ROME 25/5– Day 37: hard choices

5:46 – this was sunrise

20:28 – this will be sunset

20:45 – this is for the Ave Maria Bell

St. Paschal Baylón is remembered on his feast day.  He was a model of perseverance in pursuing his vocation.  He also declined to be pushed into a vocation he did not think he had.   He served as a Franciscan brother in the capacity of porter and official beggar.

Beautiful sky and light in the Piazza Navona last night.  I had gone to the P.za der Fico to view some of the ongoing chess games.  It is interesting that, although they have some space, they only set up one or two boards and play bullet (5 minute) while a lot of them sit or stand around and constantly comment, even sometimes reaching out and poking at squares or pieces.

Speaking of things papal.  At Sant’Agnese in Agone, they never did change the coat of arms over the main door.  But the other guy is above the left door while the titular cardinal is over the right.

Breakfast.

Shopping for lunch.  So hard to choose.

I got some mortadella and pizza bianca, but not much.  I am slated to be out tonight.

From Ariccia, famous for porchetta.

In chessy news…

White to move and mate in 4.  HERE

Bonus shot:

On the P.za Navona there is a trinket store which has a lot of chess sets, pottery, trashy stuff, some good things.  They have different packs of cards from different regions in Italy for different, regional games.  For example, they have the Neapolitan deck used in Rome and elsewhere for games like Briscola and Scopa.  The other decks are a mystery, other than the Piacentina, which can be used for the same games.   You can click for larger and see the names/places on the decks.