Logusch Family outings

George has been working very hard and very long hours this past month or so. But he has found a little time to spend with little George and I. When the three of us are together we have such a wonderful time. Little George get giddy because both Dad and Mom are with him.

In between two of George's field trips back in mid-October, we went exploring and found a playground behind Castel San Angelo! It is the best plat area we have found in Rome. There is great playground equipment there, lots of clean grassy areas, and it is far away from the roads! Little George and I have been back a few times since then.

Something George told me as we were crossing Ponte Sant' Angelo, was that each of the angels along the bridge are holding an object from Christ's crucifixion. If you stand right in front of the angel holding the crown of thorns, then it looks as if it is placing the crown on the top of St. Peter! Awesome symbolism.

A few times we have had breakfast dates at a cafe to get some quality time with George. One of these dates was at a cafe in a piazza.  Georgie had a ball running in the piazza with George or I! Georgie also likes the drinks at the cafes; latte (warm milk), orzo (barley "coffee") or hot chocolate!

We also have gone out to eat a few times recently to spend some more quality time together. When we eat out, Georgie has started imitating some of George's and my actions. One of which is wipping a plate with bread to get up all of the yummy sauce.

At the end of October, George took a day off from studio and we all went to the Forum and the Palatine hill together (we ran out of time for the Colosseum). Between George's knowledge and my tour book we were able to put a pretty nice tour together for ourselves. Haft way through our exploration of the Palatine hill it began to pour down rain. So we stopped taking pictures and briskly walked through the rest of the sights.

Arch of Titus

Basilica of Constantine and Maxentius

Temple of Julius Caesar built on the spot where Julius Caesar was cremated

Flower are still placed by people on the spot where Julius Caesar was cremated.

Rostra, the place where speeches were made in the Forum. Antony's speech after Julius Caesar was killed was given from here.

Water break! Georgie loves these water fountains.

Temple of Saturn

 Cuddle time! The only real way to travel with a child on old Roman streets is with a baby carrier! Strollers do not fair well. 

Santa Francesca Romana

Part of the Arch of Titus depicting a triumphant procession of Roman soldiers carrying of the  spoils of the Temple of Jerusalem.

Entering the Palatine hill via the Farnese Gardens

Somewhere in there are the ruins of the Romulus and Remus huts

Farnese Gardens

The emperor's private stadium

Trajan's Market

Knights of Malta Loggia

On All Saints Day, we all went to mass at the Pantheon! Mass at the church dedicated to martyres was a perfect way to celebrate the day. Afterwards we made a quick visit to another church in the area, Sant' Eustachio and ate lunch in Piazza Farnese.

Little George has become quite the holy little boy. I do not know where he gets it! He kneels when we kneel at church (I know I probably should not have taken a photo...). He also loves the holy water font. When I put his finger in there he knows to make the sign of the cross (he is not able to do the whole thing but he tries!)

The Saturday after All Saints Day, Giorgio and I joined George while he worked on an out of class assignment sketching at Santa Maria della Pace. While he sketched, Giorgio and I explored the church and then went up and down the outside stairs innumerable times. Before heading back to studio, we took George to two churches we had been to but George had not visited yet: Sant' Agnes in Agony and San Agostino. I got a kick out of showing him around since it is normally the other way around.

The image above the altar is of Our Lady of Peace. It used to be kept outside of the church. In the 15th century, a ball struck the image during a game the image began to bleed. The Pope came the church and promised to build a new church in that spot if peace was restored in Italy. It was shortly there after and this image was thus named Our Lady of Peace.

Cloister of Santa Maria della Pace

George is very interested in one of the chapels at San Agostino

This past Friday, on the 9th, two of George's classmates babysat little George for us and we along with the Zepeda's and the Duke's went on a Scavi tour of St. Peter's. (We had to have a babysitter because children are not allowed on the tour). The tour was lead by a seminarian who did a great job of explaining what we saw, its significance and when we were seeing the bones of St. Peter's he gave us time to pray. It was one of my favorite things we have done here.

This past Saturday, George took the whole say off to spend the day with Giorgio and I. We went to the Villa Borghese gardens and had a picnic there. Giorgio enjoyed running around and exploring everything!

Overlooking Piazza del Popolo from the Pincio Garden (next to Villa Borghese) with the Vatican between us

After our picnic and while Giorgio napped, we went to the art museum that is in the Villa Borghese. The museum is filled with the masterpieces of Bernini, Caravaggio and Titian. This museum is amazing! George was drooling over all of the Bernini statues and I am realizing how much I appreciate Caravaggio's work.

Front of art museum

Gardens to the side of the museum

Back of museum

When we were heading out of the museum we ended up seeing Chris Clark and his new wife, Lauren! They are on their honeymoon here in Rome! (We knew they were here and we knew they would be going to the Borghese museum but we were not sure if we would see them there!) It was great catching up and being able to congratulate the newlyweds.

One of the beautiful fountains in the park

Where we had our picnic

On our way home (it took us hours getting home because we made many stops), we walked along the Via Veneto (ritzy street) and passed the US Embassy. It is a gigantic complex and is a stunning palazzi.

We visited the Capuchin crypt at Santa Maria della Concezione. When I was a little girl I used to look at my grandmother's National Geographics. One of the articles always stood out in my memory. It was one about the Capuchin crypt in which the bones of over 4,000 Capuchin friars were arranged into the decorative aspects of five chapels. Ever since then I was intrigued by the place and given the opportunity, I wanted to visit the place. I have to be honest, it was pretty creepy. George actually could not stay down there and I walked through but at a pretty quick pace. But something did strike me. In the final alcove before you leave, there is a sign that says "You are what we once were; you will be what we now are." In part because of the shocking value of these chapels, they really do articulate what that sign is stating. A viewer cannot help but recognize death when there and in doing so one begins to reflect on the afterlife and ones' preparation for it.

Continuing down the Via Veneto, we saw Piazza Barberini where there are two Bernini fountains. Then we headed up the Quirinale hill. We visited San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane and Sant' Andrea al Quirinale. San Carlo alle Quatro Fontane was designed by Borromini and is a Trinitarian church. (I will post lots of photos from there soon.) Sant' Andrea al Quirinale was designed by Bernini. (I could not take any photos of that church as the interior was dark due to fading daylight.)

We reached the top of the Quirinal, where the Italian president lives. This was our view!

St. Peter's at dusk

Ever since our trip out on Saturday, George has been sick. We all had slight colds before the weekend and were getting over them but due to George lack of sleep, working all the hours he does and going out on Saturday, George's cold has gotten much worse. George has still been working hard and has been in studio but he has been taking a few breaks to come home and rest. The positive in all of this is that we have been having a little more time with him than if he were not sick. We have all been cuddling up and watching a few movies.

Our little angel

While Dad is away, Georgie and Mom play

You may wonder what George is doing while Giorgio and I are off exploring the city and why he does not make more of an appearance in my stories. George's time is monopolized by his three classes. One is a course in which the class goes to different parts of Rome and study a building by way of watercoloring or sketching it. He does this once a week and has an outside assignment once a week. These are some of the pieces he has done that I have not shown you all yet.

The second class is a course in which the professor, a architectural historian, takes the class on tours of different parts of Rome focusing on architectural history. With these two classes, he sees a descent amount of Rome much of which he wants to see again so we have gone back to these places as a family.

The third class is studio. This is the class that takes up a majority of his time. He goes to studio first thing in the morning, unless he has class, and stays there all day. He takes a break for lunch and comes home for dinner. Recently, even after dinner he goes back to studio. To be honest, he is not loving his studio experience. However I think he is learning a great deal and that is the reason we are here.

So while George has been in class or in studio, Giorgio and I have been keeping busy visiting the many sites in Rome. Giorgio and I have also had a few lazy days filled with hanging out with the girls and catching up on Downton Abbey!

On one of our lazy days, Giorgio found George's hat and ever since then it has been a favorite toy.

On the Feast of Our Lady of Childbirth (October 14th), we went to mass at San Agostino with Judy and Mercedes. I love this church, it is one of my favorites. I particularly love the chapel that has this image of Mary and Jesus.

One of George's professors back in South Bend designed a memorial in Cardinal Burke's titular church, Sant' Agata dei Goti. He asked George if he would be willing to attend the rite of dedication in order to take pictures for him. But George could not attend the ceremony since it was during his studio time so I volunteered to go. Mercedes joined Giorgio and I and we made a little adventure out of it. We arrived at the church around 3:45 pm since we had been told that it started at 4 pm. Well 4 pm rolled around and no one was in the church. There were programs for the ceremony on all of the chairs but no one was in the church. So we waited around, the choir began to practice (wow were they amazing) and then a seminarian I knew from CUA came in! We chatted for a little and then I asked him when the ceremony was to begin. 6 o'clock he said so... Mercedes and I decided to leave. Giorgio was getting cranky and I was running out of ways to entertain him plus we needed to make dinner. However the trip was not in vain. We got to visit a beautiful church that was built in the 5th century. We also were able to hear an amazing choir practice!

Giorgio and I have taken a few trips to and around the Vatican as well. I have noticed that when I am feeling homesick I want to go to the Vatican. I feel at home there. On one of these trips to the Vatican, I stopped in a bookstore that had a great selection of English theology books. I had been looking for a book that gave more theological and historical background on the churches of Rome. The tour book I brought with me to Rome just says a few sentences and is very secular. I wanted a book that went a little deeper. Well I found it at this bookstore! So the past two weeks or so I have been visiting/ revisiting churches and utilizing the book to have a better understanding of the church while I am in it. It has been great!

So far we have visited Santa Cecilia in Trastevere....

Santa Cecilia was the first church I visited with the book!

When we walked in, the Benedictine nuns were just starting to sing mid-day prayer! How lucky were we? Especially at Santa Cecilia's the patron saint of music's church!

Crowning of St. Cecilia

This is a chapel that is attached to the bath that St. Cecilia was enclosed in to die of suffocation.

St. Cecilia's tomb and a statue of her modeled after her body in the tomb.

Santa Maria in Trastevere (this is where I normally go to mass so I have been here many time before but this was the first time going and being able to know a little about my surroundings).

St Anthony of Padua with Christ

San Andrea delle Valle...

"Expulsion from Paradise"

"Angel Instructs Joseph to Flee to Egypt"

and San Lorenzo in Lucina.

Giorgio and I have also been visiting some of the famous Roman sites. One being the Spanish steps! We went with Judy and Mercedes and enjoyed looking into all of the designers' stores on our way there. While we are the Spanish steps, one of the flower sellers just shoved roses at us saying he was "giving" them to us. So we took pictures with the roses... but he came back a few minutes later insisting that we give him something in return as a token of our gratitude. What a tricky way to really just sell you flowers! We refused to pay him and insisted on his taking them back!

Mercedes, Giorgio and I have visited two art museums that are both just a few blocks from our apartments! The first one we visited was Villa Farnesina. This was George's favorite because he was able to explore the gardens. It is not often that we come across open space that he can run around in so this was a special treat for him! (We will be visiting here more often!)

Raphael's Triumph of Galatea

This room is filled with frescos like this that make one feel as if one is in a colonnade looking out on Rome.

George's favorite part about the villa: the stairs!

The second art museum that we visited was Palazzo Corsini, which is across the street from Villa Farnesina. We visited on a rainy day during Giorgio's nap time. While he napped in the stroller, I was able to spend as much time as I wanted looking at all of the beautiful art! What a treat! There were a large number of images of Mary and Jesus in this museum. Below are two of my favorites.

I have to be honest not all of our recent time has been spent visiting Roman cultural and religious shops. I have done a little shopping as well. Judy, Giorgio and I spent the large part of one day going up Via del Corso, which is a street lined with tons of great stores. Another day Mercedes, Giorgio and I did some boot shopping. Both Mercedes and I have been eyeing Italian leather boots. After coming back from Florence without finding something we liked, we decided to check out some of the shoe stores (in our price range) around Rome. I found a pair of beautiful brown boots and Giorgio is quite the fan of them! He opens the closet, pulls them out, tries to pull the zipper down and then puts the boots on!

Of course on all of our wanderings around Rome, we get tired and need an energy boosts from some sweet treats. This has become part of our daily routine. I am going to be in trouble when we get back to the States! Giorgio is quite the fan of all kinds of sweet treats as you can see!

George has found time about once a week to do something with Giorgio and I. Sometimes its a whole day but with the projects due date approaching it has only been a part of the day. However we have a great time when Dad is with us and we really enjoy Rome together as a family. I will post soon about some of our family outings!