Friday in Italy with a Little Knitting Content

The night before last I finished a pair of socks. I received the yarn for my birthday over a year and a half ago from my parents. It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in Mixed Berry. I had a hard time coming up with a pattern and there always seems to be something else to knit first. But before we left for Italy I started back on them. I knitted on them and finished the first one in Italy. I started the second one while we were there. I was determined to finish the second one (along with Kelby's blanket) before my online knitting group starts our Llympics at 7 am in the morning. I've finally decided that I'm going to use Knit Picks Essentials in the Peacock Multi colorway. It's a purple, turquoise, and green yarn. I'm going to do the Hourglass Eyelets from More Sensational Knitted Socks. Interestingly, my friend, Alice, sent out her daily patterns today and there was a pair of peacock feathers sock in this exact yarn!!




Friday in Rome was a turning point for me. The day off had really helped my foot. The blister was still there, but doing much better!!! I keep forgetting to tell about the graffiti in Rome. You have this amazing historical, yet very modern city and everything is covered with graffiti. It's such a shame. One of the tour guides told us that as soon as they power wash it off, it's right back on that same night. I didn't see any on any of the historical sites, but I don't know why. Anyway, Friday was made up of two main parts. The first part of the day we went to Vatican City. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. It's surrounded by walls. We walked in and up a fairly high flight of stairs. Once again we had to go through security and screening to get into the visitors center. There were a huge number of people there. Our tour guide, Gloria, told us that earlier that morning three cruise ships had docked and all come into Vatican City at once. There were over 10,000 people there at that time. We were lucky we came later!!! Gloria gave us a little history and then she took us into a fairly narrow hall. This hall was full of statues, paintings, and tapestries. There were some beautiful things in there. We tried to keep our group together as we walked and marveled. One of the first things we saw was actually Egyptian statues:

I was especially enthralled with all the marble. Even the floor we walked on was a beautiful shiny marble. This next picture is of a painting. I thought these were 3D, but they were just painted to look like that. This is not the best picture, but:


While we were walking we heard a loud bang behind us. My first thought was that someone had gone past the ropes and knocked a statue over. However, there was a teenage girl with another group that either passed out or was having a seizure. She hit that marble floor and wasn't even able to catch herself. Darrin knealt down and was trying to do what he could. It was a minute before anyone from her group did anything. That was scary!!

Anyway, we kept walking down this hall, occasionally we would go through doors into another part of the hall. There were tapestries that told stories and maps. It was such a treat. If I'd taken all the pictures I should have, I'd probably have doubled the number I actually took. As we were going down this hall, we were actually heading to the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel was very crowded and not as big as I expected. It had beautiful frescos all over the chapel. I thought the ceiling was one big painting, but it was a series of frescos from creation through the New Testament. They were breathtaking. But like everything else we did, it was very hot and very crowded. That made it hard to really soak it all up.
One of the funny/ annoying things about the Sistine Chapel is that they didn't want us to talk in there. Needless to say, everyone was talking. There were these guys whose job was to shush everyone. I was wondering what kind of resume' you needed for that job. "I've shushed people at the movies since 1984." "I've been a church shusher since I was a kid." "You've got the job!!!"
The last place we went in Vatican City was St Peter's Basilica. It was full of statues. It seemed like we walked around in there forever.
When we walked out we were in this big square and our tour guide showed us where the Pope's apartments are.
After lunch Lara took us on a tour of Rome. It was another walking tour. While it was very hot, it was one of the most amazing days for me. We walked through this one square that was full of artists of all sorts. There were painters and musicians. Lots of people were walking around looking and buying. One of the neatest conveniences in Rome were these water fountains that just run water all the time. You could put your water bottle under it and get very cold water!!!! Or you could put your finger on the spout and redirect it out the top of the spout. They call it drinking from the nose. Here's Logan drinking from the nose:

This was another one of those days where you'd round a corner and find something truly amazing. For example we came upon this ancient and very worn statue right on a corner. Underneath the statue were all these pieces of paper stuck to the wall. It's a place where people put up complaints about the government - and always have:

After walking and looking we were about to get a big block of free time. Lara took us to another square that had a really neat fountain in the center and stairs all around. It was a great place to sit (once the sun moved). But the most amazing part of this particular square was the Pantheon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Pantheon was built to honor all the Roman gods. It's also one of the cooler places we went. Logan and I spent a lot of our free time in there. First we walked around and looking. It's not very big. One of the most interesting things is that there's a hole in the ceiling. So when it rains, it rains in the Pantheon.

There are drains on the floor for when that happens. This was also the only place I had Logan take a picture of me knitting. I was nearly finished with the first sock and I was enjoying knitting right in the Pantheon in the middle of Rome, Italy!!!!!!!!!!!

After we sat in there for a while we walked around outside and looked at the Pantheon from the side and back. I must admit that I was not very adventurous. I didn't want to go off exploring because I was horrified that we wouldn't be able to find our way back and meet the group! Our group started meeting back up and sitting on the steps of the fountain. When most of them had returned I took a picture:

While I was taking this picture, the cutest British boy walked up and offered to take a picture with me in it. I accepted. Before he walked off he told us about a big 4th of July party they were having. We already had dinner reservations, but I thought that was so cool!
From this area we started walking back to our bus. But before our tour was over, we went to a really pitiful place called the Ghetto. It's the area where all the Jewish people live. The really sad part is that most of the Jews that lived there during WWII were hauled off to Germany and killed. It took a long time for this area to repopulate. It seems that even to this day, they pretty much keep to themselves. The history was interesting, but it really made me so sad. There are several pictures of this area in my Flickr album.
Italy - a set on Flickr
As it began to get dark that night we got back on our bus and met up with yet another tour guide who took us on a night tour of Rome. It was really neat. It was, however, difficult to get pictures because they came out blurry. I did get a few very short videos of the outside of the Colosseum.
One of the funniest things we saw that day were two signs outside a restaurant:


Tomorrow I'll be talking about our last big day of touring. It was the day I was most excited about.

Knit On and More Later
Shama D

Before I talk about Italy, I want to talk a little about my knitting. A few years ago (3 or 4) Kelby asked me to knit a blanket for him. The blanket is made up of 12 squares. All of the squares are the same pattern and even the same yarn. The only difference is the way I combined the colors. The yarn is Crayon 100% cotton boucle from Knit Picks. The colors are called "Red", "Purple", and "Blue". (I hope y'all can remember those complicated color names) The pattern is Retro Throw Pattern Free Knitting Pattern from KnitPicks.com Kelby really loves his blanket and that makes it all worthwhile. Here's the blanket:

Here's Kelby pretending to be asleep under the blanket:

While I was putting the blanket together I kept having to push Gracie off. I decided I needed to knit her a small blanket for the floor. While I was at my parents last their neighbor gave me two bags of yarn. I took 3 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in purple and purple with other colors, mixed it with a blue and fuzzy blue yarn I already had. I used size 50 needles and got it done pretty quickly. Here's Gracie enjoying her blanket (although she still prefers to be on the couch next to one of us):



Now I'm up to Thursday in Italy. This was a bittersweet day for me. I already knew that my foot was needing a break. However, that was the day we were going to the Colosseum, the Forum, St Paul's church and the catacombs. They kept talking about how much walking would be required that day. I had already said I was going to stay behind that day. So we all got up that morning and I went down to breakfast with everyone else. That was going to be my only meal (besides some snacks that Donna shared with me) that day. While we were eating David told me that he was going to the Colosseum then catch a taxi back to the hotel to meet some of his Italy friends. He asked me if I'd like to go to the Colosseum and ride back with him. I said I would. I'm so thankful that I got to go. First, we met our tour guide, Gooyah. She began telling us things about the outside of the Colosseum. When it was first built they drilled holes and put steel rods in those holes to support the blocks used to build it. It was covered in marble. There was a war (I forgot which one) and there was no steel for making weapons, so the Roman chipped off the marble and removed the steel rods.


It has been reinforced in more modern times. It's just amazing that they would resort to defacing that amazing piece of architecture to get their metal. Next we all went into the Colosseum. In order to get in you have to go through security and have your bags go through the xray machine like at the airport. It's sad, but I'm glad security is so tight. Logan was very amused to see this:

I guess when gladiators fought and it was SRO, those outside just had to watch it on a big screen HGTV!! We finally walked in to this breathtaking structure. We went into a shaded area while she gave us more history. Everyone was sitting on, what I believe, were fallen columns!!!!! She was one of the best tour guides we had!! We got some free time to walk around and look at more. Logan and a big group of others went up some very steep stairs to the 2nd level. They walked around and got a better look and some really amazing pictures. Looking down, it looks like a maze of walls. It turns out that this was the area where the gladiators, animals, and prisoners were kept until they came up to fight. The original floor is gone because it was wooden, so of course, it rotted away.

Logan and our fearless leader, Mike:

We were all supposed to meet outside at a certain time so the rest of the group could move on to the Forum. I waited and waited for Logan. It was time to meet up outside and he was not back with me. I was pretty much falling apart. I finally went to the meeting point and Logan was already there. Mike had made him go out a different way and he wasn't able to let me know. He was as worried about it as I was about him!! After that David and I left to go back to the hotel. I was so worried about leaving Logan and so sad about missing out on so much. Not to mention missing out on time with our new friends!! I left my cell phone with Logan and had him call me a couple of times during the day to let me know he was still with the group and OK. Once I got back to the hotel I spent the rest of the day doing a number of "interesting" things. I knitted and finished reading New Moon. After a while I remembered that I had podcasts on my laptop. Even though I couldn't get internet I could listen. So I knitted and listened. It really helped the time to go faster. That was also the day I had the pleasure of hand washing some underwear and socks for me and Logan because we didn't have access to laundry!!
The next part will be Logan's version of the rest of the day: After I left they walked to the Forum. Political leaders were required to go to the Forum once a week and hear about what was going on in the government. (He's no help!! He enjoyed it, but he doesn't remember as much of the history as I do!! I love history) One picture that Logan took that day was a place called Mamertinum. I looked it up and found out something super-fascinating!! This was the prison where Peter and Paul were held:


That just blows my mind!!
The groups also visited St Paul's church. Here's a picture of the front of it. It is a beautiful building:

While they were at this church there was a baptistry. They couldn't go in, but they were looking at it through a window in the door. Inside the baptistry was some writing, maybe a scripture, it was talking about baptism by immersion. Mike was explaining to the group what it said. They tour guide asked if our group was Christians. Mike said yes, we are. Then she asked what kind. He explained a little bit - that we follow the New Testament example of worship.
Logan's favorite part of the rest of that day was the Catacombs. Unfortunately, because of all the fresco's they weren't allowed to take pictures. Logan says I would have been claustrophobic in there. It was apparently one of the coolest (temperature-wise) places they went. It is an underground burial place. People reserved spots for their families to be placed together. Logan said the tour guide for this part was hysterical!!
We were lucky with all of our tour guides. Obviously, some were better than others, but they all knew their stuff. Most of them stood out in my mind for some reason or another. I just enjoyed learning more history!!!
That night the group ate dinner out and then they were heading back to the hotel. The traffic was so terrible it took them forever to get back! Logan even called me to let me know they were coming. On the way back, Donna, took pictures of the insane driving. There was a mother on a scooter with her two children that cut in front of our huge tour bus!!!! That is how it is in Rome. And pedestrians better make sure it's totally clear before crossing the street!!! Drivers will not stop for you!! David told Logan that he's been hit by cars two different times in Italy. As a matter of fact, he has pretty severe back pain because of it!!
Once everyone got back I just about ate them up. I went down to the lobby and hung out with everybody. At night at this hotel the kids would stay in the lobby til all hours playing Mafia and other card games! They all got closer while we were staying in Rome because they had a place to all get together. It wasn't as convenient anywhere else we stayed.
I guess that's all I can tell about Thursday. Tomorrow I'll talk about our Friday.

Knit On, and More Later,
Shama D