Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Just a few pictures for now

So, one day they took us to this nearby village - Roccantica. The Count of Roccantica took us for a hike in the mountains. Our ultimate destination was this cave where some monks used to meditate.
Here is a pic:
After the hike, the Count let us into the city or commune, whatever you want to call it. These were just pictures around the city.



This picture is from Casperia one morning before yoga. You have no idea how difficult all the steps were, and I lived at the very top of the city........
Every morning at 6:30 am, the church bells went off. This is the view out of my bedroom window of the church. I actually liked the bells.

Just a view near my house.

Fountain in Casperia. This level had a restaurant, and seemed to be a gathering place of the town.Another view from the same area. Local church.

Vineyards and olive trees. So beautiful.


One day I went for a walk. Here is a view of Casperia from outside.

I think this is wisteria. Things were blooming everywhere!

I got back to Rome yesterday, and spent the day at the Colosseum and the Forum. But, I am not going to post those pics yet! Here are some from Casperia. This is in the Umbria region north of Rome, in the very central part of Italy. It is pretty near where the earthquakes were last month, but there was no damage where I was.
It is going to take a very long time to up load all of my Rome pictures.... probably a week or so...
One thing I noticed today - there are so many tourists here that sometimes you cannot walk on the sidewalk. I am glad it is not that way in Moscow. I hear it will be much worse in the summer months.
Yesterday, the azealas on the Spanish Steps were in bloom - so, I thought I'd wait until this morning when they weren't so crowded to take pictures - but, alas, at 9 am today, the flowers were gone and they were taking the platforms apart.... oh well, it was pretty.
Rome is great, but I am really grateful that I got to spend time outside the city first. I do believe I will be back here, and I am pretty sure the big city is not where I will spend much time. I really loved the Farfa area. I only saw it briefly, a but I do have one picture near the train station that I will post later.
Ok, I am tired. I probably walked 20 miles today. Hopefully that will help mitigate my daily diet of pizza and pasta :)