FORTY-FIRST DAY
ROME ON FUMES
October 23 and 24
Very interesting, while
the restaurant Piperno was full, there was definitely room for us Saturday
night. It reminded me somewhat of a San
Francisco kind of place that really caters to its regulars. The Lambs and their friends, the Pailats, are
from Sonoma and came to visit us at the Academy before going to dinner. The food at the restaurant was fine but not
spectacular. One of our friends at the
Academy told me that Italian cooking using the best ingredients had a tendency
to somehow seem too simple on a day to day basis. So, maybe I am just spoiled. Our friends had
spent a week in the wilds of Abruzzi doing what is called Agritourisam. You go out in the country and stay on a farm
and hang out with the farmers and take a cooking class, hike, wonder and read
etc. It is rather an inexpensive
vacation compared to Roman costs and very quiet. I suppose we will have to try
it out before leaving Italy. If I don’t
sound enthusiastic, it must be because at this moment I don’t feel any stress
from work related issues. I met the
Patron of the restaurant and he turned out to be a nice guy who spoke English
and told us to call him when we wanted to come.
His place is 2 minutes from our new digs. We will go again although we have not
repeated anything yet.
We are certainly in some
sort of Indian summer. The weather on
Sunday was grand. It was warm, almost
balmy with sunny skies and light winds.
When you think that you are in Europe at the end of October and the
weather sort of reminds you of LA without the Santa Anna winds, it must be
good. One of the best parts of living in
San Francisco and Sonoma for me is the weather.
I am always in a better mood when it is good. Here in Rome, it is important for me, one
because I know it will start raining soon and two because here without the
distractions of our regular lives there is time for lots of introspection. Good weather means being outside, walking
around, riding around, and touring around.
Bad weather means going to lots of museums and churches so that you
don’t have to be outside. We have had a
measure of rain, but it has been outnumbered by the better days. We have felt obliged to pack in as much as we
can before leaving the Academy and we’ve been busy doing it.
Today, we have chosen the
Quirinale, the section of Rome that has the Chamber of Deputies and the
Presidential Palace. The Palace used to
be the home of the King of Italy until there was no King. I don’t know who the President is, but I don’t
think his family is big enough to live in this immense structure. It is 3 or 4 blocks long with what must be
hundreds of rooms and sits on the highest hill in central Rome. At one end of the street there are two
churches of merit. Neither of them was
open, but we will return because they have significant art inside. On the corner of via Quirinale and Quattro
Fontana there are 4 fountains of some importance. One is the creation of Rome with a female
wolf, and several of the others were of Gods and Goddesses who oversaw the
creation. As you start down Quirinale
toward the very top of the street there is a large square with an obelisk and
another huge fountain depicting muscular men and their horses. The square stands
directly in front of the entrance to the Palace, which is guarded by men in
fancy dress uniforms. I would call this
walk a “must see” because of its majestic size and scope. We walked down the hill into the neighborhood
of the Trevi fountain. We had been by
just a few days before but have yet to have a pilgrimage to leave our money to
make sure we return to Rome. Also, we
want to rent “Roman Holiday” if nothing more then to see Audrey Hepburn and
Gregory Peck ride their Vespa through the city.
It is crowded and ugly so we decide to do it another day. Walking back up to our own Honda on Barbarini
Square on the way to the fountains we passed the Barbarini Palazzo, which is
one of the bigger palaces in Rome. It is
strikingly set on a large lot and covered in white marble, the Barbarinis must
have had lots of Euros, Lira in their
day. Even though the palace has a
gallery on the first floor, somebody is living in that place. I keep wondering
what that might be like.
Later in the early
evening we meet up with Kris and Owen’s friends, the Barnes. They are staying at the Academy for a
year. Richard is a Fellow and a
world-class photographer of interiors.
In a recent article in the NY Times his photos of the Supreme Court
framed the printed piece. They live in an apartment building that houses many
of the Fellows with families. They have
the top floor and it is a wonderful spot.
Newly decorated and furnished with 3 bedrooms and a lovely terrace. They have two boys who are in the American
British school here - very pleasant family and fun to be with. Lucille has been the major force for many
years at the California College of the Arts and it will be a painful loss for
us if she does not return. I think they
are New York bound, but I hope she keeps her hand in with the school. Fun indeed but we must go into central Rome
again to see our niece Lauren and our grand niece Kaitlin who along with
Keith’s charming Mom, Martha, are leaving in the morning to return to
Romania. They are in good spirits and we
have a pleasant time with them. Keith
has returned early to Bucharest for work. Martha tells us about her families
resort in Northern Minnesota. Sounds
like a great place to take the family.
On the way to our visit,
I look down at my dashboard and realize that we have little or no gas. Sunday in Rome means that most everything is
closed and I start to panic. We decide
to ride it out and go directly to Lauren’s hotel. It is easily found but no gas station is open
on the way. What to do, what to do? I tackle a desk clerk at the hotel and he
tells me that he ‘thinks’ something might be open at the bottom of Cavour. At least it is sort of on the way home. To my intense relief we find THE station; it
must be one of the few open in the city.
Kimberly is so cool, but it might not have been fun to leave our new toy
tied up someplace else in Rome. I will
have to be more careful in the future. I
am not very cool.
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