Saluti Tutti!

when life gives you lemons...  yum!  be happy!

Ciao tutti!  

Niente di speciale to report but, lots of nice photos to show you!!  I have been feeling extra happy lately & enjoying life in Roma!  I went to a particularly awesome meditation class last night that helped relieve some of my life stress.  I didn't think of my work crap for 1.5 hours & then when the class was over, that stuff didn't seem very important anymore.  Great!  We had a discussion afterward & while it was all in Italian I seemed to understand most of it.  And really, it didn't matter, I got what I needed out of it!  

Also, over the past week I have been doing my own yoga practice at least for a bit every day, it is amazing to see how much better I feel.  Spirits have been boosted my friends!

So, last week I biked out to the catacombs to try for a visit.  This is the second try.  Dang, again they were closed!  I still managed to check some stuff out & get a nice ride in.  Such as the church of St. Sebastian.

st. sebastian himself, pierced by arrows

a nice rendition of J.C. by Bernini

a nice spot to park Franchi (my bike)

 The other day I visited Villa Farnesina.  It is an old estate of a wealthy Roman, Agostino Chirgi, banker & treasurer to Pope Julius II.  Raphael & some other guys were commissioned to fresco it all up & the place is well preserved as a museum.  It was gorgeous!  A story goes that Farnese kidnapped Raphael's milkmaid girlfriend so that he'd get to work on painting the villa but, he became sullen & depressed.  The girlfriend was released & Raphael went eagerly back to work using a lot of suggestive themes, nudity, imagery, etc.

luscious lemons!

gardens

my favorite & probably the most famous piece here.  Raphael's  Triumph of Galatea.  

some detail of Galatea & the "lusty centaurs"

not by raphael but, still nice.

beautiful rooms

This the theme of this room was the marriage of Psyche & Eros.  By Raphael. 

here you see Eros (Cupid, with the wings) & Psyche getting married in front of Zeus & the other gods.

ornateness on the ceiling!

a view of the villa

 It being a nice day for a walk I went up the Gianicolo to view some churches & such.

the tiny Cappela di Bramante

Sycamores & busts

here are the stairs by my house that I chug up & down sometimes for "exercise"  (sometimes...)  Nothing like Orbit Fit booty camp but you know, when in rome...  you must make due.  :)

here's my cute elevator in my building.  super old timey.

close the gate without slamming please! :)

 I told you about the fun christmas lights around town, right?  Well these are the most impressive.  A million bazillion red, white & green lights going all the way down via del corso.  It is spectacular!  I can't imagine how they put this all up without ending in a big tangle!

tasteful nativity & tree by the vittoriano in piazza venezia

angels going up to the campidoglio

the street i walk up & down most days.

There you have it folks.  I hope you are all well!  Stay tuned for updates on the visit from the friend!

By the way, I stopped in @ my language school today to say hi to my teacher & to check if I passed my final exam from my last class....  I did!  Seriously, it was hard.  woo hoo!

buona notte! xx