June 20 - "The pasta just tastes better in Rome" Jacqui D.

Another family fun extravaganza today!  We set off for the Quirinale District on the tram.  Jacqui asked if it was rush hour (remembering the crush of humanity on the tram during commute times) and I confidently said 'no', forgetting that it was Saturday!  The tram was full and redolent with the familiar odors of Italy (or, in this case, Italians).  Our goal was to check off Trevi Fountain and the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma (MACRO).  Apparently, they have a children's program (that you need to book ahead of time, of course).  We disembarked the train into the hot, busy, noisy mid-day madness and all of the girls were struggling.  Who gets to sit in the stroller, who holds Daddy's hand, who can't stand the itching of her bug bites for one more minute.  Jack and I exchanged the let's-get-on-the-horn-with-United-Airlines-and-get-the-h#ll-out-of-here look.  We exchange this look at least once a day.  Today, it came early.  We wandered along with all the fussing and whining and realized that they were probably hungry since it was 11:45!  Eureka!  How long do we need to parent these small people before we realize that they need sustenance at semi-regular intervals???  Duh!  We passed by a few delightful looking cafes but broke down and opted for ... McDonalds!  Sometimes, you just gotta go with the sure thing!  We plopped down in a grimy little square and refueled.  Amazing attitude adjustments followed.  Jack carefully navigated us so we could then get a lovely view of the Trevi Fountain!  But ... oh no ... UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!! The highly anticipated landmark that featured so prominently in Roman Holiday and La Dolce Vita ... drained and covered in scaffolding!  Jack, ever the optimist, dug out a linty euro coin and hurled it up over the barriers and into the fountain's base.  Phew, if legend is correct,  we are sure to visit Rome again!  Just as we were setting up for our selfie in front of the scaffolding, huge rain drops began to plop down.  More and more as I frantically tried to get our ponchos out of the bowels of the back pack.  Everything I ever need is always at the bottom!  Damn you inexplicable backpack gravitational field! Finally, we got everyone suited up, took our selfie and started running in the rain toward the museum.

As the rain got more and more insistent and our ponchos proved less and less effective, we spied a corner restaurant very reminiscent of Balthazar in New York.  That was all it took!  We slid in out of the rain and sat down to one scoop of pistachio ice cream for the girls and 2 big glasses of wine for us.  Now that's what I call facendo limonata dai limoni.  We sat and sipped our wine and chatted about life for at least 2 hours.  What's the rush when it's raining?  Once the sky cleared, we ventured out again and came across Capitoline Museums.  It was not on our itinerary but Rick Steves says it's quiet, has a nice collection of art and has a thoughtfully curated children's audio guide.  Done, done and done.  We wandered through the museum for a couple of hours and the girls quite enjoyed the audio tour.  There is quite a bit of death and dismemberment in ancient history but that didn't seem to phase them at all. Just as we were loaded back into the stroller and ready to move on, you guessed it, huge drops begin falling from the sky!  "Everyone, get your poncho on again!"  Jack was itching to make a move but Jacqui and I wanted nothing more but to perch on the corner of this lovely square and watch the rain and the pedestrians scurrying about.  There were 2 different weddings there today and lots and lots of very elegantly dressed and soggy Italians.  One woman even lost her shoe as she sprinted across the square - her heel got stuck between the cobble stones.  I thought that only happened in movies!  (Her young and dashing date retrieved it for her; sigh)  Natalie could not stand it any longer.  She just *had* to run in the rain and splash in the puddles.    Wet feet be damned!  The rain lasted longer than we had hoped so we went back into the Capitoline Museum in search of the coffee shop.  After 20 minutes of wrong turns, we finally found it but the real treasure at the end of this journey was the rooftop courtyard off of the cafe that provided a delightful view of the city and of the newlyweds getting their photos taken.

With time ticking, we left in search of our dinner restaurant -- Coline Emiliane (another Katie Parla recommendation).  Dinner was a hit!  The girls inhaled their pasta and then lost themselves in their iPads while Jack and I lingered over our gorgeous meal and drained a bottle of vermentino.  In order to really put a bow on this day, we set off in the direction of Giolia - a well-reviewed gelato joint.  Well, Jack actually typed Giola into our navigation app and we ended up at Hotel Giola!  Not what we were looking for.  He quickly recovered by choosing another shop 'close by' called Fatamorgana in the Monti neighborhood.  Luckily for him, it was well worth the walk - the gelato flavors were very unique and tasty and the Piazza degli Zingari was festive and full of locals enjoying their Saturday evening.  The girls kept up a crazy pace all day and were still quite energetic when we arrived home at 11:15!  Once the PJ's were on and the lights were off, they settled down pretty quickly.

What's on deck for tomorrow?  There's only one thing I know for sure ... more rain!