Tuesday May 18 Early Roman Church Tour, Torre Argentina and Trastevere

Tuesday we get up early because I have a scheduled private tour with Elizabeth Lev from Scala Reale of early Christian churches in Rome. We are to meet by the coliseum at 9 am. Isaac is barely awake so I give him the option of staying home. He's got an attitude about Christianity these days and he'd rather stay home and hang out. I leave him an extra set of keys and some euro.

We are supposed to meet at Ludas Magnus, the ruins of the gladiator school, but I can't find that in my guidebook and according to my map, the two streets it is supposed to be on the corner of do not connect. I had to call Scala Reale for directions, I was almost right there when I called. If you haven't guessed by now, I'm not so good at navigating.

Liz teaches art history at an American University. This tour was fascinating. She was very good and even managed to engage Sarah, who is not all that interested in churches, but didn't want to be left behind at the apt.

We hop a bus down to the forum. We begin with the church of Cosmos and Damien. The building of this church along the sacred way of Triumph in the heart of the forum in the 5th century signals the arrival of Christianity in Rome. It's dedicated to twin saints, and the church is situated opposite at temple to other twins -- Castor and Pollex. Romans like twins so these are good saints to be here.

We will see the inside later but now we have an appointment for Santa Maria Antiqua, also in the forum at the foot of Palatine hill. This church, which used to be a guardhouse for the emperor, is important for it's many layers of painted walls dating from the 6th-9th century. Seeing the various layers of paintings allows art historians to see the changing styles of the various periods. Many artists from the east fled the iconoclast period of the 7th century to paint this church in Rome, where they had no problem with images in churches. The Romans were a visual people and art was always an important didactic tool.

This is all very interesting, but the only way we can get inside this church to see the paintings is with an Italian tour group, they won't let Liz take us in alone. She is glad the tour is not in English which means she can tell us what she thinks is important. But we ended up spending a lot of time there waiting for the Italian guide to give the entire 2000 year history of the building.

Then we went back to see the inside of Cosmos and Damien. If you go to the forum, you really should look inside this church. It has the most beautiful mosaic in the apse. And because the church has been raised higher than its original floor, you are much closer to the mosaic than normal and can really enjoy it. Liz points out that the faces of Cosmos and Damien are dark and Semitic, preparing the Romans for a religion that is from that part of the world.
You can learn more about this church here: http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com/theorder/Basilica/index.htm

Off we go again, catching a bus back up to San Clemente, with its many layers. First we go down to an early 1st century Roman home that became a worship site for the cult of Mythros, a rival to Christianity. Then we climb up to the 4th century church built to honor the 3rd pope Clemente. Finally a little history about the present 12th century church. You know a city is old when a 12th century building is considered new.

Unfortunately it is 11:30 already and there is not time to see Quattro Coronati. My only complaint about this tour is that it is too short. I'm thinking I wish I'd booked her for a Vatican tour. I will end up wishing that even more. But we will come to that.

It's noon and even if I could have convinced Sarah to see more churches on our own, they are all closing. We go back to the apartment. Surprise. Isaac is still asleep. We walk down to the bar where we get our pasty and get panini-- the Italian version of fast food. I like prosciutto but I'm thinking I've had about enough for awhile.

I nap for an hour. I think the kids fought just about that whole time.
Before we came to Rome, we had heard about the Roman cat Sanctuary in Torre Argentina. Since we take in stray cats (we only have 6 now but have had up to ten at a time) this is of great interest to us. We walk down and find a bus line that stops at Torre Argentina. I buy ticket at the Tabacci store.

By the time we get to our stop it's pretty crowded and I did not understand that you are supposed to get off at the middle door. Sarah gets out first from the back door but a woman gets on and blocks my way and she will not get out of my way. Suddenly the doors slam shut and the bus leaves.

Okay.

I've been a good sport on this trip I think. I've had sense of humor about getting lost, being over- charged by taxi drivers, eating baby octopus...

but seeing my 14 year old daughter's terrified face through a bus window as it drives away from her in a FOREIGN COUNTRY??

All bets are off. I scream and pound on the glass window. The rest of the passengers understand the language of a terrified mother and convince the driver to stop. Sarah has been chasing the bus and she is right there when I get off. I don’t care if they all think I’m a stupid American who doesn’t know which door to get out of; my kids are with me now.

I do tell the kids that if that happens again they are to stay put (no bus chasing) and I will figure out how to get back to them.

Okay. On to the cats. We cross to the ruins in the middle of the street. The ruins are down below. Sure enough there are cats lounging about the ruins.

We walk around until we find the stairs on the corner down to the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary.

One of the ladies that runs it --Lia Dequel is happy to give us a tour. They care for more than 200 cats. All the cats are vaccinated and sterilized. After they are fixed, the healthy cats are allowed to roam free through the ruins. "We don’t keep them prisoners”. Europeans have a different attitude about indoor cats. In the US you are considered a bad owner if you let your cats go outside. They think it’s cruel to keep them inside.

But they also have a large room with big open windows and linoleum floor for blind, crippled, incontinent and other cats who cannot fend for themselves outdoors. She introduces us to some their sick and crippled cats. There are baskets all over with kitties sleeping in them.

They are dependent on donations and volunteers. They are not even supposed to have a building in the ruins, but the city government looks the other way. They have a few items for sale; we buy a mouse pad, calendar, two books and a little wooden sleeping cat., plus leave a donation. She tells us that on Saturday at 5 they are sponsoring a tour of the ruins with the cats, but alas we will be on our way to Florence on Saturday.We go back up and spend about half an hour watching the cats.

That’s right. I take my kids to Rome and the highlight of the trip for them is watching stray cats lounge around some ruins.

Kids are ready to go back. I want to see Trastevere. There is a tram right there that goes to Trastevere so we get on it. When we get off I see a church down the street. I want to check it out. Its San Francesco a Ripa that houses Bernini's Ecstasy of Bat Ludovica Albertoni. I wonder how it is decided that these little churches get the works of art they have.

Okay were getting tired and thirsty so its time for a stop at an outdoor café. I really miss Diet Pepsi. What I wouldn’t do for one. I order aqua con gass, at least it’s carbonated. Then I see they have Coke Light. Maybe that will be close enough. I think the waiter thought we were nuts. Water and Coke for me, Water and Sprite for Isaac, water and orange juice for Sarah. We drank it all. We were very thirsty. Bill is 11.50 E but it is worth it. We rest, read the guidebook; I can always talk the kids into just a little more sightseeing after one of these stops.

I want to see Santa Maria in Trastevere. "Not another church!” they groan. It’s a quarter to 6 and the book says it closes at 6. I talk the kids into at least going to see the Piazza. It’s a beautiful square with of course a fountain the middle. Oh and look--the church is still open! Isaac goes and sits on the steps of the fountain. There are a lot of young people hanging out by the fountain. Sarah, always a good sport, agrees to come with me into the church. The mosaic in apse is just spectacular. It’s all spectacular. I tell Sarah that even if the sermon was boring you could entertain yourself by just looking around.

The kids have had enough. I’d like to stick around and eat dinner here, I have a recommendation, but there is only so far you can push teenagers before they decide if they are miserable, everyone around them should be too. We do stop for gelato. It have mint chocolate chip but it tastes like ice cream in the US.

Our bus tickets have expired but I can’t find another place to buy tickets. None of the tabacci stores around have tickets. I decide to take our chances and we just get on the tram back to Torre Argentina. It’s so crowded so I doubt anyone would be able to check our tickets. We get off and there are about 10 taxis lined up. There must be an honest cab diver in Rome. Let’s try it again. Oh no, I lost my piece of paper with the address and he doesn’t understand my pronunciation of Ottiavano. I have my DK Eyewitness Rome book with a street index so I show that to him. Okay no problem. He takes us right to the door. 8.25. E I give him 10 I’m so grateful.

The kids are tired, hyper and whiney all at once. I’m not taking these kids to a restaurant. So we go back to the supermarket. By now we know our way around. Isaac gets prosciutto and more ananas juice. I buy some sausage, pasta and more of that good sauce in a jar. That’s what we have for dinner. I still think its as good as any pasta we have had in a restaurant.