A night out on the town

It's finally starting to feel like we live here. We got our cell phones today! It's so complicated and all the rules are different from the States. I don't know how we would have figured it out if Josh didn't speak Italian. In fact, I can't imagine having moved here without Josh - for many reasons, but certainly it's impossible to be effective without a knowledge of the language (or, I suppose, a professional sponsorship so that a local organization is helping you).

The first school week ended on a high note. Both girls were invited to birthday parties! Josh picked them up and told me that all of Charlotte's classmates were saying bye (in English) and wishing her a good weekend.

We hired a Christian Pakistani (male) babysitter named Morris who came for the first time tonight and will come on occasional evenings to help us out. He works full time for the other American family at RIS but wanted some extra hours. He seems really great. Avery liked him right away and the girls warmed up to him. Their first male babysitter.

So, for the first time in several weeks, Josh and I had the evening to ourselves. We went to Isola Tibernia and to the Jewish Ghetto section of town. We settled on having dinner at Da Giggetto, a well known restaurant cooking in the "Jewish style." About an hour after we were seated (we're still on the American eat at 8pm plan) the place was packed with locals as well as a few foreigners. Their specialty is fried artichokes and zucchini flowers and Baccala, which is cod fish. It was a nice meal - some courses were better than others - but not fantastic. What is fantastic, everywhere, is the quality of inexpensive wines. For 13 euro we had a wonderful Dolcetta d'Alba.

Afterwards we strolled around the "ghetto." What's amazing about this city is that you turn a corner and run in to a magnificent ancient structure or a beautiful church. There are so many wonderful and charming Piazza's "off the map" like Piazza Mattei and Piazza di Campitelli. Walking the cobble-stoned streets in the evenings is particularly special because the buildings and fountains are lit and the whole place has a special glow.

We did notice too, that in many (most) of the passageways around the ghetto the walls were full of graffiti. Vandalism in the form of graffiti appears rampant throughout Rome in general.

We discovered that outdoor concerts are held (through Sept. 27th) at the Teatro di Marcello. The entrance is next to the Portici D'Ottavia - an ancient, excavated structure which looks similar to the colosseum but was in fact the ancient fish market. Each night, there is music from a different composer. The setting, with the lights on the Capitoline Hill for a backdrop, is absolutely out of this world.