Roma

We have been here two days and we are still sort of doing reconnaissance to see what is around us in the neighborhood and finding shops for food and so on.
Our apartment is on Via deli orti d'Alibert which is a tiny, narrow, dead end street with the most amazing colored buildings

What do you think about the terra-cotta building I see every morning?

Also...our doorbell has this marker

I wonder if I could be placed in a film? American in Rome maybe??

The apartment itself is nice...wood floors, high ceilings and quite roomy...we have French windows that open out to our street...we are one floor up from the street so it is bright and the bedroom is separate from the living area. The kitchen is TINY and narrow...just enough room for a cook and then a dishwasher but not two at a time.

dining area in living room

living room 

coming into living room bedroom is in hall straight on

windows to living room

Here is the "coffee maker" indicated in the rental agreement...I am glad I know how to use this Italian coffee  pot and I am glad I brought along some cafe from France...there was a tablespoon of ground coffee in the cupboard...our morning coffee was delicious and we were off to Campo di Fiori and the produce market there.

This the the Ponte Mazzini which is "our " bridge to cross the Tiber...the water was very high.

I liked this man on the foot bridge...he was wearing a very elegant navy felt hat and looked very distinguished.

The French embassy is located in the Piazza Farnese so JC posed for a photo:

We are going to go on a tour here later in May...you have to book way in advance and they only take 25 people so I think it will be interesting.

The rest of Sunday we walked through Trastevere which is our neighborhood so we could see what is here. The streets were filled with people strolling and we heard French, Spanish, Finnish and English among other languages and as well as Italian. I was able to ask a few questions in Italian and got an answer but I am not ready for conversation yet. We have been watching the news on TV and it is not that easy to understand!

 Thought this was fun to see...a 2CV in Trastevere!

Love the rooftop gardens....

The gate to our part of the neighborhood which is north Trastevere...we are not far from Vatican City and St. Peter's basilica.

Villa Farnesina...an art museum and school. Across the street is the the museo Corsini, on our walk today we passed by the door and out came a fellow driving a yellow vespa!!! That was unexpected!

Here is JC buying bread by the gram at the neighborhood bakery:

Today, Monday we decided to just walk and look around some more. We found a little supermarket Despar where we bought some of the BEST yogurt and we figured out that we had walked about 5 hours! Two in the morning and three this afternoon...time flies!

We strolled over to the Vatican to see the mobs of people and the odd souvenirs...tshirts with the pope on them etc.

In the afternoon we made the climb up to Parco di Gianicolo from which you have great views of the city. 

these are the stairs

It reminded me of a somewhat larger Mt. Tabor park but there is a monument to Garibaldi and sculptures of his various officers.

This is our street seen from the park!

I love the shape of these pines in the park...there is also a puppet theatre like in France and a refreshment stand that sells gin and tonics!

We ended up the day at the Piazza Navonna where we had a place to sit and rest!

Now off to bed...buona notte!!