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It's a very
slow starting morning.
We find a local bar that has a bakery attached and some of the best cornetti
so far (on the Corso Vittorio Emmanuelle II, just up from Via Leuteri,
by the bus stop, if anyone is in the neighborhood). If we were staying
longer this place would become a regular stop. Then we catch the bus to
the Vatican. It's not a long ride and the bus is only mostly crowded,
so it's pretty painless. The piazza is still huge (I had been here once
before, on Easter Sunday...but after the crowds had left). We check out
the points where the columns all line up and disappear and then head into
the basilica. I've never been inside before, and it is huge.
One guide book describes it as like Grand Central Station. There are lots
of tourists and tour groups, but it doesn't feel at all crowded.
I'm less interested in the artwork then I am the architecture. There are
so many buildings in Rome that you look at and are amazed by. Then you
realize they were built hundreds or thousands of years ago and are still
standing. Who needs 'modern' technology...My only unanswered question
is why are there two huge clocks inside the church? It seems a little
weird. There are also lots of tour guides (some offering free tours in
English...there must be a catch...) and they all seem to be contradicting
each other and the guide books...the bronze was stolen from the Pantheon,
no that's a myth. It's 4 stories tall, no eight... etc, etc.
After an hour of craning my head straight up while trying not to crash
into anyone, we head next door to climb the inside of the dome. This is
what I've been looking forward to. Unfortunately the line is quite long
and we have a lunch date with one of dad's colleagues in Trastevere. So
that will have to wait until the next trip (I've also never seen the Sistine
Chapel, so I think the Vatican will get a longer return visit).
Oh well, if I have to come back to Italy....
We hop on another bus and have the Roman experience. It's hot, it's crowded,
and we're not sure where to get off. We only all get on by jumping in
the exit door (each bus has three doors, the front and back are for entering
and the center is for exiting). We push our way on and the doors barely
close. Then more people get on. It's a mess. Luckily it's not a long trip.
We hop off somewhere close to our destination and start walking. Trastevere
(the Tiber river is Tevere in Italian) is the other side of the river
and is less historic, but more neighborhood and arty. It's sort of like
the Left Bank of Paris. Frances is an American ex-pat actress and tour
guide. After her fourth husband died she stayed in his apartment in Trastevere.
We are wandering towards it, when all of a sudden mom calls out 'Ciao
Frances' and there she is stepping out of a cafe. She is the mayor of
her street, she knows and greets everyone as we walk by stopping in her
favorite perfume shop, chatting up the woman at the bar, etc. We head
over to her apartment. it's small....and hard to describe. She has painted
or covered every wall and surface. She has tchotchkes on top of tchotchkes.
There are paintings, photos, cut out magazine ads, and posters everywhere.
it's a museum to her obsessions, it kind of reminds me of the room of
the most artsy person in your college dorm. She's a bit kooky.
We walk over to a little restaurant and have some lunch. My dad sends
people to Frances to be guided. She bills herself as the Roman Tour Goddess.
She's been in a few movies (small parts in A Month by the Lake and I Dreamed
of Africa) and is now in a show in Rome. Lunch pales compared to the Frances
show. I think I had some antipasto and a carpaccio, but this wasn't about
food. We drink some wine and talk and have a pretty good time. We say
our goodbyes and are off. I had read about a bakery in the ghetto with
really good ricotta cheesecake (I get some in Little Italy in the Bronx
that is my favorite in the world, so I'm interested in comparing), so
we cross the river and head in. When they say ricotta cheesecake, I think
I was misled. It's really ricotta cheese in cake, a white cake stuffed
with cheese (and chocolate). It's good, but not at all what I thought.
The Bronx still stands as cheesecake champion.
By now it must be near 90 degrees. I'm still wearing jeans (we were in
San Pietro....) and so we catch a cab back to the apartment. The others
go shopping for gifts while I take a nap and prepare to go do one last
laundry. i wake up an hour and a half later...maybe too much wine. No
laundromat for me. One last load in the machine here and hopefully it
will dry by tomorrow.
For dinner, we head out late for a local Roman place called Da Sergio.
The outside tables are full so we go in and sit in a corner. the table
next to us is talking strategy about how to actual get 'il conto' the
check. Dad has described many times the disappearing Italian waiter trick.
In Italy, the restaurants are not worried about turning over tables, so
after the meal they aren't trying to get rid of you. And the Italians
will stay for hours, chatting and smoking. Americans can't quire wrap
their heads around this. So when we are done, we want our check and want
to leave. The waiters don't get this and they do the polite thing, which
is to make themselves scarce. even when you find one and ask for the check,
it still may be 15 minutes before you get it.
it's a different culture. Anyway, these folks are debating strategy and
have hit upon the one that we know always works. Get up and leave.
they'll find you right quick.
The meal is terrific, but the service is indifferent and the food is not
well paced. We wait for a long time to even get water and wine and then
my pasta comes out only after asking several times (and after everyone
else has finished theirs), and the main coursed show up in multiple stages.
They never even brought Michael's vegetable. But the food is incredible.
I have pasta arabbiata...it's perfect, the spiciest I've ever had. then
A steak...it's too well done but tasty. The potatoes are roasted to perfection
and the insalara misto (they were out of caprese) is huge and fresh. Even
though the tomatoes are the wrong color and not the best consistency,
they taste perfect. The lettuce is soft and fresh....We have several pastas,
all delicious, and the spicy sausage is amazing. The only miss is the
green beans. Seth thinks they've been cooked four day too long. and they
are cold. Strange.
I would recommend this place with a serious warning about the service,
but if you have the time and the patience...hmmmmm Da Sergio.
We head over the Piazza Farnese to sit at a bar and have a digestivo.
The Villa Farnese is now the French Embassy, but it was a private home
when it was built 500 years ago. Apparently the Building Museum in DC
was inspired by the Villa. We sit and watch the parade while sipping the
nastiest cough syrup ever. It's Rome.
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