Everybody at work! Uwe's son Soeren is chopping lemons for the gremolata! As for Petra, Heiner and Ursula, it is chop chop of all the vegetables that will be needed for the huge osso bucco dish!

What about the food????????????????? Well, the osso bucci will only be ready at the butcher shop around 17h00...so in the meantime, there is so much to prepare! But all together, with wine and music, it is fun!
In the mean time, Uwe's wife Monika and their son Soeren as well as Dieter and Antje have arrived! The more the better!
Local white wine, red wine, Pro Secco, Champagne, beer, anyway you turn there is "booze"!

Ulla and Ursula are the keepers of the tavern!!!

PREPARATION OF UWE'S BIRTHDAY

The next day is THE day to celebrate Il Grande's 60th birthday! Petra and Uwe have planned an exquisite banquet...with several antipasti, a pasta primi, osso bucco as secondi and of course, a wonderful dessert with fruits and mascarpone. After an other extensive breakfast with Ulla and Heinrich, we all start to work on some aspects of the preparation...
Heiner and Heinrich have the task to put up the lights and set the structure for the long table!

Heiner and Heinrich seem to be happy with the result and take this opportunity to have their first - but not their last - glas of wine!

And Werner is taking photos of all this hard labour

A couple of hours later the remainder of the group arrives: other friends of Uwe that he invited to celebrated his big 6 0 ! Ulla and Heinrich, as well as Juliana and Carmen. A bit later, Werner and Ursula arrive as well! That night, we all go out for dinner to the local restaurant "La Pergola" http://www.ristoranteostarialapergola.com/specialita_marchigiane_locali.htm
It is always intriguing to meet friends of friends...and so, we start getting acquainted with these two couples around good food and good wine! That evening, we all opt for passatelli, a regional specialty of pasta made with a generous amount of parmesan, eggs, bread and black pepper.  The food at La Pergola as well as the ambiance are wonderful. Petra is well known, of course, being a frequent diner who brings her guests to taste the regional cuisine! With the meal being served at 21h00, it gets a late night!

Next morning, we are the first up for breakfast and we set the table outside for Ulla and Heinrich who share our house! Marleyne fiddles with the espresso machine until she gets the brew right...out with the prosciutto and the cheese! Ulla and Heinrich have brought their homemade jam and voila! a very long and very pleasant breakfast which lasts until 13h00!!!! We have fun being together and sitting in the sun, chatting, looking at the mountains..La Dolce Vita!

ARRIVAL IN THE MARCHE

It is VERY exciting to finally get there, to find Il Grande Uwe again and to meet his sister Petra that he so often told us about! We are shown Petra's house where Uwe and his family will live and led to the other house, built by friends of Petra on an adjacent lot.  We are amazed at the beauty of the place. We love our quarters!  Breakfast is absolutely great when taken outside, on the terrasse with freshly made expresso and all that stuff that Uwe bought for us so we would not hunger...Parma prosciutto, Parmesan and Pecorino cheese, baguette, jam, tomatoes and fruit!

And this is the view from our bedroom...Early in the morning, the light on the mountain walls was fabulous! At night, before sunset, one could hear the bells of the sheeps going back to the stall..pure delight!

From Spoleto (Umbria), we begin our trip towards our friend's house in the Marche.  We have our new car, a cute blue little Fiat - and we follow the Strada #3 crossing one of the most well known truffle country: Norcia. The lands of Umbria abound in truffles, with the stretch between Spoleto and Norcia being kingdom of the black truffle. Norcia is also famous for its meat ..and its butchers! So famous that norcino means butcher and inhabitant of Norcia!and norcineria means butcher shop! For generations, the art of slughtering and butchering a pig has been perfected and produced absolutely delicious sausages, cured ham, and salames. There is not enough time in a day to EAT and DRINK all the goodness of italian cuisine and wines! So, here we are traveling through this amazing country, and enjoying every minute of the hilly landscapes, the olive trees, the castles and fortresses perched on mountain tops...

After a couple of hours - including lunch in our piccolina Fiat overlooking wonderful landscapes - we finally arrive in the Marches. Our friend Uwe has given us a detailed plan on how to get to Abbadia de Lastreto
where his sister Petra has her house...a marvelous place that we were going to enjoy for a week. Mama mia!
The house of Petra is perched on a steep hill...a sign nailed to a tree on the road calling UWEshows the entrance to the Abbadia...

Just imagine...one week in this setting!

ON THE WAY TO THE MARCHE

From Rome to the region of the Marches, it can take a minimum of 3 hours...but we did it in 2 days! We decided to drive to Umbria and set up our tent in Spoleto, in a small campsite called Campeggio Monteluco.  At that point we had made up our minds that we had to exchange the rental car (rented that same morning in Rome)! The Fiat Panda was just not driving well, coughing up and stalling...except when driving fast as in the case when driving around Rome on the Gran Raccordo. To make a long story short, the owners of the camping have helped us to contact the local Hertz shop in Spoleto and went out of their ways to make sure that we would be fine ..They were so kind! Roberta, the wife of the owner, spoke French and English...Luckily then my Italian is really not up to the challenge of describing car problems!We finally got a new car...another Fiat. In the mean time we had time to visit this neat place called Spoleto, a major artistic center in Umbria (we knew of the Spoleto festival in Charleston,USA...named after this place!) and the site of the Palazzo Mauri! You all knew I was rich but this rich????...

Palazzo Mauri the palace headquarters of the Municipal Library, was built by Andrea Mauri between the XVI and XVII century. Its facade is decorated with a series of windows of elegant design and its interior there are frescoes of the'600 and'700 (photo and text by Silvio Sorcini who lives in Spoleto).

Last day in Rome was relaxing, with us going back to Antique Rome in order to see Circo Massimo which used to be a roman wagon race track (!), wandering through Tastevere for lunch and beer (we found the best pizza in that street..that's why Heiner is smiling!), and reaching Piazzale Garibaldi for a magnificent view of Rome ...Arrivederci Roma!

Oh yes, there was also the Pantheon! Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon's dome is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same, 43.3 metres (142 ft). A drainage system is built in for the rain coming through the oculus! The floor has a convexe shape allowing the water to flow to the drainage holes. 
One of the best preserved of all Roman buildings, it has been in continuous use throughout its history: originallyas a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian in about 126 AD, it has been used as a Roman catholic churchdedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrssince the 7th century. The great painter Rafael insisted to be buried in this church.

On our way back to the hotel, it is a bit rainy and gray but the beautiful Piazza Navona is still elegant with its fountain (the Fountain of the four rivers by Bernini) and its church Sant Agnese in Agone. Up to the 19th century this piazza used to be inondated on Saturdays and Sundays of the month of August..for the pleasure and entertainment of the rich and beautiful who drove in their wagons and enjoyed "splashing" around!

The Colosseum used to be known as the Flavian Amphitheater and was built in the middle of a broad valley between the Palatine, the Caelian and the Esquiline hills.  It is a very imposing structure with its major axis of the elliptical plan is 188 meter long, its minor axis 156 meters; as for the walls, they rise 50 meters above ground! Begun by Vespasian shortly after 70 AD, it was opened by Titus 10 years later!

The amphitheatre was the site of ceremonies and games with the well known gladiators fights amongs themselves and with wild animals.  There were explanatory pannels depicting the amazing organisation required to host those "games", shwoing how animals were kept, where gladiators entered the forum etc...

These photos give a feeling of what it feels like to be meandering in the ruinns of the Roman empire....These structures were enormous...as one can see the "small size visitors" standing nearby.  We love the site in general with its beautiful pines so esthetically shaped...the real site looked so different, however, with much less greenrey and rows of halls and buildings.

After the visit of the Vatican Museum and of the Sistine Chapel, we felt like having lunch and walk through the city. So, we went out giong down the huge double spiral staircase built by Giuseppe Momo in 1932.


We crossed the Tiber, strolled along the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele and reached the Teatro Argentina and its feline inhabitants.  Archeological searches are still ongoing on this site which was discovered by chance in 1926 during excavation project.  The Area Sacra dell’Argentina is one of the best sites to see the remains of Roman architecture from the Republican era.The four temples of the Area Sacra dell’Argentina date from the 4th to 2nd centuries B.C. The remains we see now are the result of renovations by emperor Domitianus.

This is also a sanctuary for abused cats and so they roam throughout the site and don't mind having their pictures taken...actually, this one loved having his photo taken.

From there, it was a short distance to the site of the Foro Romano.  We decided to buy a pictorial guide in order to have a better understanding of the architecture as there are numerous buildings and sites...but riuns being ruins, one needs a bit of a guide!

Walking towards the Forum, tourists get hassled by all kinds of vendors and even by roman legionaries! They are not very threatening with their plastic swords; however, their real weapon is their hidden agenda: having a picture taken with one of them will cost you dearly!!! Lately, it was reported that they form a small mafia like organisation!http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/gladiator-racket-busted-in-rome/17yqam19b?from=en-ca-infopane

After a couple of hours in diverse galeries and through the rooms of Rafael, we finally arrived to the Sistine Chapel...the heart of the Vatican Palaces which have been the papal residences since 1377. Built in 1437 by Pope Sixtus IV, it is the most famous hall of the World because of the magnificent frescoes of Michelangelo that ornate its interior.  As with the Saint_peter place, these amazing work of arts are very much part of consumer's every day life: printed on T-Shirts, coffee cups, calendars and so,it is a disturbing experience when one sees its original and the decor of the Chapel for which it was actually created....

This picture above depicts the Last Judgment by Michelangelo. There are books written on that one particular fresco. One can study its details and admire it for hours (depending on how healthy is your neck!)

The ceiling is a series of painted scenes on which Michelangelo worked by himself from 1508 to 1512. The central panels depict the Genesis with one of the famous panel illustrating God's creation of Man. A restauration of these works of art in 1980 revealed their original and flamboyant colours! Before this restauration, it is said that there was a greyish tone to all the paintings; it is now the experts opinion that Michelangelo has indeed painted his frescoes in these vivid colours!

Here it seems that huge curtains line the walls of the Chapel: make no mistakes, these are painted curtains!.

There was also a Galeries des Cartes, picturing 40 painted maps of the Mediterranean and Adriatic coasts of Italy between the 16th and the 19th century.  They were amazingly detailed...for us cruisers, also precise depictions of sailing vessels and anchorages!
http://www.vaticanstate.va/FR/Monuments/Les_Musees_du_Vatican/Galerie_des_Cartes_Geographiques.htm

The Sixtine Chapel was next on our list; we got up "early" in order to be there around 8h30am...our hotel has such a nice breakfast buffet that we did not want to skip it! The coffee was excellent (in that vein, let's say that there are really too few public toilet in Rome!!!), there was a freshly made fruit salad, croissants, cheese and cold cuts!

Anyhow, here we are lining up along the walls of the Vatican museums together with hundreds of visitors...but only for an hour or so.  And it was worth the wait! What is an hour when this Chapel has been there for 700 hundreds of years! Before actually getting in the Chapel, one wanders through several collection of work of arts...

In the Galerie des Tapisseries, the huge tapisseries de Bruxelles are astounding, as much by their workmanship as by the themes ...all made after drawings of Rafael's students.

With so many interesting sights, and only 4 full days in Rome, we made a schedule of the must-see: First, the Saint-Peter Basilica.  We spent more than 4 hours in the Basilica, just marveling at this chef-d'oeuvre. Its construction lasted more than 100 years and most famous architects and artists took part in its construction and decoration. The definitive design was that of Michelangelo...

The result was the superb and largest church of Christianity consecrated by the Pope Urban VIII in 1826.  Yes, one feels very humble in this large and rich place. Every inch of walls and ceiling and floors is a work of art.

In the center of the basilica, is Michelangelo's dome which rises 130 meters above ground! It rises exactly over the place where Saint-Peter was buried.

aaaaaa

Just as striking is the bronze baldaquino with its twisted columns above the altar: a work of art by Bernini. It is breathtaking how every cm of the bronze columns is ornamented.  In the vicinity, the statue of St Peter seated on a marble see from the early Renaissance, dressed with the philosophical stole, with his left hand holding the keys close to his chest and the right raised in the act of blessing. His right foot protrudes from the previously mentioned base, which is worn by the kisses of the devout.

After 4 hours in this "world of art" we needed fresh air and decided to go and stroll around the roman forum...sampling gelati! The night before, Heiner had tasted a gelato with Bacia flavour! He was in love...and he kept searching for this wonderful experience. He probably sampled all the Bacia flavour of the city!

And he never found a better tasting Bacia ice than by Blue Ice Gelato, just around the corner of the Vatican...