Purple flowers in Italy

Hi Mary. Thanks for your comments on my blog. I didn't know how else to get a hold of you, because your e-mails come through as a noreply and it doesn't appear that you have a blog. So here's your picture, a little closer up. But I have no idea what those flowers are. Does anyone have any idea. They are gorgeous.

Cindy Bee

Day 3 continued

Journal Entry continued, May 12, 2012

We hung out there for awhile then went to Piazza Navona. I loved every minute of this evening. If I were to come back I could skip all the tourist stuff and hang out at the piazzas. Did I mention last night that we had to climb over the Vatican gate to get out? The locked us in! We cut through there every evening to get to our hotel.We are talking of going to church there tomorrow so I need to sleep.
Good Nite
Buenos Noches?
P.S. We ate at the Piazza Navona and had a lovely meal.


We are on our way to Piazza Navona. There are street vendors, stores, and shops in every street and alley. As I said before, if you have a garage door you have a business.

I love Rome! And this is a Wednesday night! Imagine the weekend.

Sorry pics are blurry. As I said, I walked around with my arm in the air holding my camera the whole time. I couldn't stop at every entrance or I would have gotten left behind. So I had to take pics on the run (walk). And if you think I'm posting a lot of pics, you should see how many I didn't post! Oh my.

A market (or grocery store as we call them)

YEEAAA! We are heading in the right direction!

More cool stuff along the way to Piazza Navona.

Notice they don't have yards. This stuff is grown in pots!

A real person.

Is Dad contemplating eating at McDonalds, or is he wondering what those nuns are up to? (sorry Dad, we are not eating at McDonalds!) We are on our way to Piazza Navona.

Will we ever get there?

I couldn't figure out why Pinocchio stuff was everywhere in Italy. My Sister looks at me and says, "Gepetto was Italian." Oh yeah! I forgot.

More garage door shops. See the doors to the left in this picture by the people eating. Those open up and you have a business, or a restaurant. I imagine the owners live above them.

Poor guy was tired.....Come to think of it....I hope he was just sleeping....No one even checked!

We found the Pantheon! But it was closed....It's evening remember. And besides...at this point we had visited the coliseum, the ruins, went back to the hotel, Mom and Dad rested up while Theresa and I went to the Vatican again....so it had been a long day. We'll save the Pantheon tour for our next trip.

We asked Pa to take our picture in front of the Pantheon....

No Pa....Get the columns in the background....Take another......(jeeeeeesh)


Like This Pa.

{sigh} Oh well......We must carry on...

Something must have grabbed Theresa's attention to stop and take a pic!

Isn't this cute? Rome is so romantic.

GASP! Finally....I think we found it!

A huge Piazza with tons of restaurants and artists selling their wares in the center of it all.

And people dancing and singing too.

And of course.....wine.

It was a grand evening. It's our last night in Rome and I hate to leave. Did I mention I 'heart' Roma? {sigh} I do.

Cindy

Day 3, continued...

Journal Entry, May 12, 2012 (continued)
We came back, cleaned up, and went to the Trevi
Fountain.


People just hang out at Piazza Di Trevi.

and enjoy the Trevi Fountain.


Live everything else in Rome, it's old, huge, and beautiful.

Umm too bad the people that took these pictures didn't get more of the fountain and less of the building behind us. (sigh) Oh well...part of it was where we were standing when we had it taken. But it was so crowded with people we could barely squeeze in at this point to have our picture taken at all.

My Sister said if you throw a coin in the fountain then it means you'll come back some day. WOOHOO!

More photos on the other side of the fountain! We just could not get in front of it.

See why? Look how crowded...

See this lady begging in front of this church. This happens all over Rome. And someone is probably going to chastise me for putting this on here. But here's the thing. I bought this little I 'heart' Roma bracelet from this street vendor. Street vendors are everywhere too. And I walked back to put the change from the 5 euro (I think it was 2 or 3 Euro) into this woman's can. And when I did, I looked down and under her skirt was a FULL BAG of MONEY she was counting! She only had a few Euro in her can, but that bag was full. And I walk a few feet from her and there sits a boy, or young man, with his huge clubbed feet in full view, begging. I feel sorry for them, but she probably had more money than I did. And I guess, in a way, she has chosen begging as her profession. Her job, if you will. So I guess she was doing her job, begging, and I fell for her broke and homeless scheme.

This church was at the Piazza. We went inside, and Mom lit a candle in memory of some loved ones. It brought a lump in my throat. She has lost a lot of friends in the last few years.

Sorry the pics are blurry. I didn't want to use my flash and it was dark inside.

So this is the vendor I bought the I heart Roma bracelet from. I said, "Can you tell us what direction we need to go to find Piazza Navona?" He pointed in the direction. I said, "Are you sure? That doesn't feel right?" (Like I would know...) He holds out his hands palms up and shakes them, and in his Italian accent says, "What? Why would I jerk you? I have no reason to lie, but follow your heart if you want." I told him I was taking his picture and if we didn't find it I would come back and have him take us there.

So bye bye Trevi Fountain...off we go in search of Piazza Navona....again.

Continued later...

Cindy