After landing from our 8 hour flight filled with crying babies, we had to search for our driver at the crowded pickup area. After waiting about 20 minutes, he showed up, a short Italian man that spoke decent English. He would be our driver for a few other days as well. He felt like a tour guide himself with all the information he was giving on our descent to Rome. History was flowing through the area way before we even got to the city borders with aqueducts and other strucutres.
At La Capricciosa I had my first legal drink! My mom, sister, and I all got the house white wine, while my dad got a glass of house red. While debating whether to stay there for food, my sister was approached by a man with a rose that spoke no English. He gave her the rose, she said thank you and wouldn't turn away, expecting money in return. Now learning that that is a normal thing to happen in Italy.
After lounging about and looking up a ton of reviews, we decided to find a new restaurant to dine at. Antica Osteria Croce was one that we stumbled upon on our way back, and it sounded great! I started off with a Piña Colada, practicing the little bit of Italian I knew along the way. We all shared Pizza Formaggio and Pizza Carbonara. The pizza was phenomenal, and was a great way to introduce our tastebuds to Italy.
We started our day off early with a walking tour. Our guide came to the entrance to our apartment and that is when the tour began. Our apartment was walking distance to the Spanish Steps, on a street called Via de Grecci, so it only made sense to start here. The area around the Spanish Steps were astounding, there were hundreds of tourist flooding in on the foot traffic only area. As our guide gave a history lesson through the chatter of surrounding people, I captured some pictures of people getting water from the fountains.
Every single building and structure found in Rome has some sort of tale behind it. The column for Blessed Virgin Mary gets draped in flowers certain times in the year, while the only Spanish Embassy in Italy stands across from it. A lot of things seen had been touched or crafted by Bernini which I had been learning all about in my online Art History course. There is a church/ basilica on every corner and our guide took us into a beautiful one called Basilica Di Sant'Andrea Delle Fratte that he knew looked like many others. So he suggested not stopping at every single one you see!
We ended our tour at Piazza Navona, where our guide told us about the Stadium of Domitian that this was built upon. In the center of the plazza was the Fountain of the Four Rivers representing the Nile in Africa, Danube in Europe, Ganges in Asia, and the Rio de la Plata for the Americas. They are represented by showing characteristics such as animals and plants that are native to the area. We were pointed in the direction of the Market at Campo Dei Fiori and found a restaurant next door called La Carbonara.
This place looked very fancy and elegant but finding the entrance was confusing. We entered through what seemed to be the dining area and were seated there as the man also did not speak great English. We were served little tomato filled pastries as a starter along with little breadsticks. I decided since it was only around 1pm I would stick to water, none of my family followed suit. I ordered the Bucatini all' Amatriciana which was the sister dish to the Carbonara. My dad ordered the Carbonara, one of many times, and I compared them and it seemed as if I made the right choice. Mine was a tomato sauce based dish with onions, bacon bits, and pecorino cheese.
The guide suggested we made a stop for Venchi on our way back, which is an amazing gelato shop. We did pass quite a few on our strolls, so it seems to be a chain, but it was delicious nonetheless. I ordered the Gelato Tiramisu y Cremino which ended up being a great combination of coffee and creamy flavors. We also made a stop at the Basilica Dei SSambrogio E Carlo.
After a long day of walking, finished up with relaxing and discussing where to get dinner, we ended up at La Buvette. My drink was La Vie en Rose, which was a lot more dry than I had wished for it to be. A Paris sparkling wine with rose and gin sounded pretty sweet, but it sadly was not. My meal was the Fettuccelle with Black Truffle Cream, which for some reason I was also kind of dissapointed with. It was good the sauce just didn't scream truffle, and it was dulled down by the black pepper. I did try my moms Eggplant Lasagna and that was actually fantastic.
Today was more of a relaxed adventure. We wanted to explore Florence at a leisurely pace, so we started off a little later than normal. The trian ride had some great views of the countryside too. When we got there at around noon, we wondered around a bit until our scheduled tour at the Galleria Dell Accademia.
We picked the Galleria Dell Accademia because it seemed to have a lot of different unique pieces of art such as David. We were guided by an audio tour that was hard to follow, but we got to see a lot of different things! Like the Rape of the Sabine, David, and Gipsoteca Bartolini.
We arrived at the Duomo and walked the perimeter of it. It was massive in size, and there were some amazing artist around it. There was one in particular that I really liked but their piece was $70 and I could not get my self to buy it. At a cafe called Vino Duomo nearby, I ordered a Cafe Carreta, a coffee with Baileys, and the waitress said my Italian was perfect! It made my day!
This was interesting, it was a complete tourist attraction, inviting anyone from any language. I started with a frozen coffee called Crema al Caffe. It was about 2 sips and $10, the food was also overpriced and not exactly worth it. I got the margherita pizza e capriciosa pizza. If you are ever in the area, I would recommend finding a more genuine place for Italian cuisine.
Walking around Piazza San Pietro was quite astounding. The views were incredible and the size of it was out of this world. On our walk back we stumbled upon Castel Sant' Angelo which we did not even realize was there. It was quite a site to see, and I found a very friendly bird friend nearby.
This was the most American meal I could find. We started with a cheese board which was one of the best we had had up until that point. Then my meal was the Gusto Burger, I don't know exactly what the sauce was on it but the meat itself was amazing. Especially paired with my Bacardi and Coke, everything here was great.
This restaurant was astounding. I had found it online and it had decent food, but our waiter was funny and interactive as well as serving amazing food. We all shared food, ordering the Fritte Cicoli, which was a fried inside out pizza, and the Antonio & Antonio, their signature pizza. Paired with a Pridie Falanghina Bianca IGP with Sprite, it was an amazing dinner with ocean side views. On our way back to the train station we stopped and I got a Sfogliatelle, which I heard was a staple to Naples, and it was well worth it.
Today consisted of clothes shopping as well as some art shopping. I bought a new shirt made in Milan from a fancy pants Italian store. Then I went on to buy two paintings from street painters, one was spray paint of a nature scene and the other of the Spanish Steps, an original at that. It costs a pretty penny but it was worth it.
We started our last dinner of the trip with Pizza Bread & Rosemary. It was surprisingly really good too. Then I ordered my first Carbonara, and it was nothing to go crazy about. A previous meals where I tried my dad's ended up better.
Sadly, the trip was coming to a close. I experienced so many different things in a 10 day span and it was amazing. Although balancing 2 classes and all Italy had to offer, it was spectacular. My last meal in Italy ended up being Japanese, where I found a Ramen place at the airport. After a long 9 hour flight filled with crying babies, we touched ground in Boston, where my vacation officially ended... And I was headed to Chicago in a week!
