this & that {Villa Borghese, Testaccio, Aventine Hill}

i don't know which is more surprising, a pyramid in the center of the city or a cloudy day

our next few days with Kira were relaxed. on Sunday, we went to mass and pranzo (which on Sundays is actually brunch), and walked around the grounds a little. even at the NAC, there's always some surprise hidden around a corner. today's particular discovery was a beautiful mosaic that stands opposite a staircase leading up to the chapel. the girls continue to be relatively well behaved in church. before we moved here, i had had a vague notion that we might travel to various churches for mass every Sunday, but for so many reasons, mass in the chapel here is by far the best choice for our regular Sunday worship. it strengthens the community between our family and the seminarians (who, God bless them, have never given the stink-eye to my kids, who are usually the only kids in attendance and therefore the only persistent sources of noise/distraction). the girls behave so much better in a familiar environment where they know exactly what to expect, down to the pew where we sit and the faces of the priests in the procession. we get to hear Nick play, which has always been one of the joys of my churchgoing life. (and of course the girls love it too. i can count on Cecilia to shout "Daddy pay oh-gan! Daddy pay oh-gan!" at least five times during any service, and a few nights ago when i told her that Daddy was at work, she said, "Daddy pay oh-gan for Jesus?" and i almost fell down and started weeping.) last but not least, it's just a fact that a homily delivered in English is much more helpful to me than one given in Italian.

looking across to our apartment

we took Kira to the Villa Borghese, but i feel like it barely counts as "going to the Villa Borghese" because we took the bus through the center of the park, got off and walked about five minutes to the playground, and then walked back to the bus and left. she didn't even get to see the little lake with the rowboats, or the view from the Pincio overlooking the Piazza del Popolo, or the numerous sculptures. so caveat emptor if you decide to come visit us and expect us to show you around. what we did get to witness was several Italian moms in designer fashion (down to the wedge heels), traipsing around after their respective bambini. nobody has to convince the Italians that leggings aren't pants, and speaking of pants, nobody wears yoga pants unless they are actually, at that very moment, doing a Warrior I. and while i looked upon the family clad entirely in spotlessly white, flowy dresses with a sense of mystified disdain (who goes to a playground and doesn't get dirty!?), there is something to be said for dressing your body well. i will say that the kids were all wearing pretty typical play clothes, and i was gratified to see some elementary-age kids stirring up a delicious mud soup in the bottom of one of the play structures, and the moms were still very involved with their kids, and they looked good doing it. i'm certainly no sartorial wizard, but even i can see that putting a little thought into how you present yourself to the world is part of respecting your dignity as a person.

(and there are times when you try your best and the baby spits up all over your sweater, or you want to dress better but your closet is full of clothes you've been wearing since 2007 and you can't just go and replace your whole wardrobe at once, or literally nothing fits you right because bodies change, or it's just been one of those days and you're lucky you didn't put Baileys in your instant coffee like i may or may not have done when studying abroad in Ireland. but still: dignity matters.)

such a good auntie!

the day before Kira left, we had a proper sightseeing expedition to a few places that are a bit removed from the beaten path. the first item on our itinerary was a visit to a potential Italian preschool for Greta. it's right on the main road leading to St. Peter's Square, and it seems like it would be a great fit for her, but we have one other school to visit before we decide where to enroll her. Auntie Kira played with both girls in the playroom while i discussed logistics with the secretary and the English teacher (who kindly offered her services for translation!). before we left, the teachers introduced Greta to a little girl who speaks fluent Italian and English and they shyly said hi to each other. so cute!

setting off on the ten-minute walk

almost there! Greta's look of apprehension quickly vanished when she met the teachers and saw the playroom (below)

they didn't want to leave!

we then hopped on a bus to the Testaccio neighborhood, southwest of the Colosseum. Kira had her heart set on eating cacio e pepe, the classic Roman pasta dish with cheese and pepper, but many of the restaurants in the area had already closed for the mid-afternoon and others seemed to specialize more in panini and other street food. we did attempt to go into Da Felice without knowing anything about it ahead of time. as we stepped inside, Greta was whining that she didn't want to get out of the stroller, and one of the hosts told me they were completely booked up for lunch. which may have been true, but it also may have been a convenient way to avoid putting up with our hullabaloo. regardless, it was for the best as the girls were getting hangry and would not have sat through a meal at a relatively upscale restaurant. so we ended up ordering pizza al taglio from a little cafeteria, and having a picnic lunch in the piazza.

the Fountain of the Amphorae - these pottery vessels were used to transport oil. nearby Monte Testaccio is formed from the fragments of an estimated 53 million amphorae that were discarded after their contents were emptied!

after the necessary gelato course, we set off in search of the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome. it's also called the Protestant Cemetery, but that's not quite accurate either, as people of many different faiths are buried here. this is one of Rome's hidden gems: quiet, beautifully kept, and fascinating.

we first paid our respects at the tomb of John Keats. before he died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-five, he had requested that only the following self-deprecating phrase be written on his gravestone: "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water". his friend and fellow artist, Joseph Severn, insisted on adding the text that precedes his epitaph: "This Grave contains all that was Mortal, of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET Who, on his Death Bed, in the bitterness of his Heart, at the Malicious Power of his Enemies, Desired these Words to be engraven on his Tomb Stone". Severn himself was buried next to Keats when he died, fifty-eight years later, in 1879.

here is an apt excerpt from Keats' poem, "Ode to a Nightingale":

I cannot see what flowers are at my feet, 

         Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs, 

But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet 

         Wherewith the seasonable month endows 

The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild; 

         White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine; 

                Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves; 

                        And mid-May's eldest child, 

         The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine, 

                The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves. 

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time 

         I have been half in love with easeful Death, 

Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme, 

         To take into the air my quiet breath; 

                Now more than ever seems it rich to die, 

         To cease upon the midnight with no pain, 

                While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad 

                        In such an ecstasy! 

         Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain— 

                   To thy high requiem become a sod. 

the cemetery adjoins the Pyramid of Gaius Cestius, which was built around 12 B.C. and then later incorporated into the Aurelian Walls. the pyramid makes a dramatic backdrop for the cemetery, but i had to laugh when i saw several brightly-colored plastic litter boxes at the base of the pyramid. this area is a cat sanctuary, staffed by volunteers. much to Greta's delight, we saw a cat that looked exactly like Liam, and also another very friendly grey cat that followed Greta around for a while.

we climbed up to the back of the cemetery, where Percy Bysshe Shelley is buried. his tombstone sits at the base of a tower in the cemetery wall, and looks out over the gently sloping hill of the graveyard. with the pyramid looming to the left, i couldn't help but think of Shelley's poem
"Ozymandias":

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Shelley's grave is the one closest to us here

 then we just meandered through another section of the cemetery; we only saw about half of it. everywhere you turn, there's some beautiful headstone or funeral monument.

the inscription on the monument with the sculpture of Psyche, above

i could have spent a few more hours here, wandering about and taking time to read each gravestone, but the girls were getting a bit antsy and we had one more major sight on the agenda. as we began our climb up the Aventine Hill, the clouds gathered and i kept waiting for a deluge to begin. thankfully, the rain held off, but i think the threat may have kept some tourists away from the object of our climb: the view from the Aventine Keyhole. 

the keyhole in question belongs to the huge gate over the gardens of the Priory of the Knights of Malta. if you look through the keyhole, you see first the gardens, which belong to the country of Malta. then, you look across the valley, which is Italian soil; and finally, across to the dome of St. Peter's, in the Vatican City State. it really is a remarkable view.

we got lucky ... only a few small tourist groups!

first you see this...

...then this!

that was the extent of my research for this walk, so we were pleasantly surprised to come across the Basilica of Santa Sabina, the oldest basilica in Rome. this was built in the early 400s. we didn't step inside, but we did enjoy the beautiful view from the gardens next door. 

there's a huge one of these at Phipps -- i always thought it looked fake. imagine my surprise at finding
 one growing in the garden here!

we continued along for a few minutes before running into the orange garden, a lovely little park with a phenomenal lookout point over the city. some of the walls around the park look ancient. 

Roma

finally, we made our way down the other side of the Aventine, with the Circus Maximus and the Palatine Hill stretching out in front of us, and caught a bus that took us most of the way home. dinner that night was Lasagna di Carnevale, stuffed with meatballs, fresh mozzarella, and ham (prosciutto cotto). this particular recipe made me very happy, as we cooked it at Jon's apartment years ago for a Mardi Gras celebration. and it was soooo good! 

we had to say goodbye to Kira the next day. it was a wonderful visit! Kira, we can't thank you enough for adding us to your round-the-world itinerary, for all your help with the girls, and for just being an awesome sister. we love you!