Swing Low, Sweet Chariots

Mama’s sending me more history of Rome notes!  And pictures of chariot grooves…whoa! Ben Hur, here we come.

Well, these are not exactly chariots as in the song, but these grooves were made, mama says, by heavy Roman chariots that travelled the via appia from Roma to Napoli and other cities through which the road ran.

That’s mama’s finger pointing at the grooves in the via appia (over 2000 years old).  But the Romans were masters of road building.  Our little ville in France has the via Domitia running alongside our major highway, and it continues into Spain and is still used by farmers.

This lovely design was uncovered in a villa along the via appia, over 2000 years old also.  Mama loves wandering through these ancient ruins because she often find wild arugula growing between the stones.  On the last jaunt, she found a damson plum tree with little perfect, sweet fruit just waiting to be picked. No one around, nobody interested.  I think she’s planning another little trip out there to…er…make use of that tree.

The ruins of the villa, which had several baths–one cool, one warm and one hot.  Mama says the Romans were fanatic about their bathing, as is evidenced in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome.

And the baths of Diocletian, now housing a wonderful museum of Roman antiquities.

Not me, of course, but don’t you just want to jump in that hot bath and soak?  Mama is a nutcake for hot pools, and many are to be found outside Rome in the countryside.  She and papa once came upon a little group of hot pools where elderly ladies were soaking their rheumatism legs, but there was another smaller pool for animals, and a boy was giving his little doggy a bath.

Okay, okay, these aren’t doggies so just imagine a little terrier soaking in this.

Mama says, imagine her in this one, haha!  In bocca al lupo (good luck)!  There are few left except near Viterbo and at Saturnia, a 2000-year-old town that created a lovely spa with the waters nearby.  But they are very sulphuric and some people are allergic to the sulphur.

Not mama. No way. She’ll jump into anything with steam coming off of it.

Well, this has turned into another travelogue but hey, what am I going to do when mama sends me all this photos of Rome?

I’m not a bath kitty myself.  More a do-it-yourself-bather…

*****

TOMORROW–FESTA DELLA REPUBBLICA—JETS WILL FLY OVER STREAMING THE RED, WHITE AND GREEN COLORS OF ITALY!

Republic Day, also known as Festa della Repubblica in Italian (Festival of the Republic), is a national holiday in Italy on June 2 each year. It celebrates the day when Italians voted to abolish the monarchy in 1946 so their country could become a republic.

Mama says she’ll try to take a photo of those amazing jet pilots.

Well, this is not her photo but she and papa DID see red, white and green smoke and heard the jets go over at 9am this morning. WOW.