A 6-Caravaggio Day

After checking in with Luciana -- from whom we're renting the apartment -- and getting the Internet connection sorted out, I took a cab to the Galeria Borghese and wallowed in amazing art for three hours.  It's an incredible Baroque palazzo with every square centimeter of floor, walls and ceiling completely decorated, with an incredible sculpture collection (ancient and Baroque) including the most dramatic of the Bernini sculptures.  Set in the center of half a dozen rooms, they're literal showstoppers.  Any one would be the making of a museum in the States.  And the Caravaggios!  Cardinal Scipione Borghese was one of Caravaggio's earliest patrons, and the collection features Boy with a Basket of Fruit (the inspiration for my Facebook profile photo), Sick Bacchus, the young St. John, the Palfrenieri altarpiece, St. Jerome and David with the Head of Goliath.  It was very crowded when I got there (5 pm) but thinned out so much by 7 pm that I was almost alone.  What bliss!

After leaving the Borghese I wandered along for about half an hour, passing the Spanish Steps, enjoying the store windows on Via dei Condotti and then stopping at Richard Meier's new museum for the Ara Pacis (Altar of Peace).  If you've ever been to the Getty in LA you'd recognize it immediately, down to the rough-hewn squares of travertine on the exterior walls.  I then walked over to the Piazza Navona, where I had Pizza Navona in an outside cafe overlooking the fountains and the evening's action -- buskers, college students, Africans selling cheap knock-off handbags and tourists from all over the world.  My friend Jefferson and I had eaten at the same place (as far as I can remember) back in 1976 when I was first in Rome, and I had always remembered the Pizza Navona.  The pizza wasn't that great, but the scenery was world class.

Louise and the kids are at JFK as I write this.  Things seem to be going smoothly for them (fingers crossed) and they should be here about 10 am tomorrow.  Depending on whether the kids need a nap or not, we'll either head right for the Forum and the Colosseum, or I'll go off on my own (Capitoline Museum?  the church of San Giovanni in Laterano?) while they all take a nap.

Today's most embarassing moment:  I was so proud of myself for going to the supermarket (oh you should see it) to stock up on food before they get here that I didn't realize you need to weight and label your fruit and vegetable purchases before checking out.  Yup ... a whole check-out line had to wait while the crazy Americano ran back to weigh his oranges and apples.  You can be sure I learned my lesson!