I wish I'd watched more of the Borgias now

[rthstewart]

So, the day started out on an off note.  We were awoken to the doorbell ringing on the apartment and the housekeeping staff.  It was 10:30 AM and we had slept through our alarms and missed the Vatican tour we had signed up for.

Oops.

Now, apart from the significant lost Euros, this was not a terrible thing as eldest child is thinking he's probably an atheist so seeing the greater glories of the Heart of Christendom and the relics of the Holy Roman Empire really are not high on the bucket list.  Also, Palm Sunday is tomorrow and there's a lot of Catholicism going on right now.  So we had pizza for breakfast and hoofed it over to St. Peter's Square and wandered about a little bit and saw the poor Pieta though it is now behind glass.  Then we went to the Castel Sant'Angelo which figured in Hadrian's history, the Borgia pope, and Dan Brown's Angels and Demons (evil Ewan McGregor?).  That was great fun -- a super combination of ancient history, Renaissance, and modern pop culture.  Lots of fun.

Here's a pretty picture!  A Stone Gryphon!


We had awesome gelato.  Twice.  The bad news is pretty bad, alas.  The bank ATM ate my card so I had a long distance yelling match (toll free!) with Wells Fargo.  Our lovely flat is on top of a nightclub cranking 80s and 90s dance music -- the Purple Rain soundtrack, Blondie Heart of Glass and Cindi Lauper.  Oddly, this was the music at our wedding some 24 years ago (knitress was there) and I think this was a lot of the play list at Luke and Mara's Phantom Wedding in Vegas in 1999.  (We did the bunny hop to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun).  Even 15 years ago, I'd be downstairs flailing on the dance floor.  Now, not so much.  Oh well.  Sleep is for the weak, I suppose and the ear plugs won't help for the vibrations coming up from the floor.  Burnin Down The House is playing now, and just changed to Sweet Dreams Are Made of This....

Tomorrow, Ostia Antica!  woot!

Also the awesome annual Washington Post Peeps Dioramas went live.  I love the OccuPeep DC and the CERN, and the Downtown Abbey Peeps,

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I do hope it quiets down tomorrow...surely there is less partying on Sunday???

And dreadfully sorry about your ATM card...at least you know it has been eaten by an evil machine, but is not in the clutches of a pickpocket???

Enjoy Ostia Antica!!!!

Clio1792

[autumnia]

A Stone Gryphon! Is that the year it was etched beneath it?

So sorry to hear about the ATM card; dealing with banks overseas is such a pain -- I hope it all worked out in the end.

And now I'm off to google "Ostia Antica". :-) Done! Ooh, more lovely ruins! One can never get enough ruins.

[adaese.livejournal.com]

Very fine gryphon! Was it altered from a bull (I'm assuming S Luca means St Luke, and not that it's on Luca Street, or anything prosaic like that)? Actually it reminds me a bit of the Maes Howe dragon http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/maeshowe/maeshdragon.htm

Too bad the flat isn't helping you adjst timezones smoothly, and sorry to hear about the ATM woes.

I've never been to Ostia, but my mother loved it. Have fun!