January 29th is always a special day......and they say that everyone should spend time on their birthday with their loved ones, and that's exactly what I did. I spent the day with my loved ones here in Italy, my friends and family in Viterbo. On the 28th, I got in a good workout at the pool and then headed up on the train to Viterbo. I was met at the train station by the Giuliano family. Their girls went ice skating, while Giusy, Raf and "il bambino, Luciano" went for a walk. It was nice to catch up with them. In the evening, Mario and I went out to dinner to watch the Juve-Udinese game. The ONLY downer of the weekend was Udinese's loss to the evil empire that is Juventus. On my birthday itself, Mario and I went to the hot springs in the morning. Yvonne's mother took us all out to lunch. Afterwards I went up to Anna's and lo and behold, Charles (her host student from four years ago and just graduated from college in Rome), Anne (her current host student), Sophie (Miria's host student this year who lives next door) and I were all in the house at the same time. Anna was in HEAVEN. As per Sunday afternoon tradition, Anna was treated to a movie....and of course, she chose Mission:Impossible 4. Afterwards, we all had dinner back at the house. What a wonderful day.
That brings us to Rome's snow day, today February 3rd. Yesterday, the mayor of Rome declared all schools closed. I got up this morning and saw just rain and was a bit annoyed at the cancellation of school (now that I'm a teacher, I get upset at missing school!) but then around 11AM.....
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| Big fluffy, and they were FLUFFY, flakes of snow began to fall. |
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| And just like clockwork, right around 2PM, I put on my longjohns to go for a walk and D calls to ask if I wanted to join her and her roommate on a walk. |
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| My commitment to gelato.....never ending. |
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| Our goal was the Pantheon! |
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| I still need to work on my "Augustus of Prima Porta" pose |
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| We all wanted to see SNOW falling through the oculus. |
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| We weren't disappointed...however, the snowflakes had shrunk by the time we got there. |
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| The walk between Piazza della Rotunda (the Pantheon) and Piazza Navona takes one right by San Luigi dei Francesi (this picture from an earlier, non snowy walk) | | |
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| Inside the church is a chapel with, not one, but THREE Caravaggio paintings. This one is the "Inspiration of St. Matthew" |
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| The west wall has the "Martyrdom of St. Matthew" |
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| But it is the East wall, that has my favorite, and most people's favorite, "The Calling of St Matthew." |
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| It's the light source from an imaginary window..... |
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| And the light shining right on the bearded man's face....who is to become St. Matthew. Idiot me, for a long time thought that St. Matthew was the kid with the feather in his hat. |
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| Finishing up our walk.....here we are at the snow covered Fountain of Four Rivers in Piazza Navona. |
