Reunion in Rome!

Saturday, 7/31/10

Matthew and I at the Baths of Caracalla, waiting for Rigoletto to start

 The trip to Fiumicino Airport to pick up my son, Matthew, was fairly uneventful. His plane was delayed about an hour and a half because of mechanical trouble. The plane he was supposed to fly in on needed its engines replaced, something discovered during routine maintenance checks. So the flight could have been much later. But Continental Airlines found another plane ready to cross the Atlantic. It was a smaller plane, so some passengers were rerouted and others got bumped. But Matthew got here OK.

 After getting his things situated back at our hotel, including presenting his passport at the desk, which all of the hotels require  now due to a government regulation, we headed to the Vatican. We took a quick tour of the museums, visited St. Peter's Basilica, found a quick bite to eat, and headed back to the hotel so Matthew could nap for a couple of hours. His favorite snack so far is gelato. The chocolate was especially good. My favorite snack yesterday was a chocolate-filled cornetto, a type of pastry, and a cappuccino I grabbed on the way to the train for less than 2 Euros. It tasted too good to be true.

 In the evening we headed to the Baths of Caracalla for Verdi's opera, Rigoletto. It was fun together, and the baths are a fantastic setting for an opera. And the singing was fantastic. I like Aida better, however. That's playing tomorrow night but I didn't want to be up late on Sunday if I can help it, since we have a bus to meet on Monday morning. 

After the opera was an adventure! The late night transportation in Rome is rather spotty. We assumed, wrongly, that there would be some extra buses heading to Trastevere after the opera. There were not. According to a sign, a night tram runs from 11:30 PM to 3 AM but we waited a long time and saw no sign of it. Finally the group of us, about 10 in all, hailed a cab, who called two more cabs on the radio, and we got back to the hotel by 1 AM. 

Not too bad. 

Matthew must have been particularly happy to see the hotel room since he had slept only about 4 hours including his nap.

The Capitoline Museum and a New Place to Stay

Sunday, 7/25/10

 After packing my bags, checking out, and locking my bags up at the Casa la Salle, I headed over to the Capitoline Museum with Susan and Jim. We saw the famous bronze equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, we saw the "Dying Gaul," and much more. It was fun.

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Diana the Huntress

The top floor had a special exhibit. Susan and I saw some bronze pieces, including a particularly striking statue, from the House of the same Julius Publius that we visited on our second trip to Pompeii-- the one where they found the corpses. The house in Pompeii had  Disney-like holographic projections. Publius was an art collector and the bronzes gave us just a little taste of his collection. Nice!

 For more pictures from the museum, visit this set on Flickr.

 This afternoon was spent loading up the bus and moving to the Hotel Villa Rosa in a part of town called Trastevere, which is from Latin “trans Tiberim,” which means, “across the Tiber.” It is more an extension of Rome, a very ancient one, rather than a part of Rome proper. But it is not far outside of town. There is good transportation by tram and by bus, so I think the group will adjust quickly. Jessica, my roommate, and I miss the electrical outlets and the internet connectivity at Casa la Salle, although there are some internet cafes close to the hotel. Not much is open on Sundays, so we took the Number 8 Tram back towards Rome to find a decent dinner. 

The hotel is up some stairs from the main street through this part of town, the Via Trastevere. It's on a tiny side street. We were were told if we get lost to ask for the Trastevere Train station, because the hotel is located across the Via Trastevere from there.
  
My boyfriend, Don, and I had a very nice, and probably final, Skype call last night. He told me my tomatoes are ripening faster and heavier than he can eat them. Did I mention I'm an avid gardener? 

 He plans to make salsa. I wish I could help him. 

I am looking forward to meeting my son, Matthew, on Saturday morning, though, and having a nice time in Rome when he gets here.

I would like to thank the National Endowment for the Humanities for funding this portion of my studies.