3. Roma - Getting into the hang of things

Before we left home, Paul arranged with iiNet to suspend our internet service for 6 months on the understanding that his email address remained available throughout - for a payment of $25.  Nothing unusual apparently, he was guaranteed that this was a standard service that they provide.

Today Paul spent an annoying and frustrating morning on his computer at the kitchen table entering his iCloud address into all of his online contact and financial systems because, guess what - iiNet has turned off his email (together with the internet at home) and without a current iiNet email he is unable to get customer access to the support desk. Not happy!

But the sun shone again this morning in via Machiavelli as I hung out the kitchen window watching the neighbours hang out their whiter-than-white laundry and wondering at all of the individual television antennae adorning the skyline.

Our apartment is quite comfortable, if a little less than spotless. It is hard to get a decent photograph because it is quite small.  We are encamped in the kitchen because that is where the lighting is reasonable and there are three power points.  Funny how you take power points for granted until you don't have them.

So after a morning of problem solving, we purchased a book of 10 bus tickets from the newspaper seller on the corner of our street, and set off to be tourists again.

The National Monument to Vittorio Emanuele 11, the first king of a unified Italy, is rather like a 'wedding cake' of white marble.  For all its size, there is not a lot to the interior.  And like most things Italian, it is pretty much all for show.  Form takes precedence over function as Kevin Macleod would say.

The air force girls were on duty today, but you wouldn't know because this is as close as you could get.  They appear to be guarding the wreath because the two eternal flames (which one may have thought they were protecting) were on the pavement where we stood, on our side of the chain barricade.

Inside, and underneath the section where you see the guards, the wreath and the two eternal flames is the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Back on the outside, here is King Vittorio on his horse.  I know it is hard for you to appreciate, not having seen it, but this is a huge monument and this is a huge statue.  In the museum section we saw a photograph of the engineer and his work team of about 10 big blokes, sitting around a table having a meal in the belly of this horse.  That is a very big horse!

At the rear of the monument, and a part of it, is the Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara Coeli and the bones of this handsome gent are entombed in the floor of this church.  Along with many other valiant knights, rich merchants and holy (male) persons.

But I was especially taken with this soul as I almost twisted my ankle on his elegant but extremely well worn tomb.

All of the floor in the basilica was beautiful and well worn - but had stood the tests of time.

 Of course, the decorative features don't need to withstand such hardship as the floor, and they remain 'glitzy'.

It's always beer o'clock after an afternoon church visit (well, it is for me) so we followed our noses to the cafe and a nice cold Peroni plus a little spizzichino. In this case the snack that came with our beer was oven-dried bread crusts, coated with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Other places would have served chips.  We also had little squares of dried bread with tomato topping (bruschetta).  No-one does tomato like the Italians!

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at the National Museum of Italian Emigration.  So fascinating!  

29 million Italians emigrated to Europe, America and other parts of the world between the mid 1800s and today.  Makes you wonder how many people were left.  In most instances their life abroad was portrayed as being just as hard as life would have been if they had stayed in their impoverished Italia.  I think not.  Italy had very little to offer its poorest people for a very long time.