italy - day 3 - roma

don't forget to start with day 1 !!

ok...so, i didn't sleep well. it always happens to me on after these red eye flights to europe. i catch some kind of cold. been there, done that, doing it again. thankfully massimo woke me at 11:30am...it wasn't really waking me, i just couldn't get out of bed. Marina made us Rigatoni alla Carbonara. the classic romano dish. mmmmmmmm. you need a special type of bacon for this called guanciale (pork jowls), and eggs & pecorino cheese, and some black pepper. very simple but also very easy to not make it well. and marina made a beautiful version! after this we went for a walk on the antica appia (the appian way...the first great road of ancient Rome)...incredible park along the road with ruins and monuments. just lovely.

after this we headed for another part of Roma unfamiliar to me... Villa Torlonia & the beautiful surrounding parks...in Nomentana district. 3 different museums ...we went to the Casina Delle Civette (hut of the small owl). built in the 1840's it had a great display of art nouveau stained glass and mechanical drawings of the artists work.

we were dropped off at the piazza del popolo...where i made a pit stop to see a couple of caravaggio's...but it was too dark and there was a mass going on so i didn't want to disturb with the bright lights. then we walked down the via margutta...a great quiet street lined with art gallery's. after this every restaurant we wanted to go to was closed! we were dead tired and near the jewish quarter so we went to the classic roman jewish place Giggetto...where we had the Carciofi alla Giudia (artichokes jewish style)...i had bacacala, and then we had spaghetti con pepe Y cacio. (black pepper and creme sauce) and lastly the Ossobuco! it was all good...and it hit the spot. on the drive home we stopped in the outskirts of town for gelatto.

time to crash!
ciao