4/6: A park and more

 

University of Connecticut women’s basketball program wins 2025 National championship!

 

About 25 years ago, while Sue Bird was still in college and Diana Taurasi was a Freshman, I happened to watch a University of  Connecticut Huskies women’s college basketball game and I had never seen a team at any level pass the ball they way they did, not until the golden State Warriors’ championship runs. It was a beautiful, magnificent dance. It was the way the game was supposed to be played, and I have been a U Conn fan since then. That’s my story.

 For those of you that do not follow College basketball, 64 teams enter the tournament, divided into 4 regions. U Conn was seeded 2^nd in region 4. They ended up beating the number One seed of their region, USC, by 14 points. They saved their best for last, defeating the number One seed of region 1, UCLA, by 29 points in the semi-final game, and then the number 1 seed of region 2, South Carolina, by 23 points in the championship game.

 Back to Rome.

Sunday street market: it went on and on for 3/4 of a mile

An island in the Tiber River

 

Litter on the island

 

Moses (definitely not horns)

 

My goal on this day was to explore the park at the north end of Rome. On Google maps there is basically an upside down U in green. I decided, after enjoying the first part of this green space, which actually was a park and gardens and sculptures, to walk the entire park. It turned out that much of it was not a park (I don't know why it was colored green on the map), and it was very big. It ended up being a very long walking day.

 

 

 When I returned to Central Rome, I ended up coming across this monument.I tried to discover what it was, but to no avail.

 

And then, turning the corner, I had this view.

4/5 - The Appian Way

 

 The Appian Way

The Appian Way was one of the most important roads of Ancient Rome. The first leg was completed more than 2300 years ago, and stretched from the Roman Forum to Brindisi, 400 miles to the south. It was instrumental in Rome’s military victories over the people of Southern Italy.

I spent 5 hours walking on the Appian Way. The first stop along the way was the Christian catacombs, and my first tour. Here is what I learned during the tour. There are 20 kilometers (12 miles) of tunnels. A half million Christians were buried here. There are over 60 catacombs in Italy, but only 6 are now open. This one was the largest. It was used from the 1^st through 3^rd centuries. The Popes and martyrs were buried here. But when Constantine the Great converted to Christianity, then there was more money for the churches to purchase land, and the catacombs went into disuse. In the 9^th century, with the Arab invasions of Rome, the Popes and martyrs’ bodies were hidden in churches. The catacombs were forgotten and only rediscovered 800 years later.

 

          Interesting bridge on my walk from the Metro stop to The Appian Way.

  

Some old stones and then some older ones. 

 

I really like these "Dr. Seuss Umbrella Trees"

Circus of Maxentius

 

Old ruins scattered everywhere.

 

I just really liked the bougainvillea next to the old structure. 

This is where I stopped for a coffee break: a little restaurant in the middle of nowhere called "Gypsy Queen."

 

For my evening walk as the sun was setting, I walked across the bridge to the area called Testaccio. I came upon a square with hundreds of people. Kids playing soccer. Kids on bikes. Young parents with their strollers, old people, teenagers. They were just hanging out. What a beautiful thing. It made me realize that my longest conversation has been, “Which train track to Roma Centrale?” Besides my internal dialogue, it has been quiet over here. Then I came upon a church, and was drawn in. This church had bare walls but still a very high ceiling. There is something so calming about the spaciousness of a church. Interesting that I should seek out quiet when it has been just that for five days now. And then on the way home, I watched an older couple about to cross a street. A car raced by. The man grabbed the woman’s hand, and then guided her across.