As soon as she set foot in the villa, it was clear she had a head of steam on. She made a bee-line for the basement. I asked her not to go downstairs as we had guests who were still asleep in the guest room there. She had a fit; "it's my house, and I never rented the basement. I can go there whenever I want." Needless to say, the rest of the meeting did not go well.
After we settled on the amounts owed for gas and electric, the issue of our departure came up. La Signora insisted that regardless of how much money we offer her, she wants us out on June 30th. It was clear that a) she was upset that we did not agree to leave on the 27th, so that she could get a new contract (for six weeks), and b) she was upset that we used the security deposit (not held in an escrow account as we'd requested) toward the final rent payments. All of the events that have since transpired have only proved to make us feel relieved that she was no longer holding ANY of our money. She clearly has some cash flow issues, and it has become clear to us throughout our stay, that she is not quick to pay her bills. How would we have ever gotten her to return the security deposit to us?!?
So the day did not start off well. At the conclusion of the "meeting," we hopped in the car in order to drop Kathy and Jack off near the Ara Pacis so they could catch the "Red Bus" tour. When we picked them up in the afternoon, after they'd been to La Boca della Verita, The Trevi Fountain, Terme di Diocleziano, and St. Peter's, Kathy reported that it was an excellent tour and a fun way to spend the day. She told us about her dash to buy a scarf to cover her shoulders so she would be allowed in to the Church. We asked if Jack had seen any of the Swiss guards specific to the Vatican? Kathy said they hadn't but there were some very bizarrely-dressed jester-looking guys just outside the Church !!!
Back at the villa, Josh wanted to try his legs out on a bike ride. The doctor told him that cycling would be fine and in fact a good way to maintain movement in his knee. As we rode into the Villa Borghese, it became clear the doctor didn't know what he was talking about in this regards. Pedaling a bike caused Josh' knee to bend too much -- this is not good if you want the incision to heal properly. So Josh turned around and headed home while I rode into town. I had wanted to stop by a marble store to research a souvenir, in marble, of our year in Rome.
When I returned home, Josh and I had lunch together in the garden before I left to get the kids at school. At my request, the math teacher at Latin had forwarded to me the tests and quizzes her current Chicago class had been given during the second semester. We've been concerned because Charlotte was covering the same math concepts at RIS this year that she'd learned in sixth grade last year at The Latin School -- that she would be ill-prepared for her return to Latin. Her current RIS math teacher offered to help her. But it had now been 8 days since I'd given him the materials and he had yet to set aside time to go over it with Charlotte. When Charlotte reported, yet again today, that Mr. Murray promised to give her something tomorrow, I decided it was time to speak to him myself. I went up to his classroom where he was tutoring another student. We agreed that if I gave him my phone number, he would call me later. Turns out, he never did.
This evening, the plan was for everyone to eat together, and then for the adults go out for a passegiata in Campo di Fiori. This was (allegedly) one piazza Kathy hadn't hit on the "Red Bus" tour today. Unfortunately, we left the house late, and just as we arrived at Campo di Fiori, a) Kathy informed us that she had in fact been in this very Piazza today for lunch with Jack, and b) we received the call from Charlotte informing us that she was ready to be picked up from AquAniene. Kathy thought she'd been in Piazza Navona today, but we now realized that it was Piazza Navona that she had yet to see. But not tonight. Instead of a passeggiata, we had a drive around town as we headed back to AquAniene for Charlotte.
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