Tuesday 15 April: Mom and Dad in the Eternal City

I got up early, did some writing, had a bunch of coffee, and took off to my folks’ b&b. Since the weather was uncertain, we took the on-and-off tour bus around town. If you’ve never been on one of these, I highly recommend them if you go to a new city. You can find them in most major European cities. The bus goes around to all the key sites (or in Rome’s case, as close as traffic permits you to get), and you can get off at any stop and get back on all day. We rode the circuit all the way around, almost two hours, to give Mom and Dad a good view of Rome. We then got off at Campo de’ Fiori and walked up to Piazza Navona. By now it was pouring rain. Luckily, whenever a single rain drop falls in Rome, thousands of peddlers appear from nowhere selling umbrellas, so I bought one for Mom. I have never seen Piazza Navona so empty! We went to Tucci, my favorite restaurant there, and had a ginormous Roman lunch. Carciofi alla romana, roman-style artichokes sautéed whole with garlic and herbs, served as vegetables along with a mixed salad. Mom had spit-roasted chicken and potatoes, while Dad and I went for seafood: he had salmon and I had swordfish, both with grilled vegetables. I also had spaghetti con vongole. This must be the third time I’ve had it in two weeks.

By the time we were done eating, the sun was out, as were the street musicians, vendors, and thousands of tourists who make Piazza Navona such a central hangout in Rome. From there, we walked to the Pantheon. The folks loved the architecture! While we were inside admiring the immense dome (the largest until the Superdome in the 1960’s, and cast entirely in one casting as a single piece), a woman asked me if I knew where the Pantheon was. I told here she was in it, and she was sort of surprised. She seemed like the type who prefers mall architecture to classical.

After the Pantheon, we hopped back on our bus and rode around to the Museo dell’Ara Pacis. I’ve written about the Ara Pacis before, and you must know by know how I am when I get started about Augustus, so I won’t go into details about it again (I’ll save it for an article I’m working on). Mom and Dad enjoyed the details in the artwork, and agreed with me that the city needs to clean up the Mausoleum of Augustus, which we viewed from outside. The area is filled 1930’s Fascist-era architecture, in the same style as seen in footage of the Nuremburg rally, or on the façade of Central Pattee. Actually, Mussolini-period architecture in Italy is generally so hideous, it makes Pattee look like the Sistine Chapel.

We caught the bus again outside the Mausoleum, and rode the circuit past the Forum Romanum and Imperial Fora, the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, and other sites, and back to the Vatican, where we had begun. By now it was late afternoon and raining again. We got out of the deluge by stopping for panini and pastries at a caffè. After our snack, I walked Mom and Dad back to their b&b, which is conveniently located only a block or so from Piazza di Risorgimento, where lots of bus lines stop. I told the folks goodnight, caught a bus home, did some more writing, and then sat by my big open window and read Pasolini until after midnight.