Chocolate festival

im getting rather behind in my posting! sorry about that. a while ago we went to a chocolate festival in a small town outside rome

the towns are built on hills becasue it was wet and swampy in the valley years ago and there was more chance of getting sick because of the wet environment

it was a beautiful day in Norma

fat happy horses

in the chocolate factory, some of the old chocolate moulds

he is rolling and cutting out of the dough, delicious fresh doughnuts hot out the oil that you can have plain or filled with cream or chocolate, when they are filled the italian name is 'Bomba' which means bomb, a calorie bomb

the fresh deliciousness

the entertainment

the person who finished all the chocolate!

the millions of paragliders taking advantage of the clear skies

this is norma viewed from Sermoneta, another small town on the otherside of the valley

the corteo of costumed locals who parade through the town. as before in Marino, every town has this kind of parade and they wear original, beautiful dresses and suit type things

the king and queen

courtier

there are 3 people sqashed in there. this is an alleyway, no claustrophobic Sermonettans here

the old castle where everyone followed the corteo...

to a show of flailing flags and proud townspeople, it was so realistic and these guys were so proud

and very good

leaving the castle

many movies have been shot here and they announced that another movie would start filming the next day in the castle

it looks like a film set, gorgeous

cobblestoned streets. its a beautiful little town full on interesting nooks and crannies to discover, very picturesque, worth a visit, about 1 hour outside of rome by train but u need a car to get up to the towns

Marino and its wine spewing fountain

so, let me explain about this weekend. in italy there are many food festivals called Sagras, where each town will celebrate something. now there are many small towns around rome and there are so many sagras that you can choose between a few each weekend. In the town of Marino is a wine region and on this particular weekend there was festival famous with young people because... there is a fountain that spews free wine. so many young people! i have no idea where they came from! they must have crawled out of the cracks in  the cobblestoned streets because i never would have believed that young people of this multitude existed in rome! it was quite refreshing aside from the crowded everything.
in this photo we are all waiting for a train, these are the people that couldnt fit on the last train that just left!

crowd control, pah haha

Francesco
portrait in blue

amazingly we pushed and shoved our way to seats! and thank goodness because we waited in that stuffed train for an hour before leaving. the train ride is less than an hour. i was quite wary of the mass of people around us. young, excited people...

it really is quite a beautiful little town perched on a hill.

this is a photo of the fountain that spews wine before it started spewing. we decided against being there for this event on account of the crush of people. one of my colleagues told me about this festival because her mother lives in this town and my colleague Alessandra had been asked to be in the Corteo which is a procession of people dressed as the old royal families and villagers that used to inhabit this town. its quite a priviledge and the costumes are original and fantastic

as i said, imagine hundreds of people coming with the purpose of getting smashed, they sleep on the streets because there is no accommodation left, you buy wine of the region in 2L plastic bottles. it was pretty delicious. eat porchetta which is a roll with roasted pork on, eat mostra al vino- a sweet bread made with the pulp left over from wine, or a special soup that is served in a big hollow roll of bread. all very delicious

everyone is sloshed

the procession

Alessandra looking very regal

and they drunk until they could drink no more then threw up and got on a train  or got on a train and threw up, either way, we didnt stay for that part

and that was that sagra, after discovering this sagra thing, i am definitely going to go to many more.

i planted sunflowers and when i went to marino that weekend so very long ago, they had just peeped up through the soil to say hello to the sun. that was a very long time ago, now they are almost flowering in this stormy roman winter.  spots of yellow will go very well with the grey sky from my window view ;)

A new house, Milan and some churches

so the running commentary of my life is back on track.  thus commenceth my 3rd week in my new house.  with one flatmate and one bathroom and an oven that is a bit temperamental. we just have to get to know each other a little better.
so this is a beautiful 4th century mosaic in the church of San Clemente in rome. you suck it up, pay 5 euros and you tour the underground passages of this church. the base level used to be a 1st century roman house, then converted into a mythrean temple, then the christians built a church ontop of that, then some more christians built the church that stands above the ground. its like a church cake. there is even water running at the lowest level where the marble tiled fishbone patterned floors of the 1st century noble man's house are still very much in tact and you walk through the tiny rooms. there are also very well preserved 4th century frescoes and because no photos are allowed, i could only sneak this photo of the mosaic men. but definately worth 5euros, you are literally descending into history.

then another church, San Giovani in Laterano. this is the first church  of the vatican, even before St peters. the vatican symbols are everywhere. it is huge and popping with gold. the ceiling is sculptural with the gold moldedness. it was sunday so there was mass at the same time in one section. but this church is so big that the sound gets lost before anyone complains

seriously, my floors are going to look like this, even if its painted on!

the ceiling is so high. you cant really judge the height from the photos but id be more than happy to show you if you visit me in rome :)

it is huge

vatican crest

trying to keep francesco and the rest of the heathen hoards out

its bigger than St peters cathedral

thats the church from outside. there was also this cool bio food market just outside the church where there was bio grown wine, olives, ooild, cheeses etc. very yummy, we did some sampling. they even had butternut!!!!! but it was too expensive to buy. (you dont get butternut or squash in the shops here really)

and back home. this is my new room where i live as a cripple because i paid an arm and a leg to live here

there is a balcony and a view

a kitchen... and lovely happy stickers all over the cupboards

in the dark hallway there is some lovely decorations . the landlord's aunt lived here, then she died and they rented it out. he took great care to mention she didnt die in the apartment but i did find her old satin gloves and some other eerie stuff when i pulled all the drawers out my dresser to clean it.

this is what you pay for.
light.
and its worth it

off to Milan for the day to be suffocated by bags, thousands of bags.
there is a new fast train that gets you there in 2 hrs 45min. we were tired upon return.  a dirty,  uncharacteristic city. the  best part is the train station which i saw a lot of. built by Mussolini i think. it is completely huge and beautiful.

i went with Alessandra and Max

the station

now doesnt this look familiar. this could be China. the light is dim and the sun hangs low with a strange pale orange kind of light, JUST like china! so, its polluted in Milan and the weather is not really that great. also someone told me a story this week of a lady who moved to milan with her husband, then her husband left and she saw a strange triangle drawn near her door the next day. she looked it up on the internet and it was a sign to say that a woman lived here alone and therefore easier to rob/break in/ anything! how scary!

next to the exhibition centre. this is a building

the exhibition centre was designed by some cool architect and the whole building is this flowy reflective structure, quite cool. alright thats all i got folks, miss u and love u all lots. wish i had a braai or a public holiday for heritage day! until next time on Survivor!