Look, Ma! A marble elbow!

Above: Eli learns the hard way that sand doesn't make for a good snack.
Below: Eli playing in the sand. If you look closely, you can see Tiberius' grotto in the upper left hand corner of the pic.

Above: Even our car enjoyed a great view in Sperlonga. Note pregnant Mama on the right.
Below: Sam and Eli exploring the ruins and ancient fish farms.

Above and Below: Inside the grotto (sculptures have been removed and are now displayed in a nearby museum).

Above: View of Sperlonga from the grotto
Below: Sam shows Eli Tiberius' digs.

Time for another blog post. All is well here. I've been feeling mighty pregnant these days. It's hard to believe that I still have 14 weeks to go. This pregnancy has definitely been more draining than the first, but I have a feeling that running around after our newly willful 2 year old might have something to do with it. We're still hot on the name game. Any suggestions out there?

Last weekend we had a wonderful couple of days in Gaeta and Sperlonga, two coastal towns between Rome and Naples. Both towns are really lovely and picturesque. Definitely internationally underrated places to keep in mind for a mediterranean vacation. Anyway, we had dinner at a cute little seafood restaurant in Gaeta on Friday night. I felt like I had taken some sort of translation syrum because I actually understood everything that the waitress said. For the language inept, such as myself, this is a very big deal. Makes me think the hard work in the Italian arena this year is paying off. Woohoo! However, I still sound mentally impaired when I try to speak. We can't have it all. The other day, an Italian asked me if I was Italian (though he did express some confusion over this idea). I thought it was a hilarious question. Did he think I had a speech impediment or that I was retarded?

Anyway, I'm digressing. Back to the weekend. Saturday we started the day exploring Tiberius' summer digs. Very impressive indeed. He built his compound next to a natural grotto which he transformed into an aquatic sculpture garden for outdoor dining and entertaining. The Roman elite definitely knew their luxury. I'm always impressed with what Roman imaginations came up with (of course, unlimited funds and slavery don't hurt in carrying out these dreams). Interesting fact: apparantly the compound wasn't "discovered" until the mid 1950s, though it's easily accessible from a very popular vacation spot. It's hilarious to think of Italians sunning themselves on the beach with kids running back and forth from the grotto, "Look Ma, I just found a marble hand!" "That's great dear. Throw it in the beach bag and we'll take it home." Seriously, this must have happened at least once or twice.

We also explored the town of Sperlonga, a very charming village overlooking the water. The weather was so nice that we even got some beach time in. We topped off the day by going to a great restaurant in Gaeta that night called "Ex Macelleria" (trans: "Ex-Butcher Shop") where I made great strides in rectifying my pregnancy-enduced anemia with a huge Tuscan steak. Success! (Sam was jealous.)

On Sunday we attempted to go to place called Ninfa, but it was closed. Ninfa is an old abandoned mideval village that is now a national garden. The cool thing about Italy is that no one is remotely concerned for your personal safety so apparantly you can roam in and out of the old buildings and gardens at will. Would have been great. Oh well, next time.

orientation

Above: the SYA Viterbo class of 2008-2009
Below: Eli and Caroline outside of San Francesco in Arezzo


Above: Eli and Caroline in Piazza Grande in Arezzo
Below: Eli taking in the scene

Below: I did a candlemaking activity in Bevagna with the studens in a candlemaking workshop that has been active since at least the 13th century. The leader explained to us that in the middle ages people, especially tradesmen like carpenters, used wax as bandaids to seal wounds. I happened to have an annoying cut on my thumb and the guy let me dip my thumb into a vat of hot wax. It worked really well.



Sorry for not posting in a while. Here's some recent news.

All three of us traveled with the students on the orientation trip to Umbria. We visited Bevagna, Assisi, Perugia and Spoleto and spent some quality time with the SYA student body and faculty. We stayed in a big vacation type resort thing on the shore of Lago di Trasimeno, about 30 min from Perugia. The sunset over the lake was beautiful, and it was nice to spend some time with Eli out in the country. Eli was a hit with the students (of course he was), and we now have a list of about 12 babysitters thanks to Eli putting on the charm during the trip.

We spent the weekend after the trip in Arezzo in eastern Tuscany. We decided on Arezzo because that weekend they were having the semi-annual antique photography market. As it turns out the market was only photographic equipment and not prints like we had hoped. Nevertheless, Arezzo was well worth the visit, and we plan to go back in November for the famous Arezzo antiques fair which takes place once a month and is supposed to be the best in Italy. The antiques shops in Arezzo were certainly promising at any rate. They were filled with museum quality furniture and art. We are really looking forward to the market which apparently takes up most of the town with 1000 vendors. We'll be sure to take photos of the event. Arezzo had great stuff to offer besides the antiques. We visited Vasari's house, a really beautiful duomo, some wonderful piazzas, one of the most famous fresco cycles in Italy, and we stayed inside the walls of a quintessential (and almost revoltingly cute) Tuscan hill town, Anghiari. In that town we tried florentine steak for the first time, and it was pretty freaking awesome.

Since then we have been pretty much in the routine of school. Caroline is enjoying her Italian classes with the kids at SYA, and Eli is loving his time at school too. Caroline's tummy is getting bigger, and Eli is getting used to saying, "I'm going to have a baby brother," and "fratellino" which are about the cutest things ever. I am working hard trying to impart the wisdom of the ancients on the younger generation without making too many digressions about 70's rock music, Jainism, and Survivor.

That's gonna be it for now. Eli is getting restless, and I'd better get dinner going. I hope you all are well. A presto,

Sam