We headed out after Jack got home from his run. Everyone was hungry so we jumped the train and got off at Eataly. It's a sure thing - the kids like it and we know it's open! It's somewhat tricky getting used to the cadence of things in Italy - not everything is available 24-7! Forget even trying to get anything but a snack between 5 & 8 pm!
Eataly was a win and then we got gelato from Gelateria Romana where they produce small quantities throughout the day to ensure the freshness, quality and creaminess of the gelato. The average age does not exceed three hours! After that, we went to Centrale Montemartini - with its magnificent collection of classical Greek and Roman sculpture housed in a former electric power station built just after the turn of the 20th century. The museum ingeniously brings together the aesthetic of two eras widely separated by time — and persuades you that these two very distant and dissimilar groups of objects were made to be shown with (and complement) each other. It was very dramatic. Natalie was in the mood to run though and we received a lot of shhhhhhh's from the guards. So much for Italians loving kids. They certainly don't love kids around 2,000 year old artwork! Rick Steves points out in one of his guidebooks that Rome doesn't have much for little kids and he wasn't kidding. For much of this part of the trip, Natalie is just along for the ride -- thank heavens for iPads!
Once we got the kids settled with the sitter, we headed out to do a guided walk of baroque churches and artwork. Once we'd had our fill of gilt curlicues and priceless depictions of the crucifixion, we headed to Acquamadre. This updated and upscale 'roman bath' was fully booked when we got there. Jack got a reprieve from the scrub down!
Finally, with our feet singing a funeral dirge, we grabbed at taxi to a very far flung neighborhood called Pigneto -- NYT dubbed this an 'enclave of cool'. It certainly seemed worlds away from the crush of the tourist center and we hearily welcomed the respite. We grabbed a table under the leafy canopy at Bar Necci for a drink then enjoyed a break from pasta and pizza with a delicious Ethiopian meal at Nasob.
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