melted smoosh

the weekend after arriving back in Rome, we took another day trip to Castel Gandolfo, the little town perched above a volcanic lake about 20 miles south of Rome. the town is most famous for the Apostolic Palace, which used to be the papal summer residence. Pope Francis no longer spends time here, so instead, the palace has been turned into a museum. yet again, i had to marvel at the ease and affordability of this last-minute trip. we booked regional train tickets online the day before. i read the itinerary about ten times because it said that we would switch trains in Termini and then the second train would be substituted by a bus service due to construction on the rail lines. i wasn't quite sure where we would board this bus, but assumed it would just be in front of the train station in Ciampino. at any rate, i had the paper with the name and number of the bus and decided we'd figure it out when we got there! i have to say these excursions are a lot easier now than they were

sometimes Rome is maddening — buses that never show up, trash piled on the side of the street, bathrooms without toilet paper (or toilet seats!). but sometimes, it’s a real gem. case in point: now that we have our permesso di soggiorno cards, we are eligible for the MIC card, which gives residents of Rome unlimited free entrance to all of the city-run museums for just €5 per year (what?!?!). so I had a lovely excursion to the Capitoline Museums this afternoon, viewing some of the city’s finest sculptures and paintings. the museum overlooks the ruins of the Roman Forum, and the steps leading up to it were designed by Michelangelo. looking back down the steps from inside the museum the Hall of Captains features late sixteenth century frescoes by Tommaso Laureti, which depict various episodes in Rome's history. even the coffered ceilings are inlaid with paintings. the carved wooden doors date from 1664, the last year of Pope Urban VIII's papacy (memorialized in the bronze sculptur

prepare yourself for a deluge of books! in the interest of time and space, i'm going to keep my thoughts brief about each one. my summer bookshelf turned out to have several real gems! 1) Oscar Romero: Love Must Win Out , by Kevin Clarke. a short but skillfully written account of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was martyred in El Salvador for his controversial political and religious beliefs. Saint Oscar Romero was canonized just this past fall. 5/5. 2) All-of-a-Kind Family , by Sydney Taylor. one of my all-time favourite books as a child about a working-class Jewish family living in New York City. now even more delightful as a read-aloud to Greta (who was mostly interested in where she would fall into the age line-up of the five sisters). 5/5. 3) The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of the Little House on the Prairie , by Wendy McClure. the concept of this book was alluring: a grown woman decides to dig deep into her beloved girlhood world of Laura and

last year we made it to Naples and Florence, and we already had plans to visit Venice in November. so when we arrived back in Rome in August, the other large Italian city on our must-see list was Bologna! (yes, i know Milan should probably be up there too, and maybe we'll get there -- but we're far more interested in cities that still look old!) in talking with some of my Italian friends, they all said that Bologna was one of their favourite towns in Italy, and now, having seen it for ourselves, we absolutely concur. the locals were friendly and most spoke excellent English; streets and tourist destinations were well-marked, and yet there seemed to be very few, if any, tourists around. i guess that's to be expected for a university town with lots of fascinating history but not many huge monuments to attract the selfie stick crowd. we took a fast train from Roma Termini (the main train station) up to Bologna in about two hours. our Airbnb was absolutely perfect -- located