{"id":2711,"date":"2017-03-13T19:28:07","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T19:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/?p=2711"},"modified":"2017-03-13T19:40:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T19:40:15","slug":"en-garde-eur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/?p=2711","title":{"rendered":"En Garde, EUR"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pouring rain changed our plans. Instead of a walk through the cobbled alleys of Trastevere to join our landlords for coffee, they gave us a ride to EUR and we had coffee near the museums we planned to visit.
\nI can\u2019t say enough good things about Federica and Franco. She is an\u00a0archaeologist working in prehistory, brilliant, lively and kind, and he is a retired engineer, calm and a veritable saint when it comes to assisting a clueless tourist with her baffling\u00a0SIM card issues. The apartment we rented from them has a quirky charm, a well-stocked kitchen and has been a very comfortable base of exploration.
\nEUR<\/strong>, Esposizione Universale Roma,<\/em>\u00a0was initiated by Mussolini and intended to be the city center of Fascist-era Rome. WWII stopped construction and many buildings\u00a0were not completed until the 1960 Olympics. It houses corporate and government offices and a complex of museums. One of the iconic building is the Colosseo Quadrato.<\/em>\"\"<\/a>We shared conversation and delicious coffee and pastries in a large, bustling\u00a0caf\u00e9. \u00a0\"\"<\/a>Afterwards, they dropped us beside\u00a0the portico of the Prehistoric Ethnographic Museum<\/strong>.
\nThe\u00a0Hipstamatic photo app seemed apropos for these artifacts.
\nI found this couple, spooning in their shared grave, deeply moving. Love may not conquer death, but it sure makes life worthwhile. \"\"<\/a>Fish hooks and needles, sure, but who knew the safety pin has been with us for 2000 years?\"\"<\/a>Among the masks from other cultures was this\u00a0doppelg\u00e4nger\u00a0<\/em>for Mad Magazine\u2019s Spy vs Spy.<\/p>\n

[easy-image-collage id=2714]<\/p>\n

Sometimes I find hope for the future of\u00a0humanity\u00a0in the little things, like this hair comb. A\u00a0necessary item made into a charming ornament.\"\"<\/a>We went back to the little dove pastry shop and coffee bar for our lunch \u2013 and I’d recommend it if I could accurately Google it up.
\nThe sky was now a brilliant blue, everything washed sparkling clean by\u00a0the thunderstorm which had rolled through. We passed a little tent market, with\u00a0a three-wheeled flower truck parked by the curb. \"\"<\/a>I found a scarf I liked, and Robert found a wallet he wanted for his birthday (happy birthday, darlin’). The best score; a cheap cable for my elderly iPod.<\/p>\n

The Roman Culture Museum<\/strong> had all kinds of interesting depictions of daily life, and humble yet beautiful implements, but what we won’t forget were\u00a0the fencing exhibitions we stumbled upon. \u00a0There was sword play in progress\u00a0all over the museum, from children competing in a grand hall to tutorials in various rooms and on the balcony.<\/p>\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/swod-flght-1.m4v<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

It was like coming across a covey of re-enactors or a gaggle of Game of Thrones<\/em> extras.
\nWhen pre-planning and serendipity converge, it makes for a very satisfying afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pouring rain changed our plans. Instead of a walk through the cobbled alleys of Trastevere to join our landlords for coffee, they gave us a ride to EUR and we had coffee near the museums we planned to visit. I can\u2019t say enough good things about Federica and Franco. She is an\u00a0archaeologist working in prehistory, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rome","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/fence.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7OBxc-HJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2711"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2724,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2711\/revisions\/2724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}