Back by "popular demand", guest writer Mike is here to give Aviva a blog break.
Today was mostly about running errands and getting everything set up for the next four weeks that we'll be living in Rome. First up was heading to our local supermarket to pick up supplies for the house. It took a little while to find the supermarket as it is in the basement of a clothing store (imagine going to Shop-Rite but having to go the basement of the GAP). Normally this would be shocking but it isn't the first time in Italy we have seen the supermarket/clothes store super-combo. I guess people who eat need clothes and people who wear clothes need to eat, so why not combine them? Following the supermarket we did some vegetable/fruit shopping at the daily open-air market and walked back home to drop off the goods.
With food shopping taken care of we left to find a language school for Aviva and the tourist information center to get a couple questions answered (events in November, where to buy Roma and Lazio football tickets, bus maps, etc). The apartment manager recommended the Scuola Leonarda Da Vinci which offers classes by the week with varying intensities. Aviva decided on a one-week program, three hours of classes each day full of grammar lessons and Italian conversation. I opted out of classes but will find something to do while Aviva is in class. When in Rome do as the Romans do - I just need to figure out what that is. On Monday Aviva will take a placement test and get assigned to a class, so we'll have to do some back-to-school shopping. 
We decided to take the long way home to get re-acquainted with Rome and do some quick walk-bys of some of our favorite sights: Piazza Navona (not covered by scaffolding any more), Victor Emmanuel Monument (also not covered by scaffolding), Trajan's Column, the forum, Colosseum, and Circus Maximus (which was gated off for military exposition of tanks, helicopters, boats, and other military gear). Besides the army expo everything still looks great and we are looking forward to spending more time at these sites (especially taking a tour of the now-open third tier and the open-for-the-first-time ever lower dungeons of the Colosseum). Our next stop was Isola Tiberina (a somewhat small island in the Tiber River) to get some much needed gelato and went down to the river to relax, eat, and read our books. Right by where we were sitting there was a man-made dip in the river, creating a tiny waterfall and some mini-rapids. Just like the Arno River in Florence, the Tiber River in Rome is amazingly clean. However, all the garbage (not much of it), seems to get caught in the mini-rapids and it was fun to watch the 10-20 "lost" soccer balls jumping around in the rapids like they were in a popcorn machine.
About 20 minutes into reading my book I looked up and spotted some birds performing some crazy aerial feats. Once I focused more, I realized I was looking at thousands and thousands of birds (wouldn't be surprised if there were 40-50 THOUSAND birds). It was incredible. The sky was full of starlings flying in every which way. Some in what looked like chaotic patterns and some in very organized groups. Everyone was just watching and taking pictures of thousands of birds flying all over the place. The video doesn't capture it but it was worth a shot:
After 45 minutes of bird-watching we walked back to the apartment. On the way we came across a man dressed in a white hazmat suit and dust mask armed with a megaphone playing bird calls. His job is to scare away the starlings so people can sleep at night in peace and quiet and to reduce the bird droppings in the area. (Click here for a short article about the white-suited bird man).
We ended up having dinner at a local restuarant (one we actually went to a couple years ago), ate some more gelato, and made it back home to call it a day. Rome is definitely a bigger, grottier city than Florence, but we think it is going to be a great place to temporarily call "home".
Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:
Mike - Cioccolato e Amerana and Creme Caramel e Straccietella
Aviva - Stracciatella and Cioccomenta con Panne
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