Roman Holiday - St. Peter and Paul Day.

Happy St. Peter and Paul Day everyone! Not knowing what this holiday was about, I looked it up on Wikipedia. Here's what I found:

The Roman Martyrology assigns 29 June as the feast day of both Peter and Paul, without thereby declaring that to be the day of their deaths. St. Augustine of Hippo says in his Sermon 295: "One day is assigned for the celebration of the martyrdom of the two apostles. But those two were one. Although their martyrdom occurred on different days, they were one."

...and from an early date it has been said that they were martyred at Rome at the command of the Emperor Nero, and buried there. As a Roman citizen, Paul would probably have been beheaded with a sword. It is said of Peter that he was crucified head downward.

Really, to me, this day means that no markets or stores are open. Luckily, my favorite cafe was open :)

All in all, today was basically a catch-up day. We were up early, as the plumber came at 8 to deal with the bathroom, which was a successful visit!

Gelato
Crema (cream) - like other flavors, this was a little disappointing. I'm not really sure what I was expecting (whipped cream?), but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting. I kept on tasting a hint of an underlying flavor, maybe egg, hopefully orange, that I really wasn't fond of.

Cioccolato (chocolate) - really good! This was a very dark (as opposed to milk) type of chocolate gelatto that was great. But, I have to admit (as both of my followers know) nothing is more satisfying than a piece of dark chocolate.

Notes and Notable Differences
Pastries - another one of Rome's surprisingly cheap eats. Pastries, at my favorite cafe, are only .80E and this is not your simple, standard treat you'd expect for that price in the US. The .80E pastry variety includes chocolate filled pastries, cream or fruit filled croissants, plain croissants and other delicious breakfast pastries. Yum!

Church Bells - Every 15 minutes, churches sound their bells. Traditionally, I believe it's one bell for quarter after, two for half after the hour and three for three quarters after the hour, and then the time of day (seven, etc.) on the hour. The church nearest to us does not follow this patter, and I'm not sure exactly what it's pattern is. I do known that it tolls every 15 minutes, though. What I find most intriguing about these bells is that sometimes you hear them and sometimes you don't. This, of course, correlates to your distance to a church during these times, but also depends on the wind, the noise level in the street/area and your attentiveness to outside noises.