Bea has been here in Rome a couple of weeks to welcome her second little Granddaughter who was born last Tuesday. Bea’s daughter has lived in Rome for 16 years and she and her husband have two year old Sophia and now new little Gwendolyn. It was so much fun meeting Bea in ROME! Maybe she can come back before the year is out. Hope so.
We are going to be in touch with her daughter and her husband works at a restaurant in Trastevere where we will eat soon.
Tonight we are having stuffed bell peppers and mushrooms simmered in white wine. Got to get that on the table, so will say Buona Notte – good night.

First, we hopped on the Subway and went to Piazza del Popolo and went to Mass at a church I have never been in. It has always been closed. Santa Maria di Montesanto is its name and it is the twin to Santa Maria of the Miracles I wrote about recently. They said it was the Artist’s Church. I was expecting artsy people and perhaps guitar music etc. instead it got its ‘nickname’ by the types of people who have had their funeral services there.
Most of the people were very nicely dressed with a few women wearing hats. There was a singer in a loft with an organist and she sang three lovely songs, one being Ave Maria. As we were leaving the church, we noticed a sweet, well-behaved black and white dog in the back of the church. His leash was tied to a table leg and he had eyes only for his owner.
After church, we walked around the Piazza. Little children in costumes …either for a birthday party or perhaps for the start of Carnevale. It started on the 7th and goes to the 17th…Fat Tuesday…Mardi Gras.
And, Michael Jackson is alive and well in Rome! We saw him singing, dancing and moon walking right there in the Piazza. He was very good! Most likely lip-syncing…but the moves were right on. Hopped on the subway and off to the Spanish Steps.
We went to a nice restaurant we had been to last week. They remembered us. Had lunch, then strolled around the Spanish Steps area before going to a movie. This shopping area in front of the Steps is VERY high end…Chanel, Prada, Harry Winston, Valentino, Versace etc. Beautiful clothes, shoes, handbags, jewelry and all priced accordingly. Quite like Highland Park Village in Dallas, Rodeo Drive in LA or Fifth Avenue in NY. But, NO Starbucks to be seen!
We went to see Mr Turner…the story of the English Painter J.M.W. Turner. I knew nothing about him before this movie, and decided that he was not a very nice man…altho an amazing artist. The acting was very good and I was glad to have the subtitles in Italian for two reasons…it helps improve my Italian language skills, and often I couldn’t understand the British English.
It finally quit raining…we have had several days of rain and we’re tired of it.
On the way home, we stopped at a little place and picked up dinner to go and brought it home. Both too tired to cook. A busy day.
Good night.

Requests have come in for last night’s dinner.

Chicken Breasts with Peppers, Onion & Olives (and capers).

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into fairly large chunks.
Season with 1/4 t. salt & 1/8 t. pepper.
In large frying pan heat 1 Tbs olive oil and 1 Tbs butter over low heat.
Add one small chopped onion, 2 red bell peppers or 1 red and 1 yellow cut into 1/4 inch strips. Cook covered until tender, about 7 minutes. Uncover and cook until liquid evaporates…about two minutes. Add 2 cloves minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Remove pan from heat. But mixture in a bowl.
In same pan, heat 1 Tbs oil – add chicken and cook, stirring til browned…about 4 minutes. Add 2 Tbs vermouth or white wine and stir to get browned bits from bottom of pan. Add pepper mixture to pan, reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until chicken is done, about 2 minutes.
Add 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted. Add 2 Tbs capers if you like them.
Add 1/2 tsp lemon juice and heat 30 seconds more.
Serve over rice, buttered noodles or pasta.

Today, we caught the subway to Piazza Barbarini and walked to the Church of Santa Maria Delle Vittoria to see Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Theresa – considered one of his most beautiful statues. It was completely covered by scaffolding and a curtain. Maybe for cleaning. After leaving the church, we went to the huge bookstore where Andy bought three huge books, and I bought 4 little books in English for a friend’s little granddaughter…Richard Scarry’s books on colors, shapes, numbers and opposites. Richard Scarry was Evan’s favorite as a child…may still be!!! I bought a book on Italian grammar. Have so many at home, but the one I brought with me was written in 1956 and revised in 1977 and the language is so archaic. I’m hoping Andy will start a beginner class in March and I will study in a coffee shop nearby if they don’t have an advanced class at the same time.
After that, we went to eat and then met my friend Nicola for a cappuccino before he went to work. Of course, he didn’t have a cappuccino because only Americans drink cappuccino after breakfast!
Did I mention that Andy now has money in the Post Office bank? Her money people transferred euros into her account here and she is set! The Post Office people have gone out of their way to help us open this account for her..and seemed surprised at how appreciative we were. As our newest best friend, Roberto said, ‘It’s my job to help you.’ And that has been the attitude of everyone we have met…they are most happy to help anyway they can.
We waited a long time for a bus that would bring us to a park close to our house, but it never came, so we just hopped the subway and came home.
Leftovers tonight…stuffed green Bell peppers for tomorrow night.
The rain finally ended today about 10am and supposed to be sunny all week.
Until Domani….

I fixed a recipe given to me by Joyce Mitchell and it was outstanding! Thanks, Joyce! Chicken strips with onion, garlic, red bell pepper strips, white wine and olives. And capers…we added that….
It was served over rice. Now, I have never cooked rice from scratch in my whole life. Instant rice, yes. But rice you boil for 30-40 minutes…nope. So what’s the problem, you ask? Just follow the directions on the box. Ok, but they are all in Italian. I got the part about boiling in cold water to start for 25-35 minutes. But…and here’s the clincher….50 grams of rice per person.
For 4/6 people they say 250 ml of water for each 100 grams of rice. even Google wasn’t much help. Did I pay attention when we were learning the Metric System in school years ago? Just enough to pass that weeks test. So, tell your kids and grandkids to learn that metric stuff so they can go to Europe someday and cook rice. Or bake a cake, or whatever.
The rice was almost perfect! I just winged the water to rice ratio and added water as it cooked down and stirred it a lot. The chicken and pepper strips over rice was just delicious. Recipe upon request. You’re on your own with the rice!

Today, we went to see the Museum of Rome. It is housed in an 18th century palace that backs up to Piazza Navone. It was a good museum day because it was raining. The museum was having a special showing of costumes from Italian film costume designers. They were beautiful! One particularly interesting display were several of the 22 costumes made for Audrey Hepburn in War and Peace. And the costumes made for The Leopard. The next floor of the museum had lovely furniture, tapestries, and paintings. It was a very nice museum. We went to a small church next door. The Church of St. Pantalone. Another lovely church with a smaller, more intimate feeling. Then we went to lunch. Andy had pasta with bacon and I had fried anchovies with a green pepper sauce to dip them in. Both very good. We stopped by a language school to see about classes and a grocery store and then hopped the bus for home. It rained all day and at one point…it was a gully washer as we say at home!
Good to get home and dry out. Tonight we are fixing Chicken with Peppers, Onions and Olives. A recipe from Joyce Mitchell. It should be great!
All for today….

I forgot to mention a church we saw yesterday before the movie. The church is Saints Ambrose and Charles. Very modern entrance of glass panels and the stations of the cross are very modern sculptures. The rest of the church is the typical over the top gold and ornate-ness. St. Charles’s heart is in a box in a back chapel.
After we got back to our neighborhood, riding the bus, the B subway line, changing at Termini, on to the A subway line to our stop, we headed to the Chinese place around the corner for soup and fried rice. And crispy duck. Then we went to the Post Office to open Andy’s bank account. She got it! They gave her all the contracts for her account…almost 100 pages. All in Italian! She signed more times than when we buy a house in the states. She has called her money people to send money to her new account…so,that should be in the works. Gan I hear a big hallelujah from all of you? Our next thing is to wait for a letter telling us our Elective Residence Card is ready and we go to our local Police Station to pick that up. Just a few blocks from here. Couldn’t be the one right around the corner from the apartment, could it? That should come in 4-6 weeks.
In spite of all the red tape, government papers, fees and inconvenience of all of this, not to mention the language barrier on both sides, the Italians we have dealt with have been kind, patient and just go out of their way to be helpful any way they can. American civil servants could take a lesson.
Worn out…going to bed…it’s almost 8 pm!
Another big day domani…I’m sure.

Break out the champagne! We are official!

I will start with yesterday. Andy decided that we should do a ‘dry run’ to the Questura (Immigration office) to be sure we would find it and get there on time for our real appointment today at 11:30. We got the subway to Termini and changed to another line and went as far as that subway went…the end of the line. Then we got on a bus and went quite awhile….got off and walked and walked. Finally came to a big building with hundreds of people milling about outside and inside. A military man told us where to arrive today. This area looks like a third world country. And most of the people look like they came from third world countries. And then there were the four Porta-Potties along the fence….pretty grim. Oh, did I mention the pouring rain? Back on the bus, back on the subway to Termini, and then we got off at the Spanish Steps. On the bus and subway, we sat with a young college student from Florida going tomthenCatholicmUniversity for a year. She told us to go past the main gate, buzz at an intercom and if they let us in, we would bypass all the people congregated outside. Went to eat lunch and then went to see a movie. The Theory of Everything, about Stephen Hawking. Very good. We met two fellows outside while waiting who told us that the new President of Italy had been sworn in near there at 11:30. The movie starts at 3:30 and the doors opened at 3:25. No popcorn, no drinks, no candy. We sat in a very small theater. We had exactly 5 minutes of previews and the movie started exactly at 3:30. It was in English with Italian subtitles and I found that very helpful to improve my Italian. Came home, ate soup and went to bed.
Left the house at 8am. Subway to Termini, the B line to the end, got a different bus. This one dropped us right at the entrance gate to the Questura. We walked past the throng, past the Porta-Potties and to the gate with the buzzer. We get right in, show our papers and are ushered to the x-ray machine, go thru security and a nice military man unlocks the elevator for us to go up to the third floor. We sit down inside after I pick up my packet mailed two weeks ago from the post office…after our 16€ stamp and 127€ fee were paid. Andy’s packet wasn’t there. But we had copies of everything that was in the packet…so no problem. These are copies of all that we gave them in Houston and Philadelphia to get our original long term visas also. Then we go together to a nice lady in Office A who takes all of our papers…mine from the packet, Andy’s from her stack of copies…4 passport photos…they now have 6 photos of me and 6 of Andy, and we are fingerprinted. Every finger of both hands. Then we go back to the waiting room until we are called to Office B. The waiting room is full and a nice gentleman gives me his seat and another gives his seat to Andy. I notice the gentleman has a badge on identifying him as a Morman missionary. We go to a desk in Office B and are again fingerprinted and hand printed. Maybe they are going to read our palms??? While Andy is getting her prints done, I ask the Missionary if he knows a young missionary girl I met in Houston when I had my visa interview. She is here in Rome and we have been emailing. Of course he knows her and sees her almost daily. Small world strikes again! There is a Mormon temple being built here in Rome. We leave and hop the bus. Before the bus comes, we notice an area at the corner that looks a bit like the City Dump, but behind the walls are shacks…and this is a Shanty Town. I mean poor…unheated and unsanitary living conditions.
To Be Continued…..