Rome Day #2

Wednesday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and set out around 8:00 for the subway. We managed to keep the group together without incident, traveling four stops to the station closest to St. Peter's. We arrived in the colonnaded square around 9:00 or so; Dr. Gardner and I explained the history and context of the church before we took everyone inside, past metal detectors and other such things that were not present on my last visit in 1998. We spent the better part of an hour inside the church, letting the students mill around before regrouping outside and walking around the walls of the Vatican to the entrance of the Vatican Museums. Dr. Gardner and I got copies of the official guidebook and shepherded the group through the galleries, stopping at several points to discuss specific works such as the Laocoön, the frescoes in the Raphael Rooms, and of course Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel. After exiting the chapel we made our way to the museum's cafeteria and had our lunch about noon. Then we turned the students loose for free time for the rest of the day.

I think nearly everyone went back to the Colosseum at some point that afternoon because our Forum tickets from the previous day included admission to the Colosseum through Wednesday. Since it was Vickie's first time to Rome, my family also went there, but we arrived later than most because we stayed in the Vatican to see the gallery of paintings we had not seen as a group. When we arrived at the Colosseum, about a dozen people from our group were lounging on the grass outside, having already been into the place. We went through the security check and found half a dozen of our people unnecessarily waiting in the lengthy ticket line; I pulled them out and took them through the "fast lane" for people who are in groups or who already have their tickets. The Colosseum has definitely changed since my last visit; it looks as though there is an ongoing attempt to reconstruct a section of the floor and seats, which ought to turn out interestingly. They have even installed toilets in the outer section.

After we had finished looking around, we left the students gawking and made our way outside, walking past the Forum and, since I felt an obligation to take Vickie to some iconic Roman sites, all the way to the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. We made the kids happy by stopping for gelato; I think at least ten Italian ladies stopped to coo at Richard with chocolate all over his face. To be honest, though, the crush of tourists in both places sapped a lot of the enjoyment for me. I think Rome in December is more my speed.

We hiked back to the subway and rode back to the neighborhood of our hotel, picnicking in our room for supper. On the way we stopped in a bookshop to buy an English version of the original Pinocchio stories, which we had never read. This was an essential purchase because we are planning to visit a Pinocchio theme park in northern Tuscany this week on our first free travel period. We read several chapters of the book both before and after supper, and Edward and William nearly laughed their heads off. I think for the first time ever, I was so tired that I fell asleep before the kids did that night; I vaguely remember hearing William say, "Night, night, Daddy, I go bed," while I was lying nearly comatose.