Just a note on Rome: Since the object of the exercise was to acquaint our kids with the basic sights, we of course went to the Spanish Steps. Nice; took photographs; ran up and down the steps.

Right alongside the steps is the building in which John Keats died. The apartment has been turned into a very pleasant little library for scholars of late British-Romantic poetry, and you can go in and look around for a small fee. You can stand in the room where poor Keats breathed, or coughed, his last breath, though all the original furniture has been replaced. It looks right down on the steps. Very atmospheric.

The place is kept up by the Keats-Shelley Memorial Foundation, and they do a great job. The story of how the place was acquired is worth reading by itself — Teddy Roosevelt was active in the project. (The story is there on the website.)

When we were there there was, aside from me and my family, only one other visitor in the house, though the steps below were crowded with tourists.

This surprised me a bit, though I suppose it shouldn’t have.

If you are in Rome, pay your respects to a great poet. Here he is at the

top of his form.

And here’s a lovely poem about the Spanish steps.