Roman Moments

Our last days in Rome continued happily. The boys were superstars, they walked many hours every day with few complaints, tried a few new foods and watched lots of cartoons in Italian and Arabic. Our favorite was Pippi Longstockings, the original Swedish show from 1969, dubbed into Italian.

The weather continued to be COLD! We had hoped to visit the small, mountain village of Prezza, from where the Spacone family emigrated to the US. But the alarming footage of snow covered mountain towns frightened me. As it was, we ended every day with numb feet and slipped and slid on the icy sidewalks in our substandard footwear.

This is the Capitoline Museum, which we all loved.

Diana of Ephesus

Roman chariot

This statue of Marcus Aurelius is stunningly large.

Constantine and Dominic.

So pretty.

This incredible statue is called the Dying Gaul.

The Dying Gaul (in Italian: Galata Morente), is an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture that is thought to have been executed in bronze, which was commissioned some time between 230 BC and 220 BC by Attalus I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia. The present base was added after its rediscovery. The identity of the sculptor of the original is unknown, but it has been suggested that Epigonus, the court sculptor of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, may have been its sculptor. (Wikipedia)

Polybius wrote an evocative account of Gaulish tactics against a Roman army at the Battle of Telamon of 225 BC:

"The Insubres and the Boii wore trousers and light cloaks, but the Gaesatae, in their love of glory and defiant spirit, had thrown off their garments and taken up their position in front of the whole army naked and wearing nothing but their arms... The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life."(Wikipedia)

Looking at such a lifelike sculpture, it is hard to believe it captures an ancient person and not Tom Selleck.

Byron wrote about the statue in his poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage,

I see before me the gladiator lie
He leans upon his hand—his manly brow
Consents to death, but conquers agony,
And his drooped head sinks gradually low—
And through his side the last drops, ebbing slow
From the red gash, fall heavy, one by one...

Nello Nin!

From the Capitoline Museum we walked to the Pantheon via Piazza Navona.

According to Wikipedia, the Pantheon is one of the best preserved of all Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria della Rotonda."

The oculus.

Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest un-reinforced concrete dome. Amazing, no?!

Michael was not entirely impressed.

Same with Dominic.

It is fun to stare at the oculus, birds can be seen riding air currents outside the building.

Once we got outside the boys had a grand time running around the Piazza della Rotunda.

The next day we tried again to hit the Galleria Borghese. It is pretty fabulous.

Still freezing cold.

Sticks, glorious sticks!

Mike and Michael wait for our timed entry.

The rest of our trip was a blur.

We made a trip to the American Embassy to get home loan refinance documents notarized. It's a great time to refinance in the US right now! One of the tricky parts about living far away, notaries are very few, far between and HEXpensive in the UK!

The day we left it started snowing again, fortunately, we made it to the airport with no problem. The flight was quite delayed due to weather and de-icing, so the boys were asked if they would like a tour of the cockpit.

Fun!

We arrived to a snowy Crowthorne! The next morning Dominic piled on eight or so layers of clothing and got down to business.

So many moments I hope to never forget, here is one more.