Palazzo di Colonna

We had dinner at the Palazzo di Colonna on Wednesday night. The galleries are open to the public on Saturdays and for private events. It has been the private residence of the Colonna family for centuries.

I have never seen anything as opulent as this and the religious buildings we have visited here. Where those columns are, there are a few marble steps, one of which has a cannonball embedded in it. Unfortunately, I could not find anyone who could tell me the story behind that!

World's Most Expensive Kid's Meal

Our hotel was just lovely and kid-friendly in that everyone just cooed all over Lyra, brought her a high chair at breakfast and lunch, and was totally patient with the mess on the floors created at each meal.

However, come dinner time on Wednesday evening, the restaurant was not open in time to feed her before we went out (Latin time?) and so I tried ordering her some plain pasta through room service so I could get a shower before going out. That was almost 40 EURO! You do the math.... But what a lovely presentation! She did eat it, despite her expression here. And Bill did get the check adjusted somewhat. But still, the investment required immortalization via photo.

Where's the Ducky? There it is!

Lyra thinks the bidet is her own private sink to play in. EEEWWWWWW!

Her babysitter will be here any minute! Wish us luck.... Arrivederci!

Lunch at Last

Lyra slept all day and through most of lunch. We ate at a restaurant near the Pantheon called Le Bain. The food was good and the coffee was great but I had to chug mine. It took so long for them to make all the individual cappucinos and espressos that we had to leave right after my coffee came. Lyra perked up for the bus ride back to the hotel which was at 9 am, Eastern Daylight Time.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon, temple to all gods...I think this is my favorite place so far. It is 1900 years old. It is just beautiful inside.

The Pantheon continues to operate as a church and there are concerts here too. I would love to hear a concert here. The opening in the dome on top lets in light and it looked just beautiful in real life. I do not know how to capture it with my camera. Lyra continued to sleep in the backpack.

Piazza di Navona

Piazza di Navonaa used to be an olympic stadium but is now a square with the Fountain of Four Rivers and lots of shops and restaurants. Actually, it is not literally a square because it still has its oval shape from when it was a stadium. There are lots of vendors selling drawings and paintings and other things. Unfortunately, the Four Rivers Fountain is under consruction. Gian Lorenzo Bernini designed that as well as lots of other beautiful things around Rome.

I don't know what t his other fountain is called but Will, check out the octopus in the center! What a fight!

Other Views of the Spanish Steps

I learned that the azaleas are in honor of Rome's birthday as a City, on April 21st and that they have bloomed a bit early this year. The obelisk (THAT was the word I was trying to think of yesterday) is from Egypt. There were 9, 6 small like this one and 3 large like the one from Piazza di Popoloi yesterday. They were funeral monuments for various Pharohs and were incorporated into Roman monuments centuries later.

The second photo is from the top of the steps looking down.

Lyra really is in the backpack and still sleeping. Everyone kept saying what a good baby she was. She is a good baby but really it was in the middle of the night for her and so she slept.

Trevi Fountain

Today I took a Fountains and Squares tour of central Rome with other conference gests. Our first stop was Trevi Fountain. Bill and I walked through here yesterday and it was horribly crowded and overrun with people selling junk. It was not so bad this time. The fountain is beautiful. I threw a coin in (back to fountain, right hand over left shoulder in the Trevi tradition)and wished for our family to come back to Rome for a visit all together.

Now Lyra is sleeping in the backpack here even though you can't see her at all.

Piazza di Popolo

Finally, a Piazza where it is reasonably safe to let Lyra out of the backpack to run around. This monolith (is that the word for this type of monument? I was trying to avoid "phallus"), this monolith has hierglyphics inscribed all over it. Bill has a picture but it will have to go in the travel scrapbook because I was ot successful in getting it to post here.

We went back to the hotel after this. We were all tired! tomorrow, Lyra and I are doing a city tour with other guests at this conference. I am sure I will have more photos to post then.

Spanish Steps

Isn't this pretty? These are the Spanish Steps, a popular place for poets and musicians in the past and actually funded by a French (not Spanish) ambassador. There is a restaurant near here that Cherie and Kevin really liked so we may come back on Friday to try it.

Can you see the chocolate gelato on Lyra's face? She is being a very picky eater, saving herself only foryogurt, bread and ice cream. There is a particular gelateria near the Trevi Fountain that came highly recommended to us but it isn't open on Tuesdays. So we went to a different one. I didn't like the coconut gelato but the chocolate was good. The people ahead of us in line had their gelato decorated to look like an elephant. I should have taken a picture of that because it was very clever.

Roman Forum

Despite horrible jet lag, we took a taxi out to Piazza Venezia and walked around the oldest part of Rome. We saw the Capitoline and some amazing statues which I can't show you here because Bill's camera saves pictures in a raw data format that doesn't work with Blogger. But here is the Roman Forum...

I cannot believe how ancient all these things are and they are just sitting here mixed in with other modern parts of the landscape. There is nothing like this back home. We could also clearly see how Rome was built in layers, one on top of the other.

Lyra and her Buddies

Lyra liked this porpoise fountain out front but she won't stay still for a picture. She also liked the car seat I got her for the taxi, the hotel lobby and pushing the buttons in the elevator. She is attracting smailes and attention from everyone and has the waiter at the terrace restaurant here toally smitten. However, Lyra has already perfected the art of giving guys the brush-off.

Finally here!

The trip to Rome was blissfully uneventful. Lyra was a very happy traveler except for a brief period when we had to fasten our seatbelts for take off and she wasn't allowed to run around. She didn't think much of airline food and held out for yogurt at breakfast. She got to sleep in the taxi to the hotel but we didn't. I felt horrible earlier this afternoon.

Our hotel is on the highest hill in Rome. We have a lovely view.

News! News!

Bill and I are going to ROME! Bill has a conference and Lyra and I will go too! It will be a quick trip, leaving Monday night and returning Saturday afternoon but I am very excited. I've never been to Rome and we have never spent quite that much time away from Will and Eva. They will be busy with school and the usual routine though. Mom and Dad are staying with them which is Really Nice of them and also makes me completely confident that Will and Eva and the cats will be safe and have fun. We leave Monday and plan to update the blog each day with pictures of what we are doing. To quote Eva, "Yipppppeeeeeee!"

New Sweater!

I just finished this sweater for Lyra and it is a good thing because I think it won't fit for long. Lyra turned 15 months old on Sunday. At her check up, she weighed 21 lbs 9 oz and was 30 1/4 inches long. That puts her at 25-50% for weight and 50-75% for height. She is definitely more petite than Will and Eva but certainly middle of the road in size.

Lyra is a such a good little buddy despite 5 teeth trying to come in at once. Se does this "big nod" when she likes smething or agrees with you and it is just the funniest thing!I've gotten the "big nod" for making lunch, diaper changes, and most recently (!) when I asked her if she loved her Mommy. Lyra only has a few words but clearly will be a world class charades player. She finds her bib when she is hungry, and she lies on her back in front of me on the floor and raises her bottom when she wants a new diaper. Maybe that means learning to use the loo is not far behind...

Piano Recital

Last Sunday Will and Eva had another piano recital with their instructor, Julie Zupan. Julie is a wonderful teacher and both Will and Eva had worked hard to prepare their material. Will and Eva played beatifully and received lots of compliments.


Will actually played fewer songs than Eva, but he did deliver a very enthusiastic version of the James Bond theme.

Eva has now performed in recitals for both piano and ballet and has decided that recitals = flowers. She was pleased to receive a bouquet that is still sitting in a place of honor on her desk.

Grrl Hakr

Lyra is obsessed with our computers. She can't get enough banging on the keyboard and waving the mouse around. I guess she sees the rest of the family on the computer enough that she thinks it must be really fun.

It probably makes sense given how much time we all spend in front of a screen that Lyra would find it interesting, but her passion for playing at the computer is really amazing. No matter where we sit her down, she makes a beeline for the Mac, and climbs up on the bench. She has even been known to climb all the way up on to the desk and sit directly in front of the screen.

Lyra, the Padawan Learner

Isn't this funny? Lyra sure does look up to her big brother! She even looks like him, except for the dress and the bow in her hair.

Family Update

There are enough pictures out here for the time being. Let me tell you what Lyra is doing now. She is very officially a toddler and off to the races! I cannot keep her off the stairs. Having her climb up isn't a problem if I want to go up anyway, it's when she decides to go on her own. She has a new word, at least I think she does. She loves her bath and so she is trying to say it. She sounds like a little lamb....Baaaaa!

I cannot figure out what to feed her. Unfortunately, as the youngest of three, Lyra has been exposed to yummy things like custard, whipped cream and Fig Newtons much earlier than the others. She seems to have the carb obsession that Eva does. Last night, I made a delicious yogurt curry chicken dish with rice and asparagus. Lyra did eat it (which is more than I can say for the other kids). But what she really liked was when I put a bit of cream of coconut milk over some leftover rice for dessert! KC ate up every bit that she dropped. Apparently I have a Thai cat! He is so funny, just like a dog cleaning up after Lyra's meals.

Will missed two days of school this week with strep throat. His throat looked like a raw steak! He is doing much better now and excited to go back to school. Beauvoir is wrapping up its Global Studies unit and in the process of turning the school into a museum. Museum night is next Friday and we are all excited! This is one of my favorite things that Beauvoir does. The children have prepared exhibits about all aspects of the country their class is studying. They take the other students on tours so they can learn about the rest of the continent. Then, they become docents for their parents on Museum Night! And then spring break begins. What a nice way to finish up!

Eva's Art

When Eva sees other classes do art projects that her class doesn't do, she remembers and does them herself at home. Earlier this month, she made a little groundhog that popped out of a hole. Last night, she used a paper lunch bag, cup, white paper and markers to make a reindeer puppet.

In Eva's global studies work at school, she told me that Caribou and Reindeer are the same except that Reindeer are farmed and Caribou are wild.