Alisa would be giving a talk at La Sapienza, Universita di Roma, around noon, and we were planning to accompany her, since the university was near the heart of Rome.
We followed the old city walls again and retraced our path to the Colosseum, walking past this amazing building on the way to the University.
Alisa met her host, we wished her luck, and then I went with the kids to a basilica just a few hundred yards away from the school, San Pietro in Vincoli. I had never heard of this church prior to that morning and was delighted to hear it featured a sculpture of Moses done by Michelangelo.
There's a good write up about this basilica here:
http://www.spacial-anomaly.com/the-churches-of-rome-italy-san-pietro-in-vincoli/
As we prepared to go in, another visitor nodded hello to us and waved to Lanna (she continues her international charm). He was a fellow American visiting from the midwest. He smiled and said, "Traveling with three kids is more impressive than anything Michelangelo did."
We thanked him and walked in. The basilica was large and spacious, making the ceiling paintings seem more distant. The reliquary shone at the far end with Peter's chains inside.
The boys did very well, although I was nervous when a security lady started following us around. My fears where ungrounded when she waved at Lanna and offered to take our picture together! Here we are near Moses.
Here are some other shots of the entire Moses scene. Although I'm no sculpture expert, you can tell the bottom three figures have a better quality than the upper three. Michelangelo did the bottom three and his understudies finished off the rest.
The reliquary with the chains was impressive as well.
We made our way out of the basilica and started walking down the hill to find some lunch.
We crossed a small bridge that had some of the best views of the Colosseum, so the kids put up with an impromptu photoshoot (giving me flashbacks to my Dad who would always take pictures of us with his infamous, "Just one more picture!" line).
Unfortunately it took us a while to find a good restaurant, but when we did the boys went crazy with their pasta!
Alisa had finished her talk and came to join us at the end of the lunch.
Then it was time for more gelato before meeting up with my sister in one of her favorite places in Rome: Campo de Fiori.
We found a fun place for an afternoon break.
Before long, this happened:
Since we arrived at the Campo after the morning markets, the pigeons were in full effect. Joey and Sammy enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
Given the Campo's excellent location and proximity to Piazza Navona, we went there next. Joey was mesmerized (as were a solid percentage of the passersby) by a performer in the piazza who had some tranquil music playing as he rolled a large glass ball across his entire body without it ever losing contact with him.
The piazza bustled with other performers, vendors, and hundreds of people sitting around the fountains. We sat down while Joey and Sammy found some other pigeons and enjoyed the atmosphere.
We made our way back to Katherine's apartment and had a relaxing evening. The sunset looking over at St. Peter's was a good one.
Friday heralded yet another DOUBLE DECKER BUS experience!
We decided to try a different company this time and will unlikely be using them again in the future, but it still got us around Rome better than bumping along the cobblestones in a stroller.
The boys both wore their Totti jerseys my sister had given them. Totti is Rome's most favored footballer. This site captures Rome's love of Totti very well:
Since the boys wore the jerseys, they were also the love of Rome. Throughout the day people would yell out, "Totti! Roma!" and the boys would smile and wave back.
We hit Campo de Fiori in full swing. It has always amazed me how full and frenetic the Campo is in the morning and how quiet it is in the afternoon. Instead of dozens of pigeons milling about, it was filled with vendors selling everything from fruit to pasta to art to souvenirs to oil.
The above picture captures the statue of Giordano Bruno (the weathered dark green above the white tent tops), a scientist and mathematician who was deemed heretical by the church and burned at the stake in 1600. The execution occurred in the Campo de Fiori. A great article about Bruno and an annual tradition for him can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/books/chapters/chapter-giordano-bruno.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
We went back to Piazza Navona for a laid back lunch. The Totti brothers once again cleared the area of pigeons. Here you can see them walking back after another patrol.
From the Piazza we went on the long trek to Trevi Fountain which was being renovated, so the boys missed the full experience.
After Trevi, we walked to the Pantheon, which Alisa and I believe to be one of the coolest buildings in the world. The boys liked it as well. They did find it strange that such a great building would have a hole in the middle of its ceiling.
As amazing as the Pantheon was, we had walked past a Ferrari shop on the way. Immediately after leaving the Pantheon they asked to return. We did. They promptly became proud new owners of Ferraris.
After such a gauntlet of history and architecture, we loaded back on the bus. The driver impressed me with his assertiveness although I did fear for our lives a few times.
The route did give us this exceptional drive by of the Colosseum (please forgive Lanna's crying in the background, she was pretty much ready to go back to see Aunt Kiki and Ella).
We finished the walk back to see my sister and enjoyed some quality aunt and cousin time.
Another city, another DOUBLE DECKER BUS. Everyone loved their day in Rome and were looking forward to more history, more gelato, and more time with Aunt Kiki and Ella.
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