Happy belated mother’s day!

The day before, we spent the afternoon with new friends Margaret and Sathia and with the new mummy, Lynn. So that makes it an early mummy’s day celebration, huh?

Anyway, on mothers day, Cart and I has been spending afternoon in Eur. We’ve been spending time here for a couple of weeks now.

Eur is a very interesting place. It was started by Benito Mussolini to celebrate the 20 years of facism. The exhibition never took place due to world war two, but nevertheless, it was completed in the 60′s to what we have today.

Its not hard to miss the architecture in Eur. Its rather opulent and grand here despite it being far away from the city centre. Regardless, its actually rather accessible to get to as its just a walking distance from the EUR Palasport subway.

This is a church at the end of Viale Europa. Sometimes there would be a fair at these steps. Just last week there were people selling pots of beautiful different coloured roses here. And by the way, with it being spring season now, roses are starting to bloom beautifully. Which would be a fantastic time to start going to the rose gardens in Circo Massimo.

Not too far away, there is a big lake which is called the Parco Laghetto where Cart and I have been Eur Laghetto to do some exercises, courtesy of Roma 12 which is hosting this free for all event every Sunday till the end of June.

There isnt a lot of people participating so far, but I’ve been telling almost everyone I know in Rome, and hopefully there will be more in due time

Which is what actually happened yesterday. Usually the area where we exercised was very tranquil. Even with the large traffic coming in and out, it was still roomy. This time round, I was surprised to see so many people. Kids running around. Parents crowding around tents getting food and freebies. People walking around with food in their hands. And a deejay blasting through all the cacophony.

Of course the first thing that came to my mind was, “Where did you get that pizza? Is it free? I want” And I demanded Cartcart to teach me how to say it in Italian.

In any case, exercise first! Initially I was embarrassed to be exercising in front of all these people. But what’s the point of going all the way here with the intention to exercise and not do it in the end right? So I’ll just grin and exercised anyway. Its not like I knew any of them

There were some kepokians and people who stared but nothing bad happened. Cart and I went around to have a look see after we finished.

Hey look! Its the fake Mickey and fake Minnie! I call them fake because they are a lot slimmer compared to their American counterpart. Could be all the healthy pasta they are eating! The last time that we’ve seen them were in a carnevale in Castelli Romani in February

We then walked to a corner where we found this :

I find the Italian road naming system interesting. I wonder why this is called the Japanese Passage. Were there any Japanese influence here? But to be fair, there is even a Singapore street in my neighbourhood way before I started living here.

Not too far away, there is a bridge where there will usually be a man doing a puppet show or a street vendor, selling trinkets like toys and such.

This guy was wierd though. He played smooth criminal on his CD player and all through his performance, he just jiggled his puppets on the table. Why? Funny meh?

In any case, I dont know about you, but this place gives me the Central Park vibe. Yes, yes. Even if I’ve never ever stepped a foot in the States, but still … :p

There are lots to see here. From all sorts of little creatures like colourful lizards.

To a family of ducks

And you could see a family of people feeding pigeons

As well as the occasional grass monsters lying down or reading in the grass. Camoflaging as a human

Oh! And there is a cute little train here that goes around the lake which is more for kids, but also useful for people like me who are lazy to walk around too much to explore around the area

But in any case, I dont know about you, but with the lake and this train totally reminds me of the amusement park that I built in Roller Coaster Tycoon. Anyone remember this game? Sometimes, when I’m feeling evil, I’d pick up my customers and drop them in the lake

Speaking of lake! I saw a number of people kayaking, and boating around. I love kayaking since I first gave it a try in school. I had a blast with my girlfriends kayaking in Thailand and was looking forward to my next session. This could be a place where I could go kayaking next time.

Apart from that, there were pedal boats, sail boats and dinner on boats for two. I looked at Cart and he immediately said no. He wasn’t looking forward to having flies as the third party. Guess I’d have to scratch the idea of a romantic dinner on a boat for the two of us

Anyway I spotted this banner outside the boat rental area. I pointed out to Cart and said, “Woah, that guy looks like a movie star!” And then I looked closely and was pleasantly surprised.

Did you know that this place is actually a spot where Federico Fellini filmed a movie? Federico Fellini is a famous director who probably best known for La Dolce Vita. I shouldnt be surprised though since its beautiful here.

That makes me quite jealous of the people who are living in the area nearby. Big houses. Rich people. How nice would it be to live next to a big park like that, yeah? Being surrounded by so much greenery. Granted that Cart and I live right next to a small park ourselves, its not bad but I’m going to continue to try to be a world superstar. Or something

Another thing to be jealous of these people is that there is a Giolitti here! Giolitti is a gelateria and this brand is very well known in Italy and is considered to be one of the best ice cream here. Even better than Tony. Its slightly more expensive compared to a regular gelateria. But tasting it, you could even tell the difference in how smooth the texture is. Cart even snootily said, “Its worth paying extra for”

Oh well, I’m not complaining since he’s treating me!

I’m not sure if this picture goes into this blog-post, but I thought that it was interesting.

Its a stand where you could seek for help. You press a button here and the carabinieri or the police will be able to assist you. Its probably useful for when your phone or phone signal dies yeah?

Oh, I just remembered something! There is no graffiti on this stand?! That’s the most amazing thing of all! Normally juvenile delinquents love to scribble stuff over things like these. I must have struck lottery or something. ‘Cept I don’t play lotto

Eur sure is gorgeous. It might not be a touristy destination. But if you have an afternoon to spare in Rome, this would be a lovely place to spend time in.

To end this blog post, I’m gonna put up a picture of me lying in the grass

How? Stylish or not?

The grass sure is green here

If you liked this post, you might enjoy :

• Visiting musuems in Rome
• Valentine’s day in Castelli Romani
• Seeing a mountain up close in Monte Terminillo
• Or the rest of my posts in my Italy category