M:

I'm getting in first here. The jumper was definitely a bit too snug, so now Anne has both the purse and the lovey jumper. So there!

Tuesday was another day of "catching up", so we set off in search of a couple of churches.

The first was St Peter in Chains, recommended by Kerry Stirling as much for the nearby coffee as for Michelangelo's Moses - both masterpieces in their own way! The church is close to Metro Cavour, up a steep hill. The building is nothing special from the outside. So ordinary in fact that we walked past it. There were a lot of people coming in and out in suits and it looked to me like an office building. Maybe the hearse should have been a hint? In any case, we found it after a walk around the block past the engineering campus of Sapienza University, where it looked to us like students must study by download, as we saw scores emerge straight from the lecture room onto the street without a book, pad or computer between them!

Back to the church. Despite the fact that the priest kept appearing and disappearing from the sanctuary, we figured that the lack of meaningful liturgical action meant we were ok to have a look at Moses. That is one serious man. I wouldn't have wanted to get between him and any promised land! A masterpiece that ended up surplus to requirements when the commissioning pope died before his memorial was either complete or paid for! (A: After seeing the church we took Kerry's directions and found a place but have no idea if it was the place he had mentioned. We had a cappuccino and a "pasta" - this time a jam tart- each in Caffe Moses.)

Next stop was not too far away, so we kept on walking, to have a look at S. Maria Maggiore, one of Rome's 4 major basilicas. Again appearances deceived us. The grand steps and massive doors that faced us as we approached were fenced off. This is because it was the back of the church. Entry was to be gained from the far less impressive front - a fair walk around.

The inside of the church is a compelling baroque confection. We both agreed that the baldacchino over the altar was far more in harmony with the rest of the church than its cousin at the Vatican. Clearly size isn't everything:)

Time to demonstrate our new found public transport skills. We are now becoming quite adept at the 1 euro anywhere public transport, so we took the metro to get to via Margutta, a lovely street parallel to Babuino (mentioned a few days ago). It has been inhabited largely by the wealthy, ever since Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn was set there. Federico Fellini was one of its famous inhabitants, along with historical figures like Goethe in the neighbourhood. Check the pictures in the album.

From via Margutta we headed across country to have lunch at a place we had used for coffee on recent visits to the Piazza del Popolo. Lovely fresh dishes on display. We both had a cold risotto with peas and mushroom - very tasty.

The other day we had spotted some nice ceramic clocks in the area around the Pantheon, so decided to buy one. I was sure we would just stumble across the shop again as it is on the major tourist trail from Pantheon to Trevi fountain, but we have obviously spent so much time avoiding tourist traps that finding one was now (initially) beyond us. Just as we decided to give up, we found it.

"Home" to rest our weary feet, update bank accounts etc then a coffee at Caffe ai Banchi Vecchi, a slow passeggiata back to the flat (much less tiring than walking - and so much more exotic) buying rolls on the way.

Evening of domestic normalcy.

A:

Frascati was our destination on Wednesday This involved a bus to Termini and a 35 minute train trip and we were in the peace and quiet of the Roman hills and wine country. Mick had pre-booked a wine tour with "Wine in Tour- Discover, Uncover, Explore" which was to take place for about three hours in the afternoon. (M: Just the Discover and Explore bits. There was no uncovering - honest!) We arrived in lovely Frascati just after 9, three hours before our tour was due to start so that we had a chance to look around this little town and of course have our customary "due cappuccini per favore".

M:

It was nice just to amble around. Frascati seems not to have embraced tourism with any great fervour. It is hardly mentioned in guidebooks, and the tourist office takes a bit of finding. Really, though, the great charm in town was just to watch life go by. We had to have an early lunch because of the timing of the tour - so we bought a couple of panini at a deli. I had mine filled with porchetta - the local specialty - and Anne couldn't help herself and had prosciutto straight off the bone. We sat in the Piazza Mercato and watched nonne with their grandchildren, shopkeepers on their steps, old men chatting and stallholders setting up for lunch at the more usual hour. This is the life!

A:

We met our guide at 12.23- as this was the arrival time of the train they recommended. Veronica from Wine in Tour was there as arranged to pick us up in her BMW (M: business can't be too bad!). She drove us around to the imposing Villa Aldobrandini, which looks straight down into the town - dominating the landscape - but like the aristocracy which still owns it, while grand, it is a shadow of its former self.

Veronica doesn't claim to be an historian, she is a tour operator and wine maker, but as she has lived all her life in this area her knowledge is vast. (M: and - it turns out - her grandfather was a duke. In a family squabble her father got the winery and her uncle the stately home!) Her English is also excellent. She then took us to her family winery -L'Olivella- where a bottle of Frascati spumante and three glasses was waiting for us! The rolling hills all around us and the gentle stillness made for a picture postcard that was quite stunning. (M: It looks just like the pictures of Tuscany - but is only 20 kilometres from Rome, even if the capital couldn't be seen through the smog after 7 days of pollution above recommended levels in the capital). We then walked around the vineyards which are now devoid of grapes. Veronica explained that the process of actually looking after each vine is painstaking and has to be done manually every year, and some of this process must be done by specialists. The area is volcanic in origin and thus rich in potassium, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium and poor in nitrogen- an ideal mix for wine making. A walk later through the grotto which has lots of remnants from early Roman times and we found a second bottle of Frascati, this time a sweet San Marco variety (Cannellino) from her family's neighbouring winery. She explained that she is the daugher of wine makers and married a wine maker- there is a lot of it in the area- and so decided to branch out to run the tours for something different. She has been running these tours for nine years now and is passionate about her work and about spreading the news to others so they can also enjoy and understand the area.

After this she asked if we would like to see the San Marco winery or go for a drive around the nearby lake to explore the little towns and we opted for the second. A wise choice. The drive was fabulous. Veronica took us right around Lago di Albano with Castel Gandolfo as the main stop. This is where the Pope's summer residence is located. She showed us the door where you can ring a doorbell for the Swiss Guard! This area contains the first mail box in the world, installed in November 1820 at the request of the Pope. You can also buy a special yoghurt in the town that is made on the papal farm. The one I chose contained corn and was quite sweet.

M:

From here we got in and out of Veronica's car several times as we did a complete circle of the lake (Albano, Ariccia - the home of porchetta, and Rocca di Papa - our final stop and home to another villa on the lake's edge). This was called Villa del Cardinale, so you can see where the habit of the church getting all the best real estate began! It was a Cardinal Colonna who built it, but Mussolini stayed there a few hundred years later and got the idea to use the fasces (in one of the garden sculptures) as his emblem from a Roman shrine that was on the site. The picture on the blog today is Anne and me on the balcony overlooking the lake just before sunset. A coffee in the building - now a reception centre - provided by another of Veronica's friends rounded our visit off.

This tour was really excellent and much more than was adverrtised and more than we had expected. Back in Frascati, we found we had just missed a train, so decided to wander around looking at the town in the dusk. Christmas decorations are gradually appearing in Rome, and are reasonably prevalent here. They seem to be somehow more tasteful and subdued here in Italy, and the absence of big department stores has meant we haven't heard a single musak carol. Fantastic!

We had "pizza al taglio" ie slice of pizza in a bakery, and headed back to Rome on the train.The cost of a ticket to Frascati is 1 euro 90 each way. What a bargain today has been!