Harold, aren’t you doing anything other than going to museums and churches? It must seem that way, I suppose. The simplest answer is that this is what I love to do on my European adventures. Last November when I went to Paris, Berlin and Dresden I counted 26 museum visits. On the other hand, I’m doing my fair share of strolling, eating and shopping, although the strolls are usually to or from museums, the meals are to give me energy to do my museum-going, and the shopping is art books in museum giftshops. OK – guilty as charged.
About eating … how’s the food?
The food has actually been kind of hit-or-miss. Given that it’s four of us, and two aren’t exactly contributing to the expenses, it can be prohibitive to eat our. After you’ve been surprised with a few simple restaurant meals with 50 euro tabs you learn to economize. In Rome we have breakfast at the apartment. Annie’s in heaven with her toast and Nutella every day; I’ve stuck with Cheerios and a banana. We’ve had one really memorable lunch, the first day in Florence, when we treated ourselves to the restaurant Louise’s hosts recommended. Louise and I shared a wood-fire-grilled bruschetta with spectacular local olive oil; she had tagliatelle with lemon and shrimp and I had beef with a dark red-wine balsamic sauce. I think we’ve had every dinner in Rome at the apartment – fun to cook and use the local ingredients. The veal scaloppini dish I made was a particular hit. We’ve also had our share of bad stand-up pizza and 3 euro paninis. Another trip without the kids and we’ll splurge. But speaking of the kids, their favorite food experience (and perhaps their favorite experience of the whole trip) has been the gelato. They somehow have conditioned us that two gelatos a day is the minimum, and there hasn’t been a bad one in the lot. (No, that’s wrong … one night everything was closed and we settled for soft-serve at McDonalds, but even that wasn’t too bad).
How are the kids doing?
The kids are alright. (Sorry, had to.) Annie, as those of you how know her in person or through me are aware, is the world’s best travel companion. She’s energetic, interested, full of curiosity and up for anything. She actually asked for more time in a few museums – if she doesn’t finish the entire audioguide tour she feels as if she’s been cheated. She appreciates a little down time, during which she turns on her iPod and cranks up the soundtrack to Mamma Mia! As a guilty pleasure she enjoys a little TV – last night she camped out at the Rectory and soaked up about an hour of Nickelodeon. She came and told us all about it … the programs are in English, but the ads, intros and outros are in Italian. She’s sporting all the new clothes her devoted godfather has bought her – and seems to be having the time of her life.
Daniel also seems to be enjoying himself, although at 13 any boy is going to chafe at the bit a little. He’s very bright, a huge reader and also full of curiosity, but he tends to be quieter and more introspective than Annie. He enjoys slipping away into his room for a few hours of reading every day (I think he’s going through about half a dozen book already) and seems to be particularly happy when he and Louise get to go off alone – when Annie and I split up from them at the Vatican the two of them had a wonderful adventure.
I think it was healthy that Louise and the kids took off for Pisa today and I stayed in Florence. I’d guess it was too treats together for them – a whole day alone with Mom and an adventure to see the Leaning Tower. When we hook up again I’ll see how it went for them.
Of course, Annie and Daniel do the whole torture-your-sister-get-back-at-your-brother thing, but Louise has taught me to go with the punches, as it were.
How’s the apartment? The neighborhood?
The apartment is incredible. For only $1,100 for nine nights we have two and a half bedrooms, two baths, a full eat-in kitchen and a living room with dining table on the fifth floor of a very nice elevator building in a charming residential neighborhood with every imaginable store and convenience within three or four blocks. I’d highly recommend it for anyone thinking of going to Rome.
How are you and Louise getting along?
We’re doing very well. We tend to agree on an outline of the day, and then make adjustments as we go. She’s been flexible in letting me slip off early in the mornings to do something on my own while she and the kids start off a little more slowly, and then we meet up. Having cellphones that work here is a huge help – we can check in as often as we want. From time to time I feel as if she might be going along with my plans just because it’s easier, but I’ve never felt she’s done something she really didn’t want to in order to keep me happy. I think that basically she’s happy to be on vacation, happy to be with the kids, loves the apartment living and has felt we’ve been incredibly fortunate with the weather.
Given our different lives, she’s more likely to vote for prudence in terms of spending, but even that’s been OK. I’m taxi, she’s subway, but each has been flexible depending o the situation. I’m trying to think of the one disagreement I could share to show you that I’m not candy-coating anything, but nothing comes to mind, so that’s a good thing!
OK, if there’s one thing it might be time with Annie. She’s such a gem that I’m always tempted to run off with her on my own and not share her!
Any disasters so far?
Only little things. I didn’t know that you had to weight the fruits and vegetables at the grocery story before you got in line at the supermarket, so I held up about half a dozen people when I sprinted back to the scale after having most of my groceries checked out. Embarassing. Louise had her problem with no validating the train ticket. And my second day in Florence I went to put on my other pair of pant and realized there was no other pair of pants, so I’m on day four of what is thankfully a very comfortable and still relatively clean pair of khakis.
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