Roman Holiday

I went to Rome in high school for a few days on the way to Israel, and Jenn visited when she was studying abroad in London and backpacked for a few weeks with her friend, Katy. I only slightly remember my time there. I remember liking the city a lot and thinking Pompeii was one of the most boring things I had ever seen. It was also the first time I had ever seen a bidet. It's weird the things that one remembers.

Because it is unbearably cold in Bratislava, we were looking for somewhere to get away to for the weekend that was warm, or at least warmer. There were few options, but we'd been wanting to go to Rome and since we don't know how much time we have left in Europe, we figured we might as well go while we had the chance.

WIA: After dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we took a taxi to Felice a Testaccio, a small, traditional restaurant, for lunch. We each had a bowl of delicious house specialty, Tonnarelli Cacio e Pepe. Jenn had hers with tomato sauce. We thought we were being smart by only ordering on main dish to share, but by the time we finished the pastas, we regretted ordering the beef roll. We still ate a little of it when the waitress brought it to the table, but the pasta was really enough. Everything was very good though and it was an excellent first meal.

We had our first taste of gelato at San Crispino, which was a stone's throw from Trevi Fountain. I had the stracciatella, which I usually really like, but thought this was one was okay. Jenn liked it. As we walked, we stopped for a small bite of pizza at Roscioli near Campo de Fiori. We liked that in the takeaway pizza places, you could tell them how much you wanted and they would cut (with scissors) a piece, weigh it, and you paid by weight. This allowed us to only eat a little to leave room for other things we'd want to taste as we walked the city at night. Later in the night, after walking through the gritty Trastavere neighborhood, we finally found 00100 (named for the type of dough they use) and shared pizza and a Trapizzini with meatballs. A Trapizzini is kind of like a small triangle shaped pita pocket, but made of pizza dough and then filled with deliciousness. This was a tiny place, a long hike from the city center, with only enough room for the counter to sell the food from and a few bar stools, but it's been written up on multiple websites and in magazines. It is very good and was worth the journey to get there.

On the way back to the hotel, we had our second gelato stop of the day at a more traditional place called Giolitti. I had chocolate (because I think you can really judge whether ice cream is good or not by the chocolate) and caramel. It was smooth and really tasty.

I'll file lunch on Saturday under WID, but for dinner we searched the city for a while to finally find Pizzarium, another Pizza a Taglio (pizza to go) place that has a fantastic reputation. It deserves every good word that is written about it and I don't care how expensive people say it is. If you only get a small piece, it's not a big deal, and it is terrific. The crust was the perfect balance between soft and crispy and the cheese and sauce tasted so fresh.On the walk home, we stopped in at Gelateria dei Gracchi, my favorite gelato on the trip. I still find myself salivating as I think about the apple cinnamon with raisins. It tasted like the inside of strudel (if it were ice cream).

Our last meal of the trip was an early lunch on Sunday right next to the Spanish Steps at the shabby chic Gina. Jenn had the caprese salad and I ate a club sandwich, because it is their signature dish, and I wanted a sandwich. We also shared warm goat cheese and honey that was so rich and so awesome. I had my last taste of gelato with a scoop of their chocolate. I don't know if they make their own or not, but it was good.

WID: We didn't go into any museums or sights, but we walked past and through all the big ones several times.

We briefly walked inside the Pantheon and Jenn gave a walking tour of the Jewish ghetto reading from the Rick Steves guide on the Kindle. Maybe I should have put this under What I Ate, but we spent most of the day Saturday in a private cooking class through Italy Hotline Tours. We met Francesca early in the morning and she walked us through a market near her home. She had already shopped for a lot of the food the day before, but we bought a few things that we would incorporate in the meal. For the next few hours, we prepared a lunch of way too much food for three people, but it gave us the chance to try lots of different things. We didn't cook everything. Francesca did a lot of it, but we helped where we could. The meal consisted of marinated anchovies, artichokes, spinach and cheese ravioli (because we had requested to make pasta), also this spinach and cheese roll-up that probably has an Italian name, sauteed kale, bruschetta, chicken cacciatore, risotto, and cannoli for dessert.

As I said, it was a ton of food, but it was all really good. We both felt uncomfortably full when it was all over and then spent the rest of the day walking to try and feel better. We walked to Vatican City in the evening. It was dark and quiet because there were hardly any people around, and even though we couldn't go inside St. Peter's or anything, it was kind of nice seeing it at night.

WIS: We stayed at the highly (and frequently) recommended Casa Howard, conveniently located between Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. It is not a hotel, but also not necessarily an apartment. It occupies one floor in an unassuming building and there are five rooms. Our room was small and simple, but also nice and clean. It was kind of like a B and B, only breakfast wasn't included. It was overpriced, but something must have been going on that weekend because all the hotels were really expensive, and not just normal Rome expensive.

WAM: I remember from my first trip to Rome that the drivers were crazy and they are still insane.There appear to be traffic laws and I saw plenty of traffic lights and signs, but they are consistently ignored. It's a free for all. We walked everywhere and it is really scary crossing streets there. 

WTF: Walking around Rome brought back so many memories for me from my first visit. Granted, I was 16, but when I think back to that time, and remember all the things that I did that I'm sure I thought were so hilarious, I realize I was kind of a jackass. I don't think I am alone though in looking back and thinking I was a jackass as a 16 year old (I of course mean people looking back at themselves, not being alone in people thinking I was a jackass at 16, though that could be true too). There was me falling asleep during the service at the old synagogue, taking stupid pictures at historic sites, spitting out water all over Tivoli Gardens, and I'm sure there is much more jackass-ery that I can't recall.

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