Roma Day Off

St Peter's Basilica is quite the draw in Roma.  Pope Francis spoke today in the square, and he has such a pleasant voice.  I didn't understand anything he said, but I recognized some of the Catholic rituals, having attending mass many times in Spain.  It was amazing to actually see (sorta, he was pretty far away) and hear him talk. Later, I happened to be on the street when he went by in a cavalcade.  There were at least eighteen long suburbans with secret service looking men.  Security was very tight in St. Peters square. Many officers had serious-looking shoulder weapons, and they did not look like they had any sense of humor. 

The Sistine Chapel and the Museum were closed today.  I waited for about an hour in line to enter Saint Peter's Basilica.  It really was worth the wait.  I have been here before, but I still love to see the beautiful Basilica.

This is the baptismal, and they have baptisms several times a week.

The above photos are of the famous Swiss Guards.  I tried to see if the on the left ever blinked and he took perfectly still for so long, I thought he was a wax figure. They change the guard once every hour. My only disappointment was that I got to the Basilica about 9:00 AM and was told that everything was closed until 2:00.  I was trying to get my Via Franchesenia certificate.  I then rode around on the Hop-on Bus and came back around two...only to find out that the office for the pilgrims was already closed.  I couldn't even find a refrigerator magnet for the Via Francesena. But I know that I walked it , God knows that I walked it so who needs the paper.  LOL

So tomorrow is Arrivederci Roma.  This has been such a wonderful experience.  I may post one more time when I get home just to talk about the differences in the Caminos.  This REALLY makes me want to walk the entire Francigena which starts in Canterbury England.

La Storta To Roma

So after I cleaned up and sent emails and wrote the blog, I decided to walk around. This church is across from my hotel.  I  went in and there are these two typical Italian grandmothers, praying the rosary so I do my best to never be the ugly American so I knelt and said my prayers.  I didn't want to take a photo of the altae in case that was rude.  As I am appreciating the beauty of the church, a man comes in with the priest and discretely takes a photo of the main altar.  Meanwhile these two women are saying the prayers over and over.  I thought okay, I can take a discreet photo of the altar.  As I am tip-toeing back to the door, the most fervent of the ladies looked up at me, winked and pointed to the fresco right above her.  I took a quick photo and the other woman gave me a thumbs up and a smile.  I love Italian grandmothers.

This is the photo they wanted me to snap.  The fresco looked very old.

So, diner was at 7:30 at this restaurant.  I ordered a green salad and a pizza.  They brought me two long bruschettas, one with fresh tomatoes and the other with roasted zucchini.  Yum.  Then they brought the salad and finally the pizza diavolo (sauce of the devil).

Look at the size of this pizza.  OMG! I always thought I liked thick crust pizza but I have now changed sides.  And I always heard that pizza was an American invention.  Italians don't really eat pizza.  Well, that is a big fat lie! I am sorry to say that the Pizza here is better than any pizza I ever had in the US.  (We do steaks better!)  Clearly, Pizza has been in Italy for many centuries.

I think if I saw this plant in the dark, I would be scared!

Okay, my big challenge of the day.  I couldn't get under it without laying on my stomach and scooting through the mud.  Picture men in boot camp! That didn't seem like a good idea.  The top of the first layer is about neck high on me so I had to pull up to the top level and straddle the brown part.  Then I had to duck under the top greenery.  Whew.  It only took me two tries.  

I had a true Camino Angel today.  This very nice man stopped me and asked if I was walking the Francegina and showed me a trail I would have missed.  Gotta love those angels.

"I was ill and you visited me." This was by a large hospital and I thought it a brilliant sculpture.

I knew that today was going to be a huge challenge.  I was so careful to try to follow the Camino and when I got to what I thought was Rome, I still ended up having to walk 3 more hours.  I had a bit of a blesslng because I went into a shop to ask which way the Via Francegina was. I realized it was an electronics store.  Two days ago, I lost my converter.  So I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to post today's blog.  I was down to 11 percent on my laptop and downloading phots takes a large amount of powoer.   Even worse,  I had no way to power my curling iron. Not only did the woman speak English, she was able to sell me a converter.  Big prayers were answered.  I had looked up an Apple Store and thought I was going to have to take a taxi and try to get another cord and maybe by an Italian curling iron?

The day didn't get any easier.  I finally lost the trail altogether and ended up on a scary highway.  Finally an Indian man showed me how to cut through but I was long off the trail and I never found it again.  I walked three more hours through Rome, asking directions over and over.  What was booked as an 11.4 day was actually a 22.1 day.  

This is the Santa Maria church in Trasevere.

As always, I loved the stained glass windows.

The ceiling!

I sat outside for a glass of vino and this man serenaded me with original songs. Always good to have entertainment.  Off to dinner and after 22 miles I am starved.  

It is bitter sweet to finally be in Roma.  Ideally, Dennis would comeback bring our five cats and we would continue hiking. Not likely to happen, especially with the five cats.  So I will be glad to see him, our babies and all of you!

P. S. You have to realize I write these blog after I have hiked all day so please excuse my gramatical errors!

La Storta to Isola Faranese

My dinner last night was fabulous.  Come to find out, the restaurant has won many awards.  I ordered the pasta they are famous for which was rigatoni covered in butter and parmesan and sausage.  Very rich but like your plate good.  I didn't finish this huge order.  Then I had grilled chicken (which I immediately placed in a baggie in m purse. It was served with chicory.  The only thing that I knew about chicory was they make coffee out of it during the war.  Turns out, it is very much like collard or turnip greens, which I happen to love. I didn't pack it because that just wouldn't have worked. This was cooked with garlic and bacon. I skipped dessert because I was stuffed.

Today was very up and down and back up again.  After about two hours, I did walk through a town and stopped for a Coca-cola Zero.  It is always nice to be able to take a break and use a real toilet.

Notice the Rosary hanging from the cross.  I could make up a lot of stories as to why.

This is the first fence.

And this is the neighbor's fence.  One with greenery and one without.  They are so unusual, and I am sure it would cost a fortune to replicate either one

This little store made me laugh.  To heck with those throwaways that come in our Sunday paper.  Let's just paste it all on the front of the store.

I only saw one open church today and, I thought the main altar was pretty.

In Italy, you always have to look up.  I started thinking how odd that is because in church you are usually looking down in prayer and the floors are always so plain.  Hmmmm.

I have seen lots and lots of solar power in Italy.  I've seen panels on houses, churches, businesses, etc. Wonder when we are going to move into the future. We are a third world country when it comes to energy.

So I get to my hotel and it is still kinda early afternoon and no one is around.  I decide what I want more than anything at that exact moment is a diet coke with ice....cold, refreshing.  I walk around the area but can't find a bar so I go back to the Camino and I walk and walk.  After about half a mile, I began asking people how far to a bar and they say 15 minutes. After the second time, I hear this my already stubborn hard-headed-self kicks in,  I am going to find that bar if I have to walk across Europe,  After about two miles I find a bakery that also serves diet coke.  I managed to turn a 15.8-mile day into a 20.1- mile day.  Oh, well.

I not only ordered one Coca-cola Zero but two.  I had picnicked on chicken and I was sorta hungry so I ordered two of these little cupcake-looking things.  Not a cupcake at all. The whole interior was something like almond paste and in the very center was a very tasty cherry filling.  YUM!

Sutri to Campagnano de Roma

Caio.  I loved the farm that I stayed in last night.  I think I was the only one staying there.  It was in the middle of thousands of hazelnut (nocciola) trees.  The grandmother cooked my dinner and it was really good...homemade ravioli with what I would describe as a pork steak, season with some herb that I couldn't identify but I liked it.  Then as I was leaving this morning, she raced out with a napkin full of anise (also known as aniseed) cookies so I wouldn't get hungry on the trail.  What a lovely thing to do.  They were just as good as the dinner.  I think I am becoming addicted to anise. I hate black licorice but anise has a faint licorice taste and I love it.

This is the gate looking upward.  Isn't that a beautiful drive?

What a racket they were making.  

This is the first Cairn (rock pile left by other hikers) that I have seen on this journey.  They are really common in the Alps.

This is  a Maremmano or Abruzzese Sheepdog.  They are very common to this area.  They look a little like a Labrador but, are quite a bit larger.   I love seeing them work.  

It is a short blog today because it rained most of the day which limits my photo taking.  It never rained hard and there was no thunder or lightening...Praise God!  I did have one miraculous thing happen.  My walk was supposed to be 17.4 miles and it is always longer than they say.  Today was  12.8.  It was beginning to rain harder.  Of course wet is wet.  I was going to stop and have a coca-cola light and I asked the bartender how many kilometers to Campagnano and I showed him the photo of my hotel.  He said 200 meters (about 219 yards).  I wanted to dance in the street!  Yea!  No more rain and it feels good to be warm and dry.

Until tomorrow.

Vetrella to Sutri

Caio!  

Last night's dinner was really good.  I had spaghetti with cheese and pepper then an omeletta.  The omeletta should have been described as scrambled eggs with cheese and onions.  Simple but wonderful.  It was accompanied by a fresh salad.  I wanted a simple dinner last night, and this was perfect.

I didn't start my day off too well. Breakfast was downstairs, and as I was going down the stairs, a large ugly spider dropped down about 6 inches from my face.  (Actually, I don't think I have ever said, oh look at that pretty spider).  On the spider side of one to ten, ten being a babe this was about a two.  She was about the size of a silver dollar and had an egg sac. In my shock at this thing dropping down in front of my face, and in my hurry to retreat, I fell backwards, up the stairs and scaped my elbow. I wasn't really hurt, and I do have Neosporin.

Isn't this a pretty view of the church in Vetralla.  I had to hike back up to the town.  This is where I got lost yesterday.  I didn't go by the church, so I wasn't able to go in.

On the edge of town was this little ho-hum looking church but since I love to go inside churches and say some prayers, I was in for a surprise.  Look at these beautiful stained glass windows.

And the altar was a beautiful handpainted fresco.  It seems that the plainer the outside of the church the prettier the inside is.

It was a beautiful day with sunshine, about 70 degrees.  I ended up getting majorly lost.  I missed a marker and ended up following a trail riding (bicycle) for about two miles off course.  Of course, when I realised the little picture showed a pig riding a bike and not a pilgrim on the bike, I had to retrace my steps for another two miles..

Good to see clear markers.

I don't know why this house fascinated me, but I could imagine the Munsters living here.

Another kind of trail marker for the bicycles.

 I walked through many hazelnut groves today.  They were all very tidy like this one.

I saw this empty cigarette box on the side of the road.  Italy is a bit grimmer in their warnings against smoking.  Sadly, I see young people (and some old ones) smoking.  I didn't think they still made Chesterfields.

A beautiful town along the way.  I didn't walk to the top of it because I still had some distance to make and the Francigena did not go by it.

I went through kind of a scary part at the end of the day.  There had clearly been an avalanche, and I had to climb over trees and branches.  It reminded me of Dennis' first long hike.  It was several years ago, and Wisconsin (Dennis' alma mater) played Florida State (my alma mater), so we decided to make a bet.  Well, FSU was highly favored, but Dennis is such a loyal fan that he gave me even money.  Near the end of the third quarter, Dennis groused that I could have given him the spread, so I did.  Florida State killed Wisconsin. (Go 'Noles).  The bet was that Dennis had to hike the fourteen-mile Millenium Trail whine-free. So, we picked a day and headed to the trail.  It was right after the big ice storm and unbeknownst to us, the trail was a mess.  We got so lost because not only were the trees down but the markers were gone.  My best guess is that we hiked better than twenty-five miles.  I was so worried because Dennis had a heart attack about a year before.  OMG, I didn't mean to kill the poor man.  We climbed over downed trees and through bushes and briars.  My legs were so scratched up.  Somewhere getting close to dusk, we came to a clearing, and there was one car that was about to leave.  Dennis could have passed for a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.  I have never seen such enthusiasm from this normally calm man.  He was jumping up and down and waving his poles.  We probably looked like escapees from a mental institution.  In addition to all the scratches, I had sticks and twigs sticking out my hair.  As luck would have it, this couple was from the Czech  Republic, and they gave us a ride.  I don't think anyone from the US would have trusted us. We were many miles from our car.  We headed immediately to the Outback on Preston Highway (certainly didn't want any of our friends to see us). And Dennis ordered us two glasses of wine for each of us.   I will say, he never complained once...whine-free.  What a guy!  But since then, he won't make any bets with me.  Wonder why?

It was a little trickier to ross these slick logs than you would think.

At the end of my 19.1-mile day, I decided to tour this Anfiteatro (Amphitheater).  I am staying way out in the countryside in an Agriturismo so dinner should be good.  

Caio for now!