I decided we needed to get out today. The children have been arguing and I thought we needed a big excursion. I suggested the Bone Church on the Via Veneto.
This is not the official name of course. The church is actually called Santa Maria della Concezione. And it is called the Bone Church because the Capuchin monks have decorated several rooms in the adjoining cemetery with human bones. When they had to dig up old grave to make room for new ones, they used the bones as decorating materials. I am sure it is right up the C-man’s alley. I remember going to see a Capuchin church in Paris with a similar theme. The children both said they would like to see the Bone Church, but not today. I think this is OC code for “we don’t think you can get us there mom, so let’s wait until dad can take us”.
Anyway, morale was low so I decided a trip to the Golden Arches was in order. I also decided we should go to the one by the Pantheon just for a change of pace. Plus, it got us out of the neighborhood. After lunch we strolled over to the Trevi Fountain. We found a spot in the sun and sat there for a while. We also found the Ace of Cups, the Trevi drinking fountain. I took their picture drinking from it. The story is that a barber with a shop in that piazza was giving the artists and builder, Nicola Salvi a hard time during construction, criticizing the fountain and generally being difficult. So one evening Salvi built The Ace of Cups – which conveniently hid the barber and his shop from view, and they all lived happily ever after. I thought that was a good story.
I was just reading that all the piazzas have fountains because that was each neighborhood’s source of fresh water. Imagine getting water for your bath from the Trevi fountain every day. You can still see spigots of running water all around the city. It’s all fresh drinking water. The children like to stop and refresh themselves whenever we see one, and they are handy for refilling the water bottles on the road.
From there we went to the Piazza Colonna, to see the column of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It has a frieze that winds up the sides telling the story of the Emperor’s successful military campaign in what is now Germany. The original statue of Marcus Aurelius at the top was removed in the 1500’s (isn’t that specific) and replaced with a statue of Saint Paul. And that statue faces Saint Peter’s Basilica to help lost pilgrims find their way. Isn’t that nice?
By now the children were nervous wrecks, convinced I would never be able to find our way back to the Pantheon. But I did it. We cut through another piazza, walked down a little side street, and voila! The Pantheon. I am so good.
It was such a nice day we decided to have some ice cream, and brave the many touts in the Piazza della Rotunda selling junky toys for a euro each. They walk up to you and show you the toys and go on and on saying “tiny price madam” and follow you around. I guess their sales strategy is just make as much of a pest of yourself as possible and hope the victim, er customer, buys something to make you go away. They scare the Princess. I tried to reassure her that they are essentially harmless, and besides, I would never let anybody hurt her. I hope I succeeded because those guys are everywhere. It also really bothers the children when I walk away while they are still talking. I had to explain that it seems rude, but it is the only way to get rid of them.
I also noticed a wide selection of fake bags in the piazza to day. Sunglasses too. As we were eating our ice cream I mentioned to the kids that I would like to just take a look at the bags on our way out. I looked up a minute later and they were all gone. I wondered what was going on until I looked behind me and saw a police car cruising the piazza. And then as soon as the cops were gone, the vendors were back. Those guys move like lightening.
On the way home we stopped to browse a street stall full of soccer jerseys because the C-man wants one. We spotted a Ferrari/Michael Schumacher world champion jersey. Only 10 euro. Princess O was practically drooling on it so I went ahead and bought it for her. I told her it is coming out of her account. Calvin was mad because that used up my last 10 euros so that meant he couldn’t get anything. I told him I would absolutely buy him one; I just couldn’t do it right now. And besides they had lots of soccer jerseys, but this was the only Ferrari shirt they had. So I did not win the mom of the year award from the C-man today. I suspect I will survive.
Posted by goitaly 
