Return to Rome

07/02/2012

I think it was nice to be back in Rome. We checked into our beautiful hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps (with a rooftop bar that has an incredible view of the city... the perks of being a travel agent's daughter) and then proceeded to explore the city. We ate lunch at Il Brillo Parlante which is the restaurant where mom and I had our first dinner in Rome last year. We ordered salad, pizza and pasta and shared it three ways. A delicious meal in my opinion, although dad was unimpressed (and I thought I was hard to please).

Our major visit of the day was to the Galleria Doria Pamphilj which was absolutely incredible. I'm not quite sure what to make of it at this point... still... one month later as I'm writing this. The gallery is inside a beautiful 16th Century palazzo which is just smack dab in the center of Rome. It is extremely easy to miss, in fact we did miss the entrance at least once. The walls in each room are filled from floor to ceiling with works of art. Everything from Titian to Memling to Vasari! The collection is stunning and so difficult to take in, especially because there are probably only ten wall labels in the entire collection, and there are well over 100 works on view (maybe closer to 200?). We were mostly excited to learn about some new (old) artists that we had never heard of before. I'll have to go through my list and organize it, but if this blog becomes what it used to be (posting artworks) I will definitely post some works by these artists.

Before dinner we went to the rooftop bar of our hotel to have drinks. I wasn't too pleased with the drink selection (they don't really like gin in Rome, and I cannot have a Spritz (aperol, prosecco, soda water) like every other person in Rome) so I ordered a White Russian because I know what it tastes like and I saw no problem with it. Apparently it's an after dinner drink, and while the waiter and bartender did not seem to care or to judge me for ordering this, my brother gave me loads of shit for ordering it. Although it's nice to try new things, I know that some types of alcohol get me seriously drunk, and that's never what I'm looking for. I'm not a lightweight, but I'm not going to order cocktails with champagne or tequila because they don't do me right, and most of the cocktails had champagne or tequila.

For dinner we went to an Osteria where everyone else ordered things they were unhappy with, and I ordered Tortellini in Brodo which was fucking divine. I'm really sad that my family was unhappy with some of the food choices they made on this trip, especially in Rome, but I saw the kind of place we were eating and I knew that even though it was 1,000,000º outside Tortellini in Brodo would be prepared just right, and it was.

Buongiorno Roma!

6/20/2012

The most satisfying thing after taking two flights with extremely long layovers is arriving to your final destination and finding that all of your suitcases have made it there with you. Remember I told you (briefly) about the flight where I threw up on myself? Yeah, my bag didn't make it with me that time. But again, we're not talking about that trip. 


Rome was hot and sunny and so hot. We arrived in the afternoon. Too late for lunch, too early for dinner. So instead we all took naps and showers and eventually it was time to go to dinner. Because my mother and I were just in Rome last year it was our job to select all of the restaurants for dinners in Rome. Our first choice was L'Archetto. I believe I wrote about it last year. They have over 100 types of spaghetti sauces, and it's really quite delicious. I'm sure it's not the most authentic thing you can eat in Rome, but the food is great and who doesn't want a plate of spaghetti with any imaginable sauce ever. Last year I had basic bolognese, but this year I had cacio e pepe (a new favorite in my pasta spectrum).

Everyone seemed to like it there, but of course we were all exhausted and sweaty so it was hard to be completely pleased. L'Archetto is extremely close to the Trevi Fountain where I was so happy to meet my roommate Dana, who had already been traveling through Europe with some of her friends and happened to be in Rome at the same time as I was. We were very excited to see one another as it had been well over a month (she left graduation day, 5/12). We threw in our coins with the hopes of returning back to Rome (and I wished for something else, but you know, I'll never tell).

We had gelato all together at San Crispino which is by far the most interesting and delicious gelato I've had in Rome so I recommend it (it's even marked on my map, officially).

It's always nice to walk around a strange city at night, but surprisingly even after a whole year, Rome didn't seem that strange to me. Not that I've explored much beyond Via del Corso and the Spanish Steps after dark, but it was nice to not feel completely lost (well, most of the time).