Craig's blog

Other than Jessie, we slept in today, which was great.  Then we ate breakfast, packed our bags and took two taxis to the center of Rome where we are renting an apartment for the next two days.  It is just a block from Piazza Navona and just a block from Frigidarium – our new favorite gelato place.

We checked in to our apartment – and it’s perfect.  A small, two bedroom apartment with a kitchen in the hallway between the two rooms.  After settling in, we walked to a restaurant a few yards away and met Diane & Jim for lunch.  After lunch we walked a little over a mile to a museum we wanted to see called La Domus Romane di Palazzo Valentini, but they were full.  We made a reservation for Friday morning at 10 and then walked back to the apartment.  Actually, Jim and I walked back while the ladies shopped their way back. 

I stopped by a grocery store and bought fruit and cereal for breakfast tomorrow.  We got back to the apartment, changed our closed and headed out for an interesting evening.  We walked back to where we had just come from and then beyond to the Metro station at the coliseum.  We rode the Metro to the Magliana station where we caught a commuter train to the town of Acilia.  It was about a 10 minute subway ride and then a 15 minute train ride, with 20 minutes in-between.

At the Acilia station we were picked up by Patty’s cousin Greg who drove us to the home of Paolo Mignozzi, who is Patty’s great-grandfather’s, sister’s grandson.  He is about 62. He was very excited to meet and host our family (with Greg and Tonya who have visited them before).  We met him, his wife Viviana, his daughter Sara and her boyfriend Giulio, his other daughter, Simona and her husband Damiano and Paolo’s brother, Giancarlo.  

Giancarlo looks strikingly like Patty’s Ungle Gus and somewhat like Frank.  It’s amazing given how many generations back they have a common ancestor. 

They live in a neat villa that houses their family and then two other related families in adjoining buildings.  We had bellini to drink and bruschetta out on their lawn before dinner, took some pictures, and then ate a nice dinner that Viviana had prepared.  They all worked hard to speak to us in broken English, but it was very fun to meet a traditional Italian family out in the country, especially one that is related to us. 

The dinner started at about 9:30 as Greg predicted.  We ate and drank, Paolo pulled out his guitar and sang folk songs and eventually they drove us back to Rome, which was great.  We got to bed about 1:00, continuing our policy of burning the candle at both ends (especially given what time we have to get up tomorrow).