The Neighborhood

I thought that it might be nice to show some of the sights in the streets near our apartment.  This is the view taken outside from our balcony.  From this angle it looks pretty good.  Now to show the other directions.

This building is across the street from us.  Some of the bottom businesses are empty and others seem to be auto repair shops.  There are several of those near by.  The upper stories are some kind of institute or school.  We will confirm that next week when school starts.  It's very difficult to know where the schools are.  We don't see any play yards or signs.  They are just there.

This is the end of the street to our left.  Who knows where true north or south is because nothing is laid out in perpendicular and parallel streets.  We tell direction from the rising and setting of the sun. There is a car dealership to the left of the picture and we see them unloading cars from time to time

This is one of my favorites.  There are a lot of small things here,but this is one small thing I like.  I want to bring it home. I also have my eye on a little pickup thing.  I've yet to get a good picture of it.  It's basically a motorcycle with a framed body around it.

Here is a bigger version of the one I want.  They are so awesome.  I also like all of the motor scooters in town.  When Jesse served here many moons ago the missionaries had mopeds and motor scooter.  They were banned before he left the mission.  One elder even had his sent home because he was so attached to it.  It kind of makes our elders here a little envious as they walk or ride the bus.

This is the apartment building right next door to us.  We figure that it has around 60 apartments here.

To our right is the gym which sometimes plays loud music as we listen to them dropping their weights on the ground.  In the front of the picture are our garbage cans.  They require explanations.

The green is for glass and metal.  The brown, organico, is for the food scraps.  Black designates indifferenziata, miscellaneous.  White is for carte e cartone, paper and cardboard.  Last but not least is for plastico, plastic, which is always overflowing because everyone drinks bottled water. (It's very cheap)  You can have naturale or frizzante. (plain or carbonated)

Some places in town actually have to lock the garbage cans to stop street walkers from using their cans,  I love this concept.  At the elders apartment they have a electronic fob that unlocks their receptacles. That is pretty neat.

Across the street from the gym is a huge warehouse/hardware store.  It's busy all day long hauling stuff in and out.

Here are some of the prettier sites near by. Even though there are many high-rise apartments in Ancona there are still some single dwelling homes.  This is one of my favorites.

The entrances are wonderful.  Of course, they are all gated and locked.

These are found on the outside wall of one of the single dwelling homes on Palombare, two street over.  This home also has a gazebo and 2 satellite dishes on top.  There are huge chimneys or smoke stacks on the roof which reminds me of the exhaust flumes at Haren-Wood in Ontario for use during cremation.  Just saying.

This is Maggini, one of the few semi straight streets.  It is all up or downhill, depending on your perspective.

If you go up Maggini far enough you can find this structure hidden away just off the street behind a hedge.  It is very old and there are no signs to indicate what it once was. It has been preserved and set apart with this little garden.  Jesse's best guess is that it was used for grain storage.  There is a hole in the top and then the entrance that is visible here.

The little puffs of whatever were on the tree just outside our apartment.  They were there for a long time, dried up and blew away.  

We watched this cantaloupe plant grow during the summer and then last week someone picked the 3 unripe cantaloupe.  I sure hope they enjoy green fruit.  I guess they were afraid that someone else might get them first.  It was growing in a flower bed along the street.

Lastly, if you are ever in Ancona and want to look us up just follow the signs for Ancona Entrante.  We live right above it. It seems that this is the place where some kind of taxes are paid.  That is our balcony.  It runs along the entire 2 sides of our apartment.  People watching is a great past time from here. We love Tuesdays because the office is only open for 2 hours in the afternoon.  People come all day long and are disappointed because it is closed.

On July 17 -18 we attended the couples conference in Verona, Italy.  We drove up to Verona on Thursday.  It took us 3 1/2 hours to drive there.  The conference was enjoyable as we were informed and inspired.  The best part was having a chance to meet the other couples who are serving in the Milano Mission.

After the conference we all went to Roadhouse grill for dinner.  What a treat?  What's more American than hamburgers and french fries?  It tasted so good!  We retired to our hotel room for some shut eye while 2 or three couples went to the opera.  We didn't have tickets so we lost out but I didn't feel too badly as it didn't start until 10:00 pm. Half way through the event they got rained out as it was held in the Roman Arena. Placido Domingo was one of the performers for the evening. I was a little bit surprised to see a Best Western in Italy but that's where we stayed.

Friday morning we headed out on the downtown Verona adventure.  This is the entrance to the main piazza Bra.

 These are the Harmers.  They are the mission office couple.  Anziano Harmer is a great leader.  He seems to always know where to go and how to get there. We should know because we followed him from Milano to Ancona when we first came to Italy.  He informed us at the conference that we each only got 2 tickets that day for driving where we shouldn't have been driving.  They don't stop you in Italy for infractions like in the States.  They have cameras everywhere and they just send you the ticket in the mail. (Big Brother is watching you)  Right now those tickets go to the mission office where they are paid but if we get too many we will have to fork over the dough for them.  Anziano Harmer took full responsibility for those as we were greenies following our leader.

 Here we are in front of the Roman Arena. It is the third largest in Italy.  Much of the outer ring was destroyed in the earthquake of 1117 but the inner ring is still intact.

Here you can see a portion of the outer ring that remains.

This is the walk way as we headed to see Juliet's house. We know Romeo and Juliet are fictitious but there really were the Capuleti and Scaligeri families. Juliet's house is a huge attraction because so many are enthralled with the love story.

 Here is the infamous balcony.  It wasn't added to the home until 1936 as a tourist attraction.

This is where people add their chewed bubble gum to the wall.  I guess it's a way of showing your allegiance and leaving a piece of yourself there.

This is the view from inside off the balcony.

Inside the home.

Taken outside on the street.

This is The Giardino Giusti one of the most beautiful gardens in Italy.  I prefer to see some flowers but the greens were quite amazing.  The maze is in the same pattern as the original maze but this one is only waist high.  I suppose it's so you can really find your way out.

This is the Roman Theater.  Showing above is part of the original walls.  It is still used for performances today.

This was just some random wall along the streets.  Pretty cool.

A few more shots of Verona then on to the Verona Duomo.

First Big Adventure

A couple of weeks after arriving in Italy we decided it was time to venture out and do a little exploring.  We heard about this monument down by the sea so gave it a go.  The hardest thing about exploring is finding a parking place.  Once you find a spot, you find a ticket kiosk, pay a fee, and get a ticket to put in your car window so you don't get a parking ticket. The prime places make you pay more per hour.

This is the Monumento Ai Caduti.  It was erected in honor of all the fallen.  It is near the sea so that's what was calling us to go see it.  There is a park near by and a trail that leads down to the sea.  We walked for ever down all these steps,      

The view was well worth the climb.

These doors on the right of the picture are the openings to the caves behind them.  The caves were dug years ago and used for storage for farmers and fisherman.  Now they are used as beach houses.  You either rent or own and use them for the day at the beach.  I use the term beach, lightly because there is no sand here.  Just lots of rocks line the shore.
 Going back up the hill we walked through part of the park.  There is a public swimming pool there and some trees and bushes.  We found this abandoned fountain and pond.  It was probably very pretty at one time.

The Monument is on ground level where we parked.  The steps go down to a viewing area and then more steps go down to the beach.  Here they have moved rocks out for a water break and brought in some sand.  Many people go there to swim and sun bathe.  It's what they do, especially on Saturday.

Those little tiny specks down there are umbrellas and sun bathers.  The sea is very beautiful and is only about 10 minutes from our apartment.  The 4 elders that serve here can actually see the port from their apartment but I'm not jealous because they have more mosquitoes and we don't have that many.