St Valentine's town- Terni

So one sunday afternoon we took a trip out to visit some of Francesco's friends who live in Terni (1.5 hrs from rome). i was convinced we were headed towards a chocolate festival which turned out to be a chocolate lecture on the MOST interesting stuff, well not really, it was rather lengthy and boring and there was very little chocolate to taste but it was an adventure.

each town in italy has a patron saint and a patron saint day. thi town, Terni's patron saint is St valentine so valentines day is i think a big deal here, we were there on the sunday after valentines day on the thursday and all the lights and decorations were still up although we missed the chocolate market that had been up all week.. better that way anyway

i dont quite remember what this was for only that one of its uses was to put the corks on wine bottles... which i cant really believe. i think it was from a steel factory where it bent the metal- please correct me Raphaella

and then, in Terni they have this cool art place where  it is like an art centre which hosts exhibitions and events like the wine tasting event that was on at the time. there was a free exhibition on at the time, someones private collection was on display but the real gems were upstairs in a room tucked away

im not sure why they were here or where they had come from but these were some seriously old and interesting works. it was deserted and you could just wonder around on your own, if we had had some red paint we could have wreaked havoc and escaped without getting caught

the madonna started the fashion of painting on your eyebrows, i never knew. what was really different about these paintings was that it wasnt like a museum or church where the paintings far away on a wall or ceiling or behind an altar, they were all at eye level close enough to scrutinize and see exactly how the painter worked and how good they really were.

this was absolutely great and realistic altarpiece, they looked like real people and were almost lifesize and you could see how the different pigments had aged in different ways

i know it seems like nothing because it is only a photo youre seeing but it was really an experience to see it up close, every brush stroke

best part of this is the angels toupee

no, jou ma se caffe!

and taking the train home. Fraancesco has discovered that he can download and play games on my ipad. there goes my ipad

trainsporter

we had pizzas for dinner in Terni. this guy was serious, you can also buy pizza by the meter!

we are the dancing horses young and filly only seventeen of us da da dum da da dum

could be paris.. but its not its rome

this was one of the last events for the carnevale romana where these guys pranced around on horses

they also found these really tall people with stumpy feet to walk around. those stilts are still a mystery to me, are they strapped on, how do they get on them, do they strap in and then get hoisted up by someone else? the mind boggles! until next time on the life and times of the only south african in rome xxx

Monasteries and churches

sometimes you find yourself alone on a crisp saturday and you think, what to do what to do and then you realise oh! im in rome and i can google what to do! so i decided to explore the neighbourhood around my house, the part that i havent yet explored (its up the hill)

this is a monastery that makes its own wine and spirits of the holy kind! no jokes though, they have a little shop and sell all kinds of weird concoctions and balms

this is inside the church you are allowed into. its a very modern mosaic and only the figures are mosaiced. is mosaiced even a verb? sounds like something an italian would say with heavy pronunciation on the i and the d

of course i only roused myself at the latest possible but forced myself to leave before sunset (16:30?!!) so that i could photograph in the light and what a rewarding light there was. now this monastery is on a hill called i think the aventine hill and it is 2 blocks away from my house in a lush, absolutely still neighbourhood. where apparently only rich people stay and a high percentage of film stars

well i only saw tourists and it was quite a surprise because on my way up it was dead quiet and as i rounded the corner to my destination (a look through a keyhole that frames St peters basilica). there were a lot of tourists and tourist busses, all a little irritated because the door with said key hole was actually open! so instead of looking through the key hole you could see st peters framed by an archway of hedges. but people were so pissed off that they couldnt look through this keyhole like all the other millions of tourists and take another photo through the key hole like the millions of tourists do

that is the italian word for door. maybe the monks need reminding

this was an odd church. all pastel colours very wierd and looked a bit oriental the shapes of the patterns etc

i was tempted to steal a rose

view from one of the orange gardens of St Peters Basilica

all those tempting oranges just out of grazing reach!! such a waste

a bell tower

im a bit obsessed with patterns and tiles at the moment

monk man

this church is now my favorite church in rome. Santa Sabina. i think it is linked to another monastery (that would explain the eerie white men) but it has such a presence this church. the windows have what looks like decorative mud panes and let in a strange light. the simple altar painting in the half dome is impressive but this whole church feels understated yet solid like it has a living history, like its real its not just another gold palace in rome and its not modern and bare i dont quite know how to describe it but that it was awesome.

view from another orange garden

in summer these gardens will be perfect for lazy saturday afternoons and picnics, i cant wait! and they are so ridiculously close to my house! anyways so that was my churchy sunday afternoon