Our European Adventure: Day 33 - Rome

Campo de Fiore

Today I wanted to see some Rome that was more human in scale, so we started with the Campo de Fiore.  This is the market in which Roman matrons find the fresh porcini mushrooms, the truffles, the artichokes and the herbs and spices for their rich cuisine. It is also where they buy the flowers to decorate their tables. I don’t know which I enjoy more, the sights or the smells of this corner of Rome. Oranges, with their leaves still attached, baskets of small succulent strawberries, big fat white grapes, squash with flowers still on their ends. It is a veritable cornucopia of everything good to eat. 

 

We wandered in and among the stalls for an hour, then sat at a sidewalk café for a coffee before settling into the serious tourism of the day. We had tickets to the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. If one has time for only two museums in Rome, for me this would  be one of the two. (The other, of course, The Villa Borghese). It houses a magnificent collection, including three wonderful Caravaggio’s, but even aside from that, it is a beautifully restored and maintained Palazzo, a glimpse into what it must have been like to be a member of the ruling class in the 1600’s. The Pamphilj family still maintains apartments here in another part of the palace. 

Fresh Oranges in the Campo de Fiore

A small but important side note, the recorded descriptions are intelligent and remarkably clear and easy to understand. I usually detest these earphone descriptions of art that are so common in Italy but these are literate and enjoyable, interspersed with music appropriate to the period.

At last, surfeited with art and architecture, we headed for dinner at Querino’s, an ancient Roman eatery, elegant and quiet in spite of its nearness to the Trevi Fountain. We remember it fondly from previous trips to Rome. The food and the service were as good as ever, and the prices high, but not much changed. It’s an odd thing about Rome. You can spend a great deal of money on really mediocre food, or the same amount on really good food and service. Or, by sticking with pizza and pasta, eat relatively inexpensively.

Trevi Fountain

We’ve done a bit of it all.

After dinner we, of course, went to the Trevi Fountain to pay our respects to Neptune. I love this vast, wonderful display of water gushing over marble, around creatures, half horse, half fish, all presided over by the god of the seas. The water to feed this massive and magnificent fountain comes from the original Roman Aqueducts.

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Following are my published novels. Go to my Goodreads page, to find more info and reviews.  

To purchase one of these books, just click on the book link below and select the vendor of your choice.

 • The Memory of Roses ~ The story of a secret and how it impacts two generations of the McQuaid family.  It unfolds on the beautiful Greek Island of Corfu and is a tale complete with beautiful and passionate women, handsome and fiery men, and an intriguing mystery.

"The Memory of Roses by Blair McDowell is simply an incredibly lovely story. It’s also a love story, and a story about finding yourself, and about closure. The theme running through the book is “all’s well that ends well.”  --  Marlene, Reading Reality

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 • Delighting In Your Company ~ Delighting In Your Company is a paranormal romance set on an exotic Caribbean island, featuring a handsome ghost and an adventurous heroine who travels back in time to solve a mystery!

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 • Sonata ~ Sayuri McAllister has just arrived home to Vancouver to find some shocking situations:  
~ A robbery has taken place at her family home, and it is being investigated by her old flame;
~ Alyssa James who she barely knows, is about to become her new stepmother; 
~ and Alyssa’s brother, Hugh James, is a charming Irishman who is intent on bedding and wedding the rich and beautiful Sayuri. 

It’s a confusing and difficult time for Sayuri, especially when dangerous accidents happen to her father and herself – or are they accidents?

“I found Sonata to be a charming novel that left me laughing out loud in parts and gnawing nails in others. It was a delight to read.” – Night Owl Reviews

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 • Abigail's Christmas (short story) ~ An enchanting tale of love and romance, with a magical touch of fantasy.
 
Abigail's Christmas is a holiday story about Abigail who goes looking for a tree on Christmas Eve, and ends up with the man of her dreams in a sleigh in the Rockies --- with a wedding in the offing! Is it real?  Is she dreaming?  Or is it just Christmas magic?




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