Sul Mare

It's Sunday morning at the Hotel Rupi Sul Mare overlooking the beach outside Gaeta. I'm waiting for Gio and the kids to wake up for our cornettis and caffe before we pack up and head back to Rome via Sperlonga. The beaches and coastal towns are completely packed and the chairs and rented umbrellas went to the waters edge yesterday. We're officially in the "alta stagione" and there must only be one or two designated residents in the landlocked towns of the hinterland to feed the cats all weekend.

The ragazzi are enjoying searching among the rocks for sealife and watching divers return to shore with their spear guns and string bags of fish and octopi. I took this photo of our Roman street urchin with a Mediterranean sea urchin ("Surf, meet Turf.").

Thought of the day: Without the Americas, this country wouldn't have tomatoes or cigarettes. I suppose all the pizzas were bianco in the old days and people did more snuff while waiting in line.

Nostro Apartamento

Our apartment building is on Via Francesco a Ripa in Roma's Trastevere district just off the main piazza. We're on the first floor of the ochre-colored building pictured and have the two windows next to those draped with Brazilian flags. Our landlords are from Brazil and are still in mourning for their defeated team. There's a great pizzeria downstairs and a superb deli across the street. We also consider ourselves lucky because we happen to be near one of Rome's only inner city playgrounds. Sure, everyone smokes and the bums have staked out a corner to enjoy their boxed wine, but there is shade, so that's an improvement over what we're used to in Napa.

We visited il Museo dei Bambini yesterday which is a kids' museum like Scientopia. Not all the exhibits worked correctly, but parents can enjoy a cappuccino or campari if they so choose so we were less inclined to be critical. Limiting liquor licenses to restaurants and bars as we do back in the U.S. now seems incredibly short sighted.

We're off to the coast tomorrow for a few days to explore the beaches of Anzio, Sperlonga and Gaeta and indulge in a little seafoood for a change. The Romans love their obscure organ meats with pecorino but I'm looking forward to lighter fare in the 90+ degree heat.

Here's an example of some of the focaccia we enjoyed last night.

Nostra passagiata questa mattina

Here's a shot of the kids taken this morning on our walk up to the Janiculum Hill. Giorgio looks askance at his sister at the mere suggestion of sharing his cornetto di cioccolata.

La prima pizza

Our first pizza (exhibit A) was a classic margherita enjoyed in Trastevere at a popular little place known as "Ai Spaghetteri" and washed down with a crisp Fallenghina. The kids did surprisingly well considering the 6+ hour layover in Dusseldorf and appear to be thrilled to be back in the land of competing gelaterias on every corner. Gio and I are thrilled to be back in the land of mandatory post-prandial naps for the entire populace and 12% alchohol vino that can be enjoyed without negatively impacting the next morning's agenda. We're definitely in the big city what with the nightly serenades of pigeons, motorinos, and street sweepers and the creative graffiti emblazoned on most everything stationery, but the beauty of the ochre-walled palazzos, rosy sunsets, and the variety of delicacies offered at the average deli is awe-inspiring.

Getting ready, getting set...

Bought two bags of catfood for our wonderful neighbor yesterday so she can feed Mr. Jimminy Whiskers in our absence. Then descended upon both front and back stairs this morning with assorted scraping tools, prepped, painted, and unwittingly burnt my backside in the 85-degree sun. Still have a lot of packing to do before we leave in a week and Gio and I are trying to make the most of each day senza bambini by attacking our respective to-do lists with gusto. Giulia and Giorgio are no doubt getting more TV and lollipops at Nonni's in two days than they get in a month, but that's the price we've chosen to pay for the luxury of being able to clean unmolested. Plus, we're cashing in our caretaking chips now while we still can. We check in every morning to see if Nonna & Nonno have grown weary serving as our children's footmen -- so far so good I'm told.

This is my first ever blog post so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to keep friends, family, and perhaps even the "Shouts and Murmurs" editor at the New Yorker entertained over the course of the next year while our family relocates to la citta eterna and basks in the addictive blend of beauty and chaos that is Rome.