Louise jumped out of bed ready to head off to the Coliseum, Forum and Palatine, but I was dragging my feet a little. Truth be told, the summer I spent in Athens at the American School of Classical Studies, traipsing from ruin to ruin, forever cured me of any need I might have ever felt to look at fallen-over columns, hard-to-read foundations and time-scarred inscriptions, but the day was beautiful, the kids had really wanted to go, and hey, it's Rome -- you see these things!
I think my lack of enthusiasm showed, and Louise got a little testy. She's absolute right that she and the kids have followed me from museum to church and as I came to life and we went through the site I got more and more excited, to the point were I was the one with map and audioguide, trying to point out the points of interest. Daniel, however, was less involved than we had thought he would be, and even Annie started to drag her feet a little. "When is lunch? How much further? Are we really headed to exit, or are you dragging us past ONE MORE THING?" Oy.
We tried to find the closest place to eat, but wound up on a bit of a wild goose chase. Did find an OK outside cafe (traffic on one side, a frame shop where they were devoting the lunch hour to shattering glass, loudly on the other) and recharged. Daniel was very grateful for a plain hamburger as a change from pizza/pasta and scarfed down a very large ice cream dessert.
We promised him that we would find a bookstore which sold English books and so we did, buying him the latest Ken Follet. We also told him he could sit outside on a bench and read while we went into the next attraction(s) if he wanted. Next attraction was San Pietro in Vincolo and Michelangelo's Moses. Very powerful, recently cleaned and gleaming. (I understand it had been known as the Dirtiest Famous Sculpture in Rome for years.)
Then off to Santa Maria Maggiore. Halfway through the trip Daniel manned up and decided he was going to take keys and cellphone and brave the Rome subway on his own to go home and have some Daniel time. You go Daniel. Louise Annie and I proceded to the church (gorgeous, with very early mosaics that reminded me of Venice) and Daniel called in about 20 minutes later to say he had made it home.
L and A and I then headed to Santa Maria de la Victoria, to see our final famous Bernini, but took a detour into Santa Maria degli Angeli (don't worry, it's all very confusing even if you're here and doing it yourself.) Half of an ancient Roman bath converted into a church by Michelangelo, we felt it answered the question Louise had asked in the Forum -- what would it have been like to visit the Roman buildings when they were still standing in all their glory. The answer is -- small! It's huge, gorgeous and completely overwhelming.
Then on to SM de la V, where we took in Bernini's "Ecstacy of Saint Teresa of Avila," his most dramatic work -- Teresa convulsed in what look like the throes of a much more earthly ecstacy, mouth open, head thrown back, while an angel looks on, aiming a gold arrow towards her ... well, you can imagine. The comment I overheard most often was "I'll have what she's having."
Then on to the Barberini and the final three Caravaggios of the trip, which didn't disappoint: St. Francis (dark and moody), Judith and Holofernes (chillingly realistic) and Narcissus looking at his reflection in the water. The gallery has undergone a top-to-bottom renovation and looks just-scrubbed; the paintings are a rich symphony of old masters.
Metro back home with a stop at the food store. Got what proved to be a little overly ambitious in response to the quality of what's in the store -- mozzarella and tomatoes, then sauteed fish with capers, risotto and zucchini. Things started off fine then got a little heated as Louise and I tried to get everything done at the same time -- fish fell apart when it was turned, capers were too salty, zucchini wasn't cooking through -- I'm sure you've all been there.
What happened next will -- I hope -- be funny in the retelling some months hence. Without assigning roles, all I'll say is that one of us complained about the parsley in the risotto, another didn't really want the zucchini, a remark was made about the saltiness of the capers, a request for JUST SOME PLAIN AMERICAN FOOD was heard, someone lost his temper, a glass of red wine was spilled over an innocent little girl, one of our party took his plate into the living room TO GET A LITTLE PEACE AND QUIET and the tension level went uncomfortably high.
An hour later, after a little soul-searching, some earnest conversations and a gelato run things were basically back on track, but for this, our last day, we've decided to cut back on the schedule, find somethings that the kids clearly will enjoy, and build in a little at-home quiet time.
And having said that, I'm off on my own to make the 8:30 a.m. opening of the Giotto Show at the Vittoriano!
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