Some contrasts

This is really not going to be a "chronological" story but today we took off after we made the bed

walked down the stairs past our neighbors gate

and out to our street

It was laundry day for some of the neighborhood

and this sign was in a parked car near our door

I guess this is one of those "vocabulary" things!!

We left our street and set off for bus #23 which would take us to the station for Ostia Antica.

Waiting for #23...I wondered if we would get there faster with this carriage?

Across the street from our bus stop this young woman zipped in on her motorcycle, parked and rushed off to work ...in really high heels!:

We arrived in Ostia Antica after a pretty fast trip...it was a windy day after a thunder storm the night before.

the paved road entering the city:

I thought this was an interesting contrast....the Rome airport is very close to Ostia Antica

Ostia Antica is similar to Pompeii and dates from the fourth century B.C.. Its name means "mouth" since it is located at the mouth of the Tiber river and the sea. There are such interesting sculptures there and the beauty of the green pines and plants around the area make these sculptures even more beautiful I think. I loved this group in front of the amphitheater :

There are many mosaic floors visible everywhere like these and some very complex ones which have survived all these centuries:

We had lunch sitting on the steps of a house in Ostia: panino, mandele, pere, and mele with acqua naturale...

It was getting hot and crowded (these are all school children from Italy and France...the main languages they all seemed to be speaking):

It sounded like a cage full of magpies over by the cafeteria so we decided to get back on the train and get our caffé in Roma!

This seems like a nice spot, right in front of a tiny church. This is what we saw inside:

On the way to do some supper shopping here is another church outside and inside:

We needed some more jam for breakfast (Italian fig jam!!!!) and some coffee so we stopped off at Despar:

I was intrigued by the cart system and I think Fred Meyer ought to think about this too...you don't always want one of those giant carts and these are multipurpose...I asked JC to demonstrate:

We returned home in time for aperitivo:

These little tarallini rings are delicious! See you another day! Arrivederci!