The last few days we’ve been to a dog park with Skye at Villa Borghese, as well as to Piazza Navona, had an amazing dinner & were refused entry to the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (you can only have an assistance dog in this art museum if you are blind….but how do they see the paintings?). We’ve also caught a LOT of buses & eaten a lot of pizza.
The old entrance to the Piazza Navona - you can see how much the city has been built up around it height wise.
One of the three fountains in the Piazza Navona
I’m an angel!
Skye has been really great looking after me, she’s the real angel
It was rare diseases day here on 28 Feb and these posters have been up everywhere - as someone with a “rare” disease it was really surprising to see these.
These are the “good cobblestones”. Surprisingly the cobblestones haven’t been the worst part of being in a wheelchair - it’s the massive potholes in the footpath, the many random cars parked across the lip to cross roads & the paving stones that move and shift under your weight like you are in an Indiana Jones movie.
We found a shop for Mira!
Inside The Pantheon - it was enormous!
We don’t get to ride the bus at home very often, but here we’ve been using it a couple of times each day.
The Vatican and the Tiber - you see great things on the bus!
Each morning we’ve been having breakfast here at La Pasticciotteria. The coffee has been great, the cornettos have been buttery and the atmosphere has been very local. As a bonus, two coffees & two croissants has been costing us 5.90euros (sitting at the bar).
We had an amazing dinner at the Ristorante Classico Prati (we had dinner here the other night as well). The pasta was amazing, the staff were super friendly and they gave Skye a bowl of water and some dog treats. https://www.classicobistrot.com/
The dog park started off well…
… but when we took off Skye’s lead she took advantage of me being in a wheelchair and Steve not being her handler. She went a VERY far way away and refused to recall back (which is very unusual for her). She did have a fantastic time sniffing all the dog smells.
Happy Smiles at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea before we pushed me up a very dodgy road, then a very steep ramp (it took Steve pushing and me using the power assist wheels to get me up the ramp), only to be told that only blind people may bring in an assistance dog. We were disappointed but it wasn’t the fault of the lovely lady who had to refuse us entry. We suspect they might be very strict on dogs here because they are only 100m from the biggest dog park in Rome.
We had a bit of time to kill so I took out my frustration in ink & wash.
This is the saddest part about Rome. These plaques are all over the city (especially in the Jewish quarter). They plaques this the name, year of birth, when they were arrested, where they were sent and what year they died. These three people were sent to Auschwitz and were killed. These are at the doorstep of the building next to our apartment. It is very sobering walking past it every day.
There have been a number of American priests around town leading tour groups. I took this photo whilst we were on the bus. It was striking to me that this young man is quite welcome in Rome wearing his clerical collar, but for me to wear my clerical collar it would be seen as a sign of protest, and thus illegal. For several years Rome Police have been stopping women from even approaching St Peter’s square and refusing them entry unless they remove their clerical wear, like this shirt - it has become even more difficult since the Vatican issued a decree last year against the ordination of women.
It annoys me enormously that I am not allowed to wear my clerical shirt, even after 25 years of ordination, but this young man is welcomed without any questions asked. Just in case you are wondering, it isn’t just catholic priests we’ve seen about, but also male priests from protestant denominations, so it isn’t a catholic/non-catholic thing, but rather a “woman thing”. I’ve tried very hard to not have it annoy me, but today we even saw people dressing up as priests for photos, and yet it is illegal for me to wear the clergy shirt I’ve been wearing for 27 years.
Weird cars of Italy - perhaps the ugly baby of the Fiat Mutlipla
I sublaxed my shoulder & had to have it in a sling for the day :(
Once upon a time this lift was coin operated (we are glad it isn’t now, and have been VERY grateful for the lift, especially since we are staying on the 5th floor)
How can you possibly fit 4 people in this lift!!!
Paddington continues his adventures on behalf of Alice. Here he was at a pizza shop called “Alice Pizza” and was very disappointed for Alice that this was not a pinapple pizza as he first thought, but potato. He will keep looking for pineapple pizza for Alice.
