After another hair tingling cappucino, Day 2 was meant to be just a Rome walkabout ..see more of the sites but ultimately see the colosseum...you can't take a morning jog (just kidding) or walk without walking right by something monumentally important to human civilization...at some point you almost become numb to it all.
I'll fill in more details later when I'm really clear on all that we've seen..I know I recognize the man's face on the wall that was in the movie with Audrey Hepburn...who doesn't love Audrey?...Roman Holiday...but it made me giggle to see the very long lines of people of all ages standing in line waiting to put their hand in the face and then grimace with fake pain...lol.
We wandered a bit then came to barricades and security and people waiting en mass in this road...the sidewalks were blocked off and I told the ladies it reminded me of when Pierce and I were in Washington DC and the President drove by. They blocked the whole area off an hour before he whisked by in 30 seconds. What a pain in the butt to leave the house. So I got hopeful for a minute and thought
the Pope was on the move. That was until the ladies told me to look at the t-shirts everyone was wearing. Bruce? Yep Bruce Springsteen is in the house... or at least in Rome. Great. Blocking our way to walk to the colisseum. Well hell... we will have to do next week when we come back. I still have to throw a coin in the Treveni Fountain anyway to cement the fact I will come back to Rome.. maybe even meet a Italian man. That will take 2 coins apparently. To marry him..3 coins...according to tradition. I think I will stick with 2 coins. Lol. So more touring when we return.
We changed direction and came across a cute little piazza ..Piazza Mattei which holds the turtle fountain... .fontana della tartarughe. A fabulous lunch was held by all at le tartarughe cafe.. salmon risotto, salmon tartare salad, chef ravioli of the day... which turned out to be stuffed with some sort of pepper... maybe a poblano? Well whoever thought of that is brilliant. When I master making pasta I'm going to give that a whirl. I scored the opportunity to try cacio y pepe... this may be my most favorite way to eat pasta now. Can't wait to figure this out in my own kitchen.
Lovely meal.. lovely chardonnay...(ummmm.. they don't serve chardonnay... only Serbato the waitress reluctantly told us... however we happily noticed the grapes in serbato is 100% chardonnay.) The sound of the water from the fountain.. people watching... lovely. Hint: don't step away from table without looking....I almost got taken out by a car. Yea they drive thru the piazzas too... pedestrians? Meh.
Shopping consumed most of afternoon... it's fun to shop there... after you get off the little cute cobblestone alley that only sells Prada, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana etc and get back to the cute little cobblestone alley that sells to the rest of us. We did accidentally stumble onto Campo de fiori.. that was cool. And just about then the skies opened up and blue skies became black skies. Dang. Rain has a way of spoiling a proper walkabout. Headed home to prepare for our night of gluttony... stay tuned for the Roman Food Tour.
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