Life in Italia

OK, definitely had a little pause in writing here as we've been busy. Good news is we've beaten the jet lag and everybody is on a good schedule, though a rather late Euro-schedule. We never seem to get the boys to bed much before 10-10:30, but I'm not sure they would fall asleep much earlier anyway. Everybody is adjusting to life here pretty well. Last Wednesday we all went to the Colosseum and the Forum with Sarah's students. The boys were relatively impressed with the building but this marked the first emergence of a dynamic that has become familiar, the boys being gripped by fatigue and heat when we go to see monuments that involve walking. One way of dealing with this, it turns out is to bring the camera and let them fire away. So we made it around the Colosseum with them taking random pictures and spent a little time on the Forum before I gave up and brought them home, with a gelato on the way. The strategic use of the gelato as both motivation and reward turns out to be crucial to doing things with them.

Since then, we've been all over Rome and environs, riding buses and subways in various degrees of crowds. Jamie and I have managed to get some baseball in here and there, having a catch with some friends here at the Villa Doria Pamphili and in the park behind the Castel Sant'Angelo. We have taken two trips out of the city as well, a bus ride to Assisi and yesterday a train trip to Ostia Antica. The boys were troopers on both. They complained some of the time, particularly as we ascended to the highest point in Assisi, the Rocca Maggiore. Once we got up there though, they discovered the joys of a medieval fort and had a great time running around. Jamie loved climbing the teeny spiral staircase to the top of the tower. Connor was OK going up, but not so happy coming down. So was Sarah for that matter.

Yesterday at Ostia Antica was amazing. Huge site, basically a complete Roman settlement. We were there for about 4 hours, had a delicious lunch that we brought of salami and/or cheese sandwiches and got to explore at well. Very hot.