Roma

Cast of Characters

Campo dé Fiori

Caffè San Pietro

Colosseo

Foro Romano

Chiesa del Gesu

Pantheon

P. Navona

S. Pietro

Il Papa

S. Eustachio

S. Maria Trastevere

Trastevere

Bocca Verità

Fontana di Trevi

Museo Vaticani

Villa Borghese

Vittorie

Mangia!

Loose Ends

Desktops

I can't speak for other travellers, but we're city people (or we wouldn't have chosen to buy a house in San Francisco). The hustle and bustle of the morning marketplace is just perfect for us to greet the day. A never-ending stream of people, motorini, and tiny three-wheeled trucks (called "Apes") would pass by, delighting Isaac. Sometimes he'd lead Cicki and Rebecca on a wild chase, stopping only to examine the wares. Seeing people he recognized (and the Italians are magnificient when it comes to giving feedback to children) made his day.

There are so many vendors, too many stories tell. One vendor, and elderly man who sold vegetable preparers - slicing and dicing tools - recognized us as Jews and told us tales of the old days and the ghetto across the way, near the Tevere (the Tiber River). We visited and enjoyed wonderful kosher pizza at one restaurant, espresso at another, and a visit to the incredible synagogue.

Another group of vendors were the spice guys. Their stall was filled with containers of single and combination spices. (We brought one pound each of organic cumin and coriander to Devin; the non-organic varieties were for sale a few feet from where he had coffee each morning :-)

One of the gifts we brought back were bags of combination spices, the pesto with walnuts mix, the pizza mix, the bruschetta mix, etc. I can't believe the airport drug dogs didn't alert on the amazing variety. Didn't I once read that smugglers use spices to conceal drugs?