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Italy 2003 Day 12 Rome
James writes:

Rome is always fun for us, but it is unseasonably warm and makes the walking more arduous than usual. But there is no way to control the weather, so we make the best of it--but 20 degrees cooler would be even better.

Jonathan writes:

It's a slow starting morning. We got in late last night, my room was very warm and stuffy so I didn't sleep so well, and i'm am still stuffed from dinner at Maureen and Franco's. I'm ready for a relaxing day.

We head out for a walk...we walk through the Ghetto, stopping in at a Jewish bookstore. Mom's looking for another Italian Hagaddah (the prayer book used at Passover). Seth entertains the woman at the bookstore with his Italian rendition of the four questions (always a seder highlight).
She's highly amused. We walk thru most of the Roman highlights: obelisks, Trajan's theater, pantheon, campodoglio, forum, and past the colliseum. It's pretty hot out to be walking so much, but it's hard to not be impressed. There ris a church service going on in the Pantheon (it is Sunday, after all), but for some reason it seems to be in German...I have been around the forum, but never down into it. It's pretty impressive, but I think I am more in awe being up above and looking down on these kinds of ruins...then you get more of a sense of the layout and the vastness. We chack out several arches and the remains of the huge church on the forum grounds (the name escapes me) that inspired the renaissance greats to build grand duomos. It is absolutely gargantuan. And we are only looking at on e of the side aisles. We end up at the Colliseum. I am still amazed, even after several visits.

Then a leisurely stroll back thru town for some lunch near the apartment. I'm still not hungry (shocking to all, I know) so I put in a load of laundry (we have a machine, but not a dryer). I stay back at the apartment, napping, reading, writing and laundering, while further afternoon walks are taken.

Tonight we are going back to the Ghetto for dinner at a place specializing in artichokes (it is the season). They serve them whole, flattened and fried. They are pretty delicious, although mine could have had less choke...it was a little tough and spiny on the outside. We also start with fried cod (the best 'fish and chips' fish ever), fried zucchini flowers (terrific...light and sweet), and suppili (balls of rice, filled witih mozzarella, and fried). The appetizers are all outstanding and we probably could have just stopped there. but no. We havea full dinner after that. I had fava beans with a type of pancetta, sautteed. It's good, but very salty (exactly how Seth had had it in a previous visit) and then cicericchie with artichokes (the beans I had tried in Sansepolcro) which is good but not great. Luckily the plates are small, because I've ordered too much. We also have oxtail which is excellent , some pasta and lamb. All in all it's way too much food and we are stuffed. We sat outside at a sidewalk table; once the sun set, the weather was perfect. there was an excellent selection for people watching. I have even started to see some of the same people twice.
Rome is very crowded with tourists this weekend. There are some Americans, but mostly French and Brits, with a good amount of Australians and Germans thrown in. But, interestingly there are lots of Italian tourists. This is a long weekend, due to May Day and I think the Italians have taken advantage.

We walk back to Piazza Navona to go to Tre Scalini and have a tartuffo for dessert, but the bar portion is closed, and we aren't interested in sitting in the restaurant. Mom and I get gelato (chocolate and strawberry...the strawberry is weak, the chocolate is great) and we wonder the 3 blocks back to home.

Tomorrow: San Pietro....

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