Italian Bar Mitzvah

I have Italian homework to do tonight. I’m supposed to write some 150 words about a person, place or experience that I am very excited and enthusiastic about. Of course, I plan to write about Maine.

Thank god Nicoletta doesn’t make me do dictation exercises. That was the worst part of studying French in high school. I must be getting a little better, though. Today I was able to understand the directions on how to add credit to my Italian cellulare.

Nicoletta has been dressing in a relatively restrained fashion lately. I wouldn‘t call her style demure but no plunging necklines or leopard prints recently. Instead she wears lots of purple and lots of lace but still those dangerous high heel shoes.

Late this afternoon, Steve and I walked Jonathan up to the Fontana di Trevi where we joined mobs of school kids screaming, “Take my picture.” So I did, too, take a picture of Jon and Steve tossing two coins over their shoulder into the fountain.

After putting Jon in a cab to meet a school friend, Steve and I headed off for a walking tour of the area. Michelin in hand we walked up to the elegant Piazza di Quirinale where the president of Italy lives and where there is a beautiful view over the rooftops of Rome especially in the late afternoon when the light is golden. Two churches later we headed back down the hill and took a circuitous but picturesque route back to the river and Trastevere. Our twilight stroll lasted almost an hour and while we walked, the sky turned a deeper and deeper sapphire blue. Looking up I could see a crescent moon and even a few stars. And, most exciting to me, little yellow buds on the chestnut trees along the river. Spring is definitely on the way.

Tonight, our last with Jonathan, we went to yet another local pizza place. We sat in the back room with about 20 Italian kids celebrating someone’s 13th birthday with French fries and pizza and a lot of noise. The mothers, not a father in sight, sat in the front room drinking carafes of wine and periodically checking in on the party. The girls, looking quite sophisticated with stylish haircuts and cool clothes, sat at one end of the table while the boys ranging in looks from nerdy to adorable hung out at the other end. Just like a bar mitzvah. I’m convinced they were all Jewish. We left after the birthday cake was brought out.