We're moving into our permanent quarters! We were going to have to move out of our temp apartment and into a one bedroom hotel room for an indefinite amount of time. I was not looking forward to that. But now we don' t have to go to the hotel at all!!!!!
All our stuff out on the street. Thankfully the embassy has people to pick up your stuff.
KC really wants to go inside.
Our stuff in our new living room area.
We have a roommate!
The apartment seems really nice and has a ton of built in storage.
Now we have to get the rest of our stuff and our car.
Random September Photos
I found tiny beers at the grocery store. KC commented that they were her size.....
Smile for grandma!
You'll never be this cool.
We stopped at a park after visiting a potential school. KC found a turtle.
It helps to wear your cover when watching Bluey.
Some fun street art we saw while out driving.
29&30-Sept-22
Our stuff is arriving! Unfortunately, it has to come up from Naples, so delivery is happening over two days.
Stuff!
KC is set, she doesn't need anything else unpacked.
Max thinks she can help unpack and shouldn't be confined to the baby jail.
KC is done with unpacking.
Tungsten wants to know if this is a permanent perch possibility. Spoiler - it's not.
Because the movers came from Naples, they won't be back to pick up paper and boxes. Dan and I tried to get as much unpacked after the first day, but I'm not sure it did that much good. I'm excited to have our stuff back, but our outgoing packers were TERRIBLE and there is a lot of damage. Add it to the list of things to take care of. That list seems to keep growing....
I've been in survival mode as Dan has been gone for most of the last two weeks. The blog has been on the low rung of things to do; I also didn't take many photos during this time.
04-Sep-22
We took the girls to a children's museum (Explora) not too far from our adventure house.
We ended up going around Piazza del Popolo, which I think I talked about previously. It's the old northern entrance to Rome.
There's a lot going on in this relief. Victory crowning angels of battle?
A mom putting her children in time out? It's anyone's guess.
It's a pretty big piazza.
The piazza very symmetric from certain angles, which I appreciate. Apparently this obelisk was brought to Rome in 10 BC. It used to be in the Circus Maximus, but got moved here in 1589.
I hung out with Max in the bambini piccoli (little babies) area while Dan chased KC around the rest of the museum. It was pretty nice, and I think all enjoyed it.
On the way back home we looked at the obelisk more.
The gate behind it is the gate in the Aurelian walls, which are from like 275 AD.
What's a day out without gelato?
Another Too Good To Go haul. The marshmallows and cotton candy were both sour, which was interesting and unexpected.
05-Sep-22
In which KC does Dan's hair.
07-Sep-22
I took the girls back to the museum by myself. It was good, but difficult.
KC is showing Max how to use the instruments.
Max spent a good amount of time at this window shrieking at the pigeons outside.
I guess whatever makes her happy.
One of the fountains in Piazza del Popolo. This is Rome between the Tiber and the Aniene.
08-Sep-22
Dan returned for a a hot minute from one work trip.
He acquired a souvenir that we should have acquired when we lived in Naples, but for some reason didn't. So now we have this.
Max wants to see how this bottle compares to her bottle.
Playing at the embassy playground.
Max is very excited about walking with assistance.
12-Sep-22
Dan has gone off onto work trip #2, so we're surviving at the adventure house.
KC discovered we had an extra guest. It was very fast, but we were able to relocate it outside.
Max has taken this time to reflect and discover her true self. Her true self wants to walk. She took about 4 steps before this video. I was not prepared.
14-Sep-22
Today I went on an adventure with the girls. I loaded them up in the wagon and set off down through the central district, across the Tiber/Tevere, to meet a fellow embassy related person for lunch.
We crossed Ponte Sisto to get over into Trastevere.
We had a lovely lunch/brunch with Cindy. KC was excited because she got to have pancakes.
Bullcycle street art we passed on the way to a playground.
There was a whole wall of these eyes. Trastevere has some neat street art.
It was a hard adventure, and also hot, but I'm glad we did it. I did nothing for the rest of the day.
15-Sep-22
I'm not sure what KC was doing, but all I could think about were the memes about "when you stay the night at your friend's and they don't give you a blanket." It's okay if you don't know what I'm talking about.
18-Sep-22
Dan returned this past Friday. I'm excited to finish a thought now that he's back.
Dan took KC to get groceries - she found something she likes while out.
19-Sep-22
We had a bunch of admin to do this morning, but a lady I've been in facebook contact with invited us to the zoo. So we went.
I like these snail spiral towers. I don't think they use this gate anymore.
Max and the giraffes.
There was a taller viewing platform for the giraffes. KC kept yelling "Hello giraffes! My name is KC!"
I didn't know giraffes could do loaf pose, did you?
Look rhino butts! We may have said this out loud and then KC proceeded to yell "Where are the rhino butts?!" repeatedly until she saw them.
There were several free roaming peafowl. I wonder if they feel superior to all the other animals because they can go where ever they want to go.
KC says the baby with its mom was her favorite animal that she saw today.
This elephant was giving itself a dirt bath.
We also saw monkeys, sea lions, penguins, tigers, a lion, and other animals. We didn't stay too long as it was hot and I wanted to get Max home for a good nap since she didn't get a morning nap.
In other news, our housing has been assigned, but we don't have a move in date. We have to be out of our adventure house on Thursday morning so....we may be moving into a one room hotel room for the foreseeable future. If you read a headline that's along the lines of "American woman snaps and abandons family" know it's me.
Yesterday we drove past it, today we're going to stop.
Side view of the Altare della Patria aka the Wedding Cake.
It wasn't supposed to rain today, but it did.
So many steps....the internet tells me there are 243 of them.
I started to count with KC but she was a few ahead and then I lost track.
It's also home to Rome's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
I really like the statue of the Goddess Roma holding her own little statue of someone.
It's Dan!
I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but you can actually see all the way down this street (via del Corso) to the Piazza del Popolo and the Porta del Popolo. It's the northern gate of Rome and also has the oldest obelisk.
Rome!
I know you were wondering. Yes, Vittorio Emanuele II's horse is anatomically accurate.
Apparently, it's also the only non-symbolic representation of VEII. (He's the rider on top, not the horse).
Under the horse are these women. They represent the 14 Italian noble cities from pre-unification.
I liked this sassy female soldier/knight person.
You'd think it be easy to find a list of what city each woman represents, but you'd be wrong (or your Google skills are better than mine). But I think she represents Milan.
There are some nice views from up here. We could take an elevator to the very top terrace, but didn't because of the rain/cost/people being done. So, we'll have to come back on a better day.
I liked these door handle thingies. Someday I swear I'm going to compile all my lion photos into a book called "Had the artist ever seen a lion?" I think this one had.
It's Max! And the Cordonata Capitolina, a square designed by Michelangelo.
KC DID NOT want to be in the photo.
KC decided she DID want to be in the photo, at the expense of my neck and her sister's head.
What can you do?
An angel throwing flowers and chains. What more could you want?
