italian trip...the final days

before it all fades away...one last attempt to remember the last days of a short but epic trip. on the last free day...i spent the morning with my host Marina, chatting about life...as it got later, i realized i had to get out of there. so we dashed off by car to drop me off at the metro station. i jumped out of the car, dashed off waving to marina. and, yes, the train station was closed! STRIKE UNTIL 3pm!! i frantically grabbed my cel phone called her and she was still nearby :-). so she drove me off towards a bus stop closer to town. and being the native of rome that she is, she thought of a special forno (bakery) near the bus stop which would have my beloved pizza bianca! u know they had way more than that of course...i couldn't resist and had a piece of pizza with fresh funghi porcini! mmmmm, it was great.

it was raining or drizzling all morning. i waited for the bus, which was sooo crowded i could barely get on and stood at the top of the well. the bus was so packed i couldn't even stamp my ticket. thanks to the strike!! and when i got to the piazza where the church of san Giovanni was, i jumped off...i had enuf of the bus. fine with me, another visit to the church was well worth it. afterwards i headed in the direction of the colosseum knowing full well that i would stop in the church of San Clemente and see the excavations below the church (which i hadn't had time for previously in this trip). WOW...this is a really cool thing to do. there's a complete complex of the ancient church below it. it was really special.

near the church is a gorgeous park over looking the colosseum. chilled there for a while and tried to find a church i had stumbled across the last time in roma. i found it and the crazy cool Michelangelo sculpture within. there was a cool sign forbidding tour leaders from stopping in front of the statue and giving lectures about it. nice.

and that was the end to a perfect day in Roma. we were supposed to meet our friend Giovanni for dinner but the baby was sick and we ended up relieved a little bit ourselves because we could now chill at home...Marina cooked us a lovely alla matraciana, with frittata. we had antipasti of home made cured artichoke hearts, some pecorrino romano and some nice hams. and yes...the vino from their food collective they belong to. it was lovely.

and if that wasn't enuf...massimo and i stayed up late into the nite trading art, and his other friend massimo came over and when it was all said and done, i did some great biz with both guys and ended up with Magnus, Manara art! i was very happy...so were they. treasures were swapped and all were happy.

but i must go in reverse for one last blur of a crazy meal we had the nite before. no need to go on about the churches and sites of Roma...oh yeah there was a Leonardo show about his drawings of mechanical contraptions from the various codex' . accompanying the drawings were full size constructions based on the drawings!!!! it was incredible. genius is an understatement for this man.

so...this meal. right now i can't remember the restaurant name! uggggg. but it was a place in the middle of nowhere (more or less a suburb of Rome)...u'd never find it in a million years and you'd have to drive there.
check out what we had:

entrees: stuffed peppers with baccala with pesto of pistachio and rucola
scallops with salad of artichoke and radicchio
ravioli of lardo (speical pork fat) di " cinto senese"stuffed w potatos, porcinis & curry
nuts i know!!!! totally nutz!!!

primi: ravioli filled with mussles with ratatouille sause
risotto w julienned peppers, sweet tomatos, and sausage
spaghetti with sardines, mezzancolle and pecorino

secondi: sandwich of sword fish filled with tomatos & bananas with lemon couscous
chicken with truffles, asparagus and avocado cream

on that note....
buono note!!!

s

primi