Tourists, Gelati, a good example of a bad photo and Apperativi

As part of the family tradition of superstition (it's not just me), my sister Mandy has made me promise to throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain for her. I have made several attempts to go there but have been beaten back each time by the hordes of tourists; I really hate crowds



I know that the best time to do this would be very early in the morning when it will be quiet. I did this in my first week here when I went to see the Spanish Steps



it certainly doesn't look like that later in the day..

The trouble with the Trevi is that I really ought to just get up early on a weekday and visit it but my weekdays are pretty much organised with studio, library, museums etc and weekends are the best time for just wandering about and discovering things.

Take last weekend, I discovered quite by chance a cat sanctuary on Piazza Vittorio Emmanuelle!



Admittedly, you'd have to know that you were looking at a cat sanctuary (lucky I just told you..) and you probably have to look a bit hard for the cats - here's some help...



[Actually, thinking about this, I realise that this is key material for my research! These are just the sort of pictures that your Mum would like (I'm a mum and I like them...) and they also illustrate a good example of a bad photograph (basically anything that your mother would like)...Hmmm]

This is another reason why I like Rome so much - Romans really love their cats and look after them - there are at least three cat sanctuaries that I know of..

Ellen sent me a photo of one that she found in a burial ground



Anyway, that was a slight digression as I found the sanctuary whilst on my way to Fassi's ice cream parlour nearby, it's been going since the 1920's



(Is it just me or have I only just noticed the very large male gamete swimming up that woman's arm??)

It was very hot last Sunday and I have discovered that the absolutely best way to cool down is to have a gelato!



This one's nut, strawberry and rice pudding (I can really recommend rice pudding as a flavour). I try and limit my ice cream intake to weekends and public holidays (luckily there was one yesterday - so, cherry ripple and pannacotta - I don't recommend pannacotta) and am realising that there are very few weekends left until the end of June - even if I were to drop my weekend rule - that would still only be 25 days (including today)...that's 25 ice creams...or 6 if I just stick to my weekend rule..

The other really nice thing to do is to go to the Art Bar for an Apparativo..



That was my first visit, Ellen, Sam and Alice very sweetly took me out with them the day that George went home and I was feeling low. The Art Bar is quite handy being just next door to the BSR in the Contemporary Art Museum. We had Campari Soda and Alice had Aperol which is a totally wild colour. Everything looked so pretty - amazing that you get all these free nibbles with your drinks too (including a spoon for the peanuts - so sensible! Why don't we do that??)

It's great to do something special like this every now and again or when one is feeling a bit jaded (hard to feel jaded in Rome though) or if you have just done something pleasant - Ellen and I went again last week



It had been her birthday and she had some birthday money so we did some special shopping (handbag!! So much nicer than supermarket shopping - which is a topic for another day).

Actually I'm a bit surprised that they let any of us lot from next door in, as everyone else there is really dressed up. It's great for people watching and quite good for a spot of bird watching too...