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Kelly, who was younger than Julie, who was younger than Eileen, was the first off the plane to Rome. I don’t begrudge her at all, being her father, but it seems like something that needs to be said. Anyway, when we got to Rome, we had five days before us, in which we could do whatever we wanted. I wanted to see the Pantheon, and to sit in the Piazza Navona, and Eileen agreed with me; Kelly, however, wanted to eat gelato, and Julie sided with her. Now, I wanted to eat gelato, too, but I figured that that was something we could do on the way about doing other things. Kelly, fortunately, understood my reasoning and agreed, and so on the first day we saw the Pantheon and sat in the Piazza Navona, where we ate gelato.

The weather was cold, but not too cold to eat gelato. You could eat gelato and get a coffee afterward, and that would warm you up a bit, although I have to say, I was surprised that the coffee was not that hot. That was good, though, because I didn’t burn my mouth.

On the second day, we went to St. Peter’s Basilica, and Ellen, my wife, had to trick the girls into wearing sleeves by telling them that it was going to be cold; we were lucky that it was cold, because they would have made a stink about it otherwise, and I would’ve had to sit outside the basilica lecturing at least one of them while their mother took the remainder inside. We also went to the Coliseum that day, had our picture taken with a gladiator, and ate more gelato.

On the third day it warmed up, and we decided that it was prudent to avoid the churches, at least the big ones. Ellen suggested that we walk from our hotel, which was near the Gesu, to the Spanish Steps, eat lunch near there, and then get gelato near the Trevi Fountain.

The fourth and fifth days were more of the same, making plans, meandering around, and eating gelato. I never really got the sense that I was experiencing real Roman life, but you really never can tell. I did have risotto one night for dinner. The kids seemed tired, although, honestly, the trip was rather romantic for Ellen and me, and the coffee was very good.