Romeing

I bet just about my favorite part of my trip was my night in Rome. (As opposed to the next morning, which was awful, but we won't talk about that). I walked all over the city--OK, well not ALL over it, but a big part of it!--and took lots of pictures, most of which pretty much suck because I don't have a cool paparazzi camera like Ray. But I really like how this picture of the Colosseum turned out!

I had my favorite Italian meal in Rome also, at a little restaurant called Cesaretto on Via Bocca di Leone. First "insalata greca", then spaghetti with pesto, of course with un bicchiere di vino rosso. I definitely need to go back there someday. The spaghetti Hud is cooking right now won't even compare to my memory of spaghetti in Rome... but I won't tell Hud that, because it could be worse. I could be cooking it myself.

I stopped to watch some people break-dancing (people still do that??) and a smarmy young guy in a suit stopped and asked me if I wanted him to take a picture of me. I had visions of Chevy Chase standing barefoot in a fountain and getting his camera stolen so I told the guy no, thank you. He asked where I was from and I told him, but I quickly moved on. Not long after that, he slowed down as he passed on his little scooter and he hollered, "Hey USA, want a ride?" No, thank you.

Got some more gelato in Rome. Did I not mention that I probably bought gelato every day that I was in Italy? The first time I got coffee flavor, which was good, but I decided my favorite flavor was "crema". It was so good that I didn't even bother trying any others.

I was impressed by the talent of the street artists in Rome. The first few that caught my eye were at the top of the Spanish Steps; some of these would draw portraits on demand, and others were selling previously-created paintings and drawings. But then I was especially enthralled by the mass of artists at the north end of Piazza Navona. If I hadn't been nearly out of cash by that point, I would have loved to browse for longer and maybe even buy something. One woman artist in particular was displaying a "Madonna and Child" painting that arguably rivaled anything I'd yet seen during my trip, AND anything I was to see the next day in Florence. I felt bad when she went to the trouble of digging out another, slightly different "Madonna" painting when she saw I was marveling at the first one, because I had no intention of buying either, but they were both absolutely beautiful. I wished Hud could be with me to see it all. As different as our opinions can be on some subjects, we have done well picking out art we both like.

I also loved my hotel room in Rome. I had chosen the hotel (which was the Hotel Select Giardino) partly because it was close to the train station but mainly because it has a lemon tree garden behind it. So I was more than excited to find that my room opened right into the garden! I was less excited about my choice of hotels at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning when a construction crew got to work with hammers and buzz saws right behind my room.

Another thing that made Rome fun was hanging out with Emiliano, a nice guy (not a strange guy!) I met at Piazza Navona. He seemed like a normal, down-to-earth person, as opposed to Mr. Suit on his little scooter. We hung out at Campo dei Fiori for a while and enjoyed converstation and wine. It's crazy how different our lives are: he has traveled to all kinds of third world countries with his job, but has never been to the US.