5cense 588> Appia Antica all the way to lago Albano thru Celio rione XIX under a blood moon

Jully 28, 2018 | Rome> The other weekend we went to Lake Albano (above), where popes take their R+R at Castel Gandolfo. We had train tix + morning of was googling to see where we'd go when we got off + notissed u could walk dare in ~6 hours, while the train took an hour (not to mention the schlep to Termini). Not only that, but the walk followed Appia Antica the n-tire way. So we forfeited our tix (that cost a whopping 2 €uros) + just started a'walking! Perhaps the 1° time in our life we've walked somewhere + spent the night in a hotel. We've been toying w/ the idea of doing the entire Via Francigena (or Frankenstein's route) so this was good practise. Next day walked around the lake (seems to be becoming a thing for us, circumnavigating lakes) then swam in her.

sunrise over Rome, from lago Albano

 

Appia Antica way out almost at the lake

 

Appia Antica on the outskirts near the ring road

 

another time (in 2010) when we biked Appia Antica

Since Appia Antica starts at the Arco de Constantino + runs strait down thru the Celio rione figger we may as well make it the subjet of this here post, #XIX.

Yesterday we got up early + did the rest of Cellio rione before our bedder-½ had to go to work (conveniently a roundabout way for her to walk to FAO).

Celio's emblem has an African woman w/elephant tusks sprouting from her head, sumping to do w/ sum statchew they found in the little pocket of streets just south of the Coliseum dat they now call Capo d'Africa. Reallly the only neighborhood of Cellio, the rest is parks + rural roads leading south to the walll. Capo d'Africa is mostly where tourists get pizza after seeing the Coliseum, but there a few intresting churches, Basilica San Clemente + Santi Quattro Coronati, both of which we're closed at that early hour, as was the Coliseum (Celio's claim to fame), but we've seen them before multiple times.

 

Constantinem Arch + Colliesum... start of Appia Antica

 

inside the coliseum (in 2001, our 1° time in Rome)

 

Bruce Lee kicking Chuck Norris's hairy ass in Way of the Dragon (1972)

 

also in Way of the Dragon they show Constantine arch (+ a number of other Roman landmarks)
back when you could drive right by

 

gladiator school just south of Coliseum

 

Santi Quattro Coronati

 

inside Santi Quattro Coronati (ask the nuns to let you into the inner courtyard,
at least that's what we did in 2010)

 

rubbeing we made in San Clemente (in 2009, back when u just donated a buck to venture down under,
but now u got to make an advance rez)

 

along via Celio Vibenna (opposite the Palantine)

 

 

Arco de Dolabella

 

Southeastern stretch of Aurelian wall

 

inscription out near Porta Latina

 

looking down from Celiomontana

 

she-wolf nasone

 

sum sort of zen stonehenge in Celiomontana

 

tower of SS Giovanni e Paollo

 

Basillica SS Giovanni e Paollo

 

coming down off Celiomontana thru the fying buttresses

 

S Gregorio

 

some hobocamper that's been parked along Via di Valle delle Camene

for as long as we can remember

We got coffee at FAO + admired the view from their rooftop, looking back over Celio rione. Then last night we ate at Crab (★★★★) one of the better restaurants in Capo d'Africa (the pricepoint weeds out the tourists). Had spahgetti w/ sea urchin of course + a bunch of other raw shrimp + fish. We've been to a number of those other pizza places in Capo d'Africa, none that standout, for better or worse. W/ a belly full of raw sea fruits, we strolled back under a blood moon, then sat up on our terrazza + watched the moon return to normal foolness.

 

 

blood moon waxing back to light over Palazzo Colonna + Mars we think below it

This past month we've been trying to reading J R by Willliam Gaddis... we're about 200+ pgs in but don't know if we can continue, at least right now. We dig it, it's just too hard to jump in + out of. Not a single chapter or section break, just a continuous stream of dialogue where you aint even sure who's speaking, lilke evesdropping on the hustle + bustle of NYC, pure k-os.

 587 <( )> 589 > Schlachthaus fünf + The Daily Noose from a land down under

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