Cello teacher

We found a cello teacher and Carter had his first lesson last Wednesday. As seems to be the case with all our activities, we needed to travel a distance to get there. Marius Parascan lives in Trastevere, to the south of us, in a neighborhood in all the guidebooks but one which we had not yet visited. The name of his street is Circonvallagione Gianicolense. (The Italians are fond of syllables.) Mr. Parascan is actually an English-speaking Romanian who plays in the orchestra at the Opera Theater of Rome, where we saw the ballet. He has been to the U.S. and performed in Carnegie Hall with an Italian chamber ensemble. Carter was a trooper in how he dealt with language differences and Mr. Parascan's quirky teaching style, and he was rewarded with a gelato on the trek home. I have developed a fondess for the Italian version of hot chocolate, which is a cross between American hot chocolate and hot fudge. It's like drinking a candy bar. I ordered one, received two and was charged for one- and one-half, but I did manage to drink both (didn't want to waste it). Today at 5:30 p.m. we are going to the theater to pick up Mr. Parascan's cello, which he is renting to us at a rate cheaper than we could find elsewhere. We have read about the ice and snow back home. It has been mild here but rainy. This weekend we are all reading about Renaissance art in preparation for a trip to Florence this Thursday.