The Bone Church and a Foot problem

Josh left early for his 100km bike ride this morning. It was a nice day and I decided to take the kids to see Santa Maria della Concezone. Another church? This is a special church -- paticularly for kids -- because just next door is a Capuchin cemetary. The Franciscan order of Capuchins buried their dead in this indoor cemetary. However, given the limited amount of sacred soil, they had to dig up the old remains to bury the new. There are over 4000 monks interred here. Then someone had the idea to use the bones for decorating the crypts. This makes the church a destination stop on the Rome tour. Skulls were stacked high, lining the walls of several crypts. Then femur bones were used to make a pattern on the wall. We even saw the rib bones arranged in a fancy pattern over the arches as if it were ornate molding. Olivia thought the whole thing was "disgusting" but Charlotte thought it was very cool and Avery was very matter of fact about the display.

Afterwards we went on a little walk. First down to Piazza Barberini with it's Bernini dolphin fountain called Fontana di Tritone. Then up Via Gregoriana to see the "monster house" It's a building where the door and windows look like the mouths of monsters with their nose, eyes and ears just above. Always a child pleaser. Then we found ourselves at the top of the Spanish Steps at the Trinity dei Monte where we took a rest (Only 15 minutes of walking and Avery was already complaining he was tired!).

This is usually a spot with a great view down the Spanish Steps to the Fountain and the Via Condutti below. Currently, however, the view is obstructed due to an exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. A copy of the Berlin Wall has been erected in two sections, on two levels on the Spanish Steps. Olivia told me she just learned about the fall of the Berlin Wall in assembly at school on Friday. She explained to me the difference between East and West Germany; how the people weren't treated the same; and how little by little they tore down the wall. Hmm, so they really are learning something in Grade 3!

We walked down and each counted the steps. Reportedly there are 137, but Charlotte counted 135, Olivia had 134 and Avery and I lost count. We took another "Avery break" at the fountain -- the Fontana della Baracaccia, another work by a Bernini although it's unclear whether it was the father or the more talented son -- and then I lured the kids on with the promise of panini. I delivered on the promise at the snack bar right next to my Italian school. Then, panini in hand, we trudged back towards the car.

We were home before 1pm. The whole excursion from start to finish was less than two hours but felt like five. Josh arrived a few minutes later -- completely spent but high on the feat of cycling 100 km.

This evening, we were going out to dinner with friends but first they would come over for an aperitif. That, of course, meant we needed to straighten the place up a bit. There's nothing like the threat of impending guests for getting in gear to clean up. Also, Josh had to stop at the store to procure the libations. He wanted to serve prosecco and I wanted to have Aperol available to turn it into a "spritz." Aperol is a type of bitters, similar to Campari, and popular in Italy. The Aperol Josh bought came in a six-pack of small bottles. I put one in the fridge and in the process of carrying the rest of the carton over to the pantry, one of the other bottles fell out. It smashed on the tile floor causing me to instantly slip on the liquid, fall on top of the glass shards, slice the bottom of my foot open, and imbed shards in the palm of my hand. The whole thing happened so fast that I was a bit bewildered as to how I ended up on the floor in the middle of this mess.

The only one who heard the commotion was Olivia. Charlotte was at swim practice and Josh was napping with Avery. I was in the middle of making Olivia a snack which was cooking on the stove. So now I needed to get up and turn off the stove. In the process, I bled all over the kitchen floor. It was at this point that I told Olivia to wake up Josh. Josh has always told the kids "do not wake me up unless there is blood or dismemberment!" In this case, Olivia could wake him up with confidence by saying there was in fact blood!

Two days in a row, Josh is sweeping up glass from the floor. It really makes a strong case for carpeting or at least wooden flooring. The tile floors are aesthetically pleasing, but they are cold in the winter AND dangerous! After Josh cleaned up my mess in the kitchen, he bandaged my foot. It was only later that we discovered that it didn't stop bleeding. I guess I would not be wearing my fancy snake-skin heals to dinner! With all the bandages, I was lucky to get my foot into a black suede, rubber-soled flat.

It was 7:55pm before our guests, who were invited for 7:30pm called to say they'd had a water problem at home, hadn't showered yet, and were therefore running late. It was at this time that I decided we didn't need to wait for them to start the evening off with a Spritz! I'd had two by the time they arrived at 8:45pm. This is Italy. People are late. You go with the flow. Fortunately, I'd had a snack myself when giving the kids their dinner.

In the end, we had a nice time. We went for sushi. Is this the beginning of a Saturday night out tradition? This Japanese restaurant being more formal with an older crowd than the one last weekend; I didn't think the sushi was better but equally as good. It wasn't until I rose after dinner that I noticed that my foot was throbbing. The idea of going out to a nightclub (these Italians like to go out late) was not appealing.