Day 1 in Rome

We arrived in Rome after a very comfortable flight in business class (yes, we all splurged), but with only a few hours sleep. Julie and Terry watched movies (“The King’s Speech” was excellent!). Carol tried to watch movies on her new iPad 2, but unfortunately sat next to a Chatty Cathy (who was a he). So did we all, in a way, because he was loud. Terry could hear him through his Bose noise canceling earphones while watching movies. He cranked up the volume to drown out CC, but not so much as to permanently impair his hearing. Risk management.

After hours of Carol's hearing CC’s life story, Terry came to the rescue by slipping her an Ambien. “Would you like one of our allergy pills, Carol?” (Wink, wink.) Quickly deciphering the code, Carol eagerly agreed to this relief from her “allergies.” Soon she was out. Virtually marooned, CC threw in the towel and eventually went to sleep.

At the airport, Terry surprised Julie and Carol by announcing that he had arranged for a driver to take us to the hotel. No stinking cab lines for us! Moreover – and this is the really good part – the driver brought our luggage up to our rooms. Considering that there was one flight of stairs up to the lobby, and four more flights up to our rooms, Terry’s brilliance shone like the Tuscany sun.

Before striking out for the city, Carol managed to lock herself in the lobby bathroom. “Click, click, knock, knock, jiggle, jiggle.” The hotel clerk, armed with an extra key, rescued her, saving the day (at least for Carol). It was then Julie’s turn to use the bathroom, who instructed Terry to stand guard over the unlocked cell. Upon his turn, Terry bravely entered and locked the door. With supreme confidence and the simple flick of a wrist, he successfully extricated himself from Carol’s short-lived prison.

Our first stop was Café Sant Eustachio, recommended by our good friends Suz and Jen, where we enjoyed cappuccinos in true Italian style. With that caffeine infusion we headed for Santa Maria sopra Minerva (The Basilica of Saint Mary Above Minerva). Here are buried St. Catherine of Siena, Fra Angelico and other lesser figures. And it was here that Galileo renounced his outrageous theory of Heliocentrism (we’ll save you the trouble: that the earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around) after being tried for heresy. The Church found him “vehemently suspect of heresy,” and rightfully so, for as we all know, “And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place" (Ecclesiastes 1:5).

One of the magnificent gems in this church is Michelangelo’s sculpture “Christ Carrying the Cross.” We actually walked right past this without noticing it (well, to our defense, there were a few distractions inside), but Julie knew it was here somewhere and finally asked someone about it.

Following a map that Suz and Jen had prepared for us, we hit some other sites, the highlight being the Pantheon. Or what’s left of it anyway; originally built in 27 BCE and rebuilt in 126 CE, the Pantheon was a temple to “all the gods.” Later, to no one’s surprise, of course, the Church would have nothing to do with that and, in 609 CE, consecrated it as a Christian church. All the same, it is breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Michelangelo studied its dome in the 16th century as a model for the dome in St. Peter’s Basilica (where we go on Day 2).

Later in the afternoon we repaired back to our lovely rooms and private terraces. We socialized on Julie’s and Terry’s terrace, then took a short nap. Then it was back to the terrace. After enjoying ourselves for a while, we walked to one of Rome’s top-rated restaurants, Osteria de Memmo i Santori. We were starving and couldn’t wait to eat our first Italian Italian (as opposed to American Italian) meal.

We started by sharing a large plate of antipasti, delicious of course. Carol had Spaghetti Alla Carbonara; Terry, Saltinbocca Alla Romana; and Julie the Gnocchi (with butter and sage sauce), which is made only on Thursdays! We all shared this fabulous meal. Our discovery about Italian Italian food is that the Americanized version is, well, for lack of a better word, overdone. Not overdone as in over cooking, but in the sense of “overdoing.” The Spaghetti Carbonara, for example, had fewer chunks of bacon than in the States. But the chunks it did have were more tasty, each giving off a burst of flavor to please any palate. The subtlety of taste of the dishes made them more complex and satisfying, rather than overpowering.

After we glutted ourselves, we enjoyed a lovely walk back to the hotel, and then to the terrace for a short while. The Sandman went about his work and we soon headed to bed, our bodies completely confused over what time it was and even where on earth we were. But our minds knew: Roma, Roma; delightful and beautiful Roma.