TramJazz!

Tonight we celebrated my 60th birthday with an evening on Tram Jazz, a historic tram car refurbished as a rolling dinner/jazz club. We started at Porta Maggiore, which I blogged about before, with appetizers and prosecco on the tram. 

Then we got started riding around Rome as the dinner continued.

We stopped outside at the National Gallery of Modern Art for the jazz performance.

Also later for people to get out and walk around at the Coliseum. 

Our tablemates were a couple from Fort Lauderdale, Harvey and Arlene Austin, who were planning a move to Medford, Oregon later in the fall. Both in their early 80s, they were in Rome on their honeymoon (with a two-week Mediterranean cruise to follow)! Harvey, it turns out, is a “conscious aging” proponent, familiar with the work of Reb Zalman, whose book, From Aging to Sageing, I’ve studied with the help of Pat Lewis, a friend who has done seminars and retreats on the subject for many years in Seattle. Turns out that Harvey has his own book and is also a speaker on the topic. We had a wonderful conversation about making changes and taking chances in life. There was a lot of “auguri” to go around!

Not a great photo given the low light but I wanted to remember them!

I had saved my birthday card from yesterday to open at the dinner.

But it was much more than a card. Brad has arranged a trip for us to Vienna in February for the opera season! We spent our honeymoon in that lovely little city and have often daydreamed about going back to attend one of the balls one day. (Ballare, to dance.) I felt so nostalgic and a little overwhelmed. When the couple sitting at the next table (originally from Pretoria, South Africa, where I have many cousins) overheard our discussion, they whipped out their cellphones to show us photos of themselves at the same ball two years ago. 

It was a wonderful and touching night. I love my husband so much!

Anita and Giuseppe

Before heading out to my birthday dinner, we finally hiked up the Gianicolo behind our house. It is one of the famous hills of Rome (Janiculum in English), and Brad wanted to catch the sunset there. I was my first attempt going up a steep hill after being off crutches (for two weeks).

 First we stopped at a lighthouse erected in the 1800s by Italians living in Argentina. It beams the colors of the Italian flag on national holidays.

           

Then we stopped at the monument to Anita Garibaldi. She was Giuseppe Garibaldi’s young, Brazilian wife, who fought alongside him. While they were fighting to establish a republic in southern Brazil, Anita was captured by opposing forces but escaped on horseback, brandishing her pistol, all while seven months pregnant! She died of malaria at age 28, pregnant with their fifth child, near Ravenna, Italy while fighting with Garibaldi in the cause of Italian Unification. Another nasty woman! (Two of her sons who joined their father in later battles have busts on the Gianicolo as well.)

We reached the top of Passeggiata del Gianicolo and the Piazza overlooking the city with Garibaldi’s enormous monument in the center. 

Had a glass of wine while we waited for the sunset.

We caught a glimpse of St. Peter’s through the umbrella pines on our way back down.

Tanti Auguri a Me ... Turning 60 in Roma

Salve, amici! I am very behind on posts due to a combination of factors, including feeling held back by (and a little down about) the slower-than-expected recovery of my knee as well as the unreliable speed of the internet connection at our house that has made uploading photos very laborious. But something about turning 60 today seems to have reinvigorated me. (Tanti auguri a me, tanti auguri a me, tanti auguri a me … the photo is the birthday pastry Brad brought home for me. We had a quiet day because Brad is coming down with a cold but plan to celebrate tomorrow night.) Anyway, I’ve resolved to backtrack to add (and shamelessly back-date) posts for the missing period … sorry that you’ll see lots of posts show up over the next few days. Many will be dated before this one—probably a real sin in the blogging world, but I don’t know what I’m doing!! Ciao, Brigid