Ruminations upon Tuesday September 17, 2024 in Rome, Italy
Many moons ago, I spent a month studying Italian in Rome just for fun. I had never studied Italian before, but I had fallen in love with Rome on a backpacking trip the year before. My camera died while we were in Rome, and I took that as a sign that I had to return to this magnificent city. It was one of my favorite experiences and I was eager for our family to experience it together. Knowing how much there was to see in Rome and the vast amount of history that could be covered, I decided to outsource the educational opportunities to a kid-oriented tour group for two of our three days. In theory, I could have taken the kids around. In practice, I knew that it would not go over as well if it were me. There was just too much to choose from. Also, I haven’t used my Italian in almost twenty years. Better to leave this city to the professionals.
We signed up with a phenomenal tour company who focus on family-friendly tours. However, the only openings they had were in the morning. This meant we had to switch the learning schedule we had created in Prague. Instead of journaling and math in the morning with excursions in the afternoon, we had our excursions in the morning and schoolwork in the afternoon. This was not the best schedule for the kids, but the tours made the switch completely worth it.
We were scheduled to meet our tour guide, Alessandra, and group at the Trevi Fountain on our first full day in Rome. After receiving many comments from previous European citizens about the “impressive” amount of energy and propensity for asking questions that our American children have, I thought it wise to forward Alessandra the night before our scheduled tour. I WhatsApped her and was relieved when she responded with her own excitement. I could already tell this experience was going to be great.
Our first day in Rome was chilly, sixty-degrees and rainy. Of course, we left our apartment without our ponchos, thinking we could handle the cold and drizzle with just sweatshirts. That was dumb. After ten minutes of standing in the rain and Alessandra asking us repeatedly if we were sure we didn’t want to buy ponchos from one of the ten vendors walking past us, we broke down and bought some for the kids.
Our tour group included us and a family from Australia with three girls, including their own set of twins, all about the boys’ ages. Alessandra set the ground rules early. Adults against kids. Whichever group had the most points at the end of the tour would win a surprise reward. Oh, and the losers had to buy gelato for the winners. A reward?! More gelato?! The boys were instantly motivated to participate. So much so that we had to remind them to let the other family’s children answer at least a few of the questions.
During our walk, we visited the Trevi Fountain where everyone took part in the longtime tradition of throwing a euro into the fountain for good luck, Hadrian’s Temple, Galleria, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and Sant ’Ignazio’s Church. The boys were most enthralled by the illusion of the dome in Sant ‘Ignazio’s Church. The Church was built in the 17th century by the Jesuits and is considered one of the great preaching churches of that time. Due to lack of funds, the builders could not build a true dome. Rather, the artist Andrea Pozzo painted an illusion on the ceiling to make it appear like there is a dome in the center of the interior. We all enjoyed moving closer and further away from the center to see how it changed our perspective. In addition to getting a sense of Rome, the boys learned about its history, the Caesar family, how rulers demonstrate their sovereignty through monuments, and how the rise and fall of civilizations (e.g. the Church usurping power from the Romans) occurs more through the absorption and assimilation of important sites and stories than the disappearing of a people.
Throughout our tour, Amichai and Eitan showed off their Greek and Roman gods knowledge – they are obsessed with mythology and know far more than I do at this point. Shai paid close attention to the tour because he really wanted his reward. His excitement that the kids were always in the lead (somehow) was so intense that he kept updating me with a squeal every few minutes. Matanel often walked ahead of the group with Alessandra. The two of them were very busy talking about everything under the sun, including Matanel’s obsession of the moment: BrawlStars. Thank goodness, Alessandra was incredibly patient and an active listener as well as an engaging tour guide for children and adults alike.
Time flew by. It barely felt like we’d been walking for two hours when the tour ended. Since it was cold, we opted to walk to the Jewish Ghetto for lunch instead of gelato. Lunch could be described as a balagan/chaos. We tried to order quick street food from the kosher pizza place, but only Amichai was willing to try the pizza and enjoyed it. The other boys were swiftly becoming hangry, which never ends well in our family. Off we went to find another restaurant. We landed at BaGhetto (Dairy), another kosher dairy place two doors over. Shai ordered an avocado sandwich and Matanel ordered plain pasta with cheese. It was so busy, and we were tucked into the back of the restaurant. I’m certain the waiters kept forgetting about us.
Meanwhile, Eitan didn’t want anything on the menu and was going from hangry to worse. Chaim took him to BaGhetto (Meat) and ordered him a hamburger. Back at BaGhetto (Dairy) we were waiting for what seemed like forever for our food. By the time ours arrived, Eitan had already finished eating his hamburger and was sitting with us. Moreover, Shai didn’t want his avocado sandwich, which was enormous (and delicious!) and Matanel didn’t want his pasta because it wasn’t plain enough – the chef put olive oil on it. After some musical plates, all of the boys, except Matanel, ate enough to satisfy them until we got home. What was supposed to be a quick trip out for lunch ended up taking two hours and costing way more than we’d intended to spend that day. However, I am always worrying about the boys losing weight on this around the world adventure. From my perspective, three full bellies was a win – no matter how much it cost.
Exhausted from all of the walking and a bit frazzled by the lunch insanity, we headed to our bus eager to get back to our apartment. We waited. And waited. And waited. Chaim was beginning to worry that this would be another Paris experience when the bus never arrived, and he would miss an important meeting. Thankfully (in a relative way of speaking), the bus was only twenty-minutes late.
A few blocks from our apartment, we passed a market. We were in dire need of food in the apartment so I sent Chaim and the boys ahead while I went shopping. In America, rarely do I ever need to weigh my fruits and vegetables before paying for them. It’s all done on the cashier’s scale. Prague was similar. Unbeknownst to me, this market required self-weighing before paying. Well, I showed up to the counter with at least seven bags of fruits and vegetables un-weighed. The store manager took pity on me and ran them back to the scale to weigh each bag for me while the cashier looked at me with disdain. It took so long that they had to open a second register because I was holding up the line. At some point I heard the cashier saying something in Italian about how I was American. I was so embarrassed. Lesson learned: Double check the vegetable and fruit situation before showing up at the cash register.
We had another tour scheduled for the next day and everyone needed a good night’s sleep. Our day ended with schoolwork, a homemade dinner, and an attempt at an early bedtime. Suffice to say, we were unsuccessful with the early bedtime.
