So we made another trip to Rome yesterday, and I would basically characterize the trip as moments of euphoria punctuated by profuse amounts of sweat and the occasional moment of utter desperation. It was muggy hot. I have never traveled to the deep South in summer, but I imagine that this is what it feels like in New Orleans or Georgia or wherever the deep South is at this time of year. The hordes of tourists have subsided somewhat. I figure the lions share must have had respiratory failure after breathing in the scooter fumes and gone home to convalesce. In the major tourist center we visited, around Piazza Venezia and the Forum Romanum, the tourists still outnumbered the layperson about 50 to 1, but this was a major improvement over our last visit when I don't think we saw a single person who wasn't holding a map and/or a guidebook and ogling some monument. It's great that so many people come to see these wonderful sights, but I am eager to go back and visit the sights when the words throng, horde, nauseating, and dehydration will no longer directly apply to our experience in this great city.
This was the first time any of us had ever been to see the Theater of Marcellus (started by Julius Caesar and finished by Augustus around 13 B.C. It was dedicated to the latter's would-be heir, Marcellus, who died prematurely at age 19. see the last few hundred lines of Book VI of Virgil's "Aeneid" for a poignant tribute to him. Then guess who's writing this post) which was the first permanent theather built in Rome. We also stumbled upon the Jewish Quarter which was nice. We will definitely go back there since some of the best vittles in Rome are supposedly hidden there. A brief jaunt around the Capitoline Hill brought us to the Forum Romanum. On the way we stopped to let Eli practice walking on the grass in front of the Wedding Cake (a.k.a. the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II). Our descent into the Forum lasted about 2 minutes. Eli started to melt down and the stroller couldn't hack it on the rough surface of the paths. We'll be back there for sure. By the time we leave here I want Eli to be reciting the dimensions of the Curia in Oscan.
We managed to eat a great meal outside under a shaded umbrella at a trattoria in Trastevere. Caroline had spaghetti alla matriciana and I had the spaghetti alla carbonara. Loads of pancetta...game on. We drove in this time which was a whole new adventure, t00. Despite the fact that we didn't know where we were 90 percent of the time, we managed to navigate the streets without really making a wrong turn. I'll credit the superior navigation skills and refined geo-spatial intuition of my better half, but I want credit for not killing or maiming any living beings while behind the wheel.
Eli is up from his nap now, and I need to go. Until soon. Ciao.
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