Galpin.ca

We got up early this morning and started a very long travel day. We cleaned up, packed up and headed off to the Metro.

Once we arrived in London we checked out our home for the next few days and then we were off to get some food. We found some good grub in an English pub.

We are looking forward to exploring London. We’ve enjoyed everywhere we have visited but it does feel nice and relaxing to be in a place that has the same language and amenities as home.

Dear Rome

We’ve spent the last week together and I’ve learned you are quite the city. A short walk down the street shows off your magnificent buildings and a few will have doors open to see the magnificence inside. You’ve built aqueducts for miles long with precise engineering for all to have fresh water at their disposal. Piazzas welcome lounging to enjoy the foundations, food, wine and conversation. You’ve preserved buildings thousands of years old and welcomed the world to admire.

I know I only visited a short time but could I offer up some suggestions to make your city even better? More bathrooms would be greatly appreciated, especially ones that are clean, have toilet seats, have toilet paper, have water and have soap. Also, if those serving the tourists could be trusted, that would be lovely as well.

Based on all your astounding works in the past, I trust these things can be easily remedied. That’s all for now. Thanks for a great week.

Sandy

We took a train to Anzio today because Morgan wanted to spend a day by the Mediterrean Sea. We boarded a train with a reminder of Canada.

It turned out to be a great decision.

Leah loved playing in the water and swimming. Joel enjoyed the water too but liked to stay much closer to the shore.

After cooling off in the sea, we focused our attention on the sand and got to work.

The sea was a beautiful green and blue with a great, sandy beach. The view from the water wasn’t bad either.

It was a nice day to let the kids play and be loud and enjoy the fun of the beach. We’ve been hushing and guiding them a lot and I’m so glad they had time to roam free.

A quick stop for gelato before boarding the train home.

Tomorrow we are up early and off to London!

We walked over to the church of San Clemente to explore some history above and underground. No pictures were permitted which is a shame since it was a very interesting place.

The ground level slowly builds up over the years in Rome and the surrounding areas. This has helped preserve some of the old buildings as they have been shielded from the elements. If you have to walk down a slope into a building, you know it is a really old building.

The church of San Clemente that you can see from the street is a fourteenth century church that is still in use. We walked down a large staircase into a church built in the fourth century that was discovered less than a century ago. It was much less ornate but you could still see frescos and a fancy alter. When the fourth century church’s building was starting to need some repair, they decided to build a new church. They filled in the old church and just built another church on top.

After we explored the second church, we descended into the world of the first century where there we could walk through a house and see the remains of a pagan shrine.

We ate some lunch in the church’s courtyard before checking out Trastevere, a neighbourhood in Rome.

These trees have been here awhile.

We found a great gelato shop. What better way to top some gelato than with some whipped cream and a wafer.

After walking around the city for a bit we headed back home to cook up some fresh pasta and call it a night.

Today we went to an English speaking church that we all really enjoyed. It was the most multicultural church I’ve ever been to. It brought back memories of the church I grew up in as we used hymnals and all the children were called to the front before the sermon for a teaching time just for them before heading off for Sunday school.

After church we went to Piazza Navona where the heart of Rome is.

Then we went to aqueduct park. Our first stop was legitimate gelato. We sure enjoyed our treat and had to eat quickly before the gelato melted. (There is good and bad pizza, pasta and gelato in this city. Unfortunately we didn’t learn that the easy way.)

Aqueduct park was a lovely, quiet outing with a few people scattered around the park, mostly lounging in the shade.

The Romans had much skill and tenacity to build these aqueducts for miles upon miles with a one foot drop every three hundred feet. One of the aqueducts we saw was about 43 miles long.

I asked for their cheesiest smiles.

Leah and I got to do just a little bit of climbing.

There were lots of places to walk over the aqueduct.

Morgan found this spot where we got to play in the water from the aqueduct that still was in use. The water was very cold and the kids loved walking through it as long as they could stand.

Here is Morgan and Leah in front of the inside of an aqueduct.

It was nice to spend an afternoon just hanging out in a park, especially after the crazy crowds at the Vatican yesterday. It still seems surreal in a sense that we are here and that we were able to do things like play in water from a Roman aqueduct and see sculptures and paintings from almost two thousand years ago.

At home I do almost all of the grocery shopping. As the person who does the vast majority of the cooking and lunch packing, I like to choose what I have at my disposal. I also have the most time to manage menu planning and cooking at home.

However, when we are in a foreign country and language is a barrier I send Morgan. I’m always a little curious at what he will come back with. Sometimes it’s something he likes that I generally don’t buy and wasn’t aware he preferred it. Other times it’s just interesting what you find in a different culture.

This is our loaf of bread. Morgan said there was even bigger but he settled for this one. The kids don’t really like it as it takes a lot of muscle power to chew but I prefer it over the typical sandwich bread.

An ambulance.

We visited Vatican City. There is a massive museum filled with statues and other art pieces along with amazing paintings, tapestries and sculpting on the walls and ceilings.

This ceiling was painting to make it look sculpted. You could have fooled me.

We were very excited to see the famous statute of Joel. It has retained its colour very well over the years.

We walked up to the cupola of the dome at St Peter’s basilica and then a few hundred more steps to the very top of the dome where there was a great view. The steps were quite narrow and the walls were slanted in some spots.

This is the square where the pope says hi to the world.

We also went through the Sistine Chapel but were not allowed to take pictures. We learned a lot about the Catholics and the popes and saw a lot of history. It was another good day in Rome.

The Colosseum is quite the sight to behold. It’s amazing how they engineered the building so it could stand so high.

I had really mixed feelings as we were walking through learning about the history of the Colosseum. It was unlikely any Christians were killed here by lions like I thought but many others met their death by animal or fellow man. Most of those killed were prisoners of war and criminals while people watched on for enjoyment. To stand in such an amazing building knowing its purpose brought about awe and deep sadness at the same time.

The original floor has been completely destroyed. It is now mostly open revealing all the passageways and about eighty elevators that were used to bring up people, animals and props to the stage.

Leah.

This was a temple in the forum. It looked amazing on its own but it would have been even more amazing when it was still fully standing. These were just the side alcoves of the building. The main ceiling would have towered over top.

Joel is standing in front of some frescoes that are over 1500 years old.

The temple on the raised ground used to stretch from one set of columns to the other. These buildings would be awe inspiring to the visitors who were living in grass thatched huts.

In front of the Colosseum is the arch of Constantine. It was illegal to be a Christian, even punishable by death and then the tides turned and it was illegal to not be a Christian. This is a little baffling just on the surface but even more so when you realize it’s forcing belief, not just behaviour, as if that is possible.

Some mosaics from back in the day.

It was a great day of seeing grand structures and learning more about Roman history. It’s been super hot in Rome while walking around from shady spot to shady spot. The kids have been champs as we have been doing tons of walking, including many stairs and have been learning about what they are seeing. This is such an amazing way to learn history.

This is the view from the staircase leading to the courtyard of our apartment.

This is the courtyard before walking out to the street.

We took the train out to the suburbs to Ostia to check out some real estate.

Ostia has is a little rundown but still has charm and has a lovely statue to greet you. What else can you expect from a town built between the 7th and 4th centuries?

There are many beautiful mosaics adorning the walkways around town.

This house looked lovely but would need a new roof.

I liked the tall walls on this one.

Leah liked this abode.

It has a great theatre that is normally bustling all day. The town still holds a lot of gender bias with the men sitting near the front and with women sitting on the higher stands.

There are some lovely townspeople.

The shops around town are great for those like me who are still trying to grasp the language. For all your shipping needs, check out the shop with a mosaic of a ship.

When I need some ivory or an elephant for a few hours to parade around for my party I can check out the shop with this entrance.

There are also plenty of slaves around to grind flour so my bread isn’t gritty.

Some slaves are happier than others.

There is also a thriving tavern Morgan really enjoyed.

The shelving was lovely.

There was also some creative storage utilized in the tavern.

This place even had a basement.

There were high rise apartments up to ten stories but now they have been reduced to two story abodes.

There is a big temple in the middle of the city for worship to the gods.

Unfortunately, none of the houses had toilets but they had these lovely public latrines available with running water.

The streets were quaint cobblestone lanes though the chariot and cart traffic at night is very loud.

This lovey castle was just a two minute walk from the city.

About ten minutes down the road I could still keep myself updated with the same publication I read in Vancouver, though I would have to adjust reading to the paper version.

In the end we just couldn’t choose between so many houses.

Also, Leah couldn’t wrap her mind around a culture were men were valued more than women and children with no reasonable explaination.

Every place we stay at is so interesting to me. I see it as a window into a local’s life in that city. The apartments are so varied in layout, age and surroundings.

We went out to the grocery store which is always an adventure in a new city. After breakfast we went out to check out Rome and it didn’t disappoint. While we were waiting for Morgan to buy some Metro tickets we came across some ruins that were 300 years old.

We quickly came across one of the many drinking fountains that scatter the city. They can be used for filling your water bottle or as a drinking fountain if you block the bottom pipe.

I thought this arch was in an interesting place.

After walking past several gelato shops, we decided to treat ourselves.

We saw a church that was open and decided to wander in and this is what we found inside.

A fire truck.

Police cars.

This was the back of the church.

Some pretty macaroons inside a gelato shop.

Trevi fountain is a couple kilometres from our apartment. Check out all the people. Part of the attraction of checking out the fountain was standing back and people watching.

I appreciate Morgan’s long arms and ability to take a selfie.

Exploring Trevi fountain.

Walking the streets with my boy.

The Pantheon which was built in 126 AD. It’s amazing how these buildings are still standing in al their glory.

When we are exploring in a specific place, generally Morgan and I will each take a kid and stay in the same general area as we explain more about what we are seeing. Morgan walked with Leah around the Pantheon while I hung out with Joel.

On our two kilometre walk home, these are some of the sights we just happened to walk by. The amount of history and ancient sights in such a small area is astounding with each sight being amazing all on its on.

We are looking forward to checking out some of these sites as well as many more this week.

This was our last day in Paris. Leah and Joel were very excited to see the Arc de Triomphe. I think their excitement grew over the week as we had seen it from Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower along with another arch like it at the Lourve.

Today was my birthday and since there wasn’t cake, I bought these in the little grocer along our afternoon walk.

We went to a small chocolate museum and learned about how chocolate was made, got to eat some chocolate and saw some pretty cool models made out of chocolate.

Knowing we had a late flight ahead of us we went home for a mid afternoon nap. Then we packed up our things, cleaned up a bit, ate dinner and we were on our way.