Making New Friends

Today was a surprisingly late start. I managed to sleep through most of the night but finally woke up around 7:30 just to use the bathroom. I hoped I could go back to sleep for a few hours. I curled back up under the covers and the next thing I knew, Jason was waking me up, having already taken a shower. It was 11:30!

So with our late start and later checking out of our hotel to move to the next one for Jason's training, we grabbed a brunch down the street at a cafe where we paid way too much for things like water. But it was still way cheaper than our breakfast yesterday.

After filling our tummies, we walked through Ville Borghese Park, upon our new friend, Patrick's suggestion. Patrick is Jason's best friend, Brian's cousin. He and his wife Marta live in Rome and we decided to meet up with them for dinner this evening. In the meantime, we took the suggestion since neither of us had explored this enormous park. There are sections that remind me of Central Park and other parts are like Golden Gate Park. All beautiful, with trees lining wide cement roads, grand fountains in the middle of path intersections, and sprawling lawns. There are also a number of things to visit and see, like various museums, a lake you can rent boats to float around in, and even a zoo at the north end.

Unfortunately, the day we were there, Monday, all the museums were closed. It was actually a blessing for Jason since he's not big on museums. So we enjoyed the walk through the park, checking out some of the structures, fountains, and taking in the lake. The lake area was so pretty with the trees on the shore and ducks swimming around. It would have been even better if they hadn't gated off the little platform that jutted out into the water with statues and Roman columns on it.

We worked our way back out of the park eventually and actually came out right be the entrance of Piazza Del Popolo. It's at the opposite end of the street from the Spanish Steps and a great area to people watch as people soak up the sun in the square. We walked back up one of the main streets to get our bags and just before climbing the stairs a tea place caught my eye. Babington's Tea Room is at the base of the stairs. I glanced at the menu and Jason said, "I know you and Rickey are coming back here tomorrow". He read my mind. =)

So after a lengthy ride to the Crown Plaza St. Peter's, the place we were being housed while Jason had three days of work training, we settled into our digs for the next few days. This hotel is nice with amenities that make it a comfortable stay, including a sleep program specifically designed to help you adjust to the time zone and get the best sleep possible. Major bonus in my book. Plus, they designate areas as quiet zones so that even the maid service doesn't knock on your door before 10AM. I think they have to do things like this because the hotel is located so far out of the center of the city (southwest beyond Vatican City!) there's very little incentive to stay there. Which is probably why it's designed to be a good 'work stay' hotel.

There was a free shuttle that would take you just outside Vatican City in the morning or close to the Pantheon in the afternoon and evening. But neither location puts you near a Metro station and the shuttle stops running at 9PM. Terrible.

We laid low in the hotel for awhile because the wireless wasn't working in our room, which was an issue since Jason wanted to check in online for training the next day. Even an IT guy couldn't get it to work. He finally had to connect a long cable under our TV in order to get anywhere. The lousy thing was that we also got charged for the connection which was 10 Euro more than the wireless.

After that was taken care of, we headed into the city early before dinner. We were dropped off by these ruins in the middle of the city. It's amazing to me to see the clash in environment of these ancient sites with all the buildings and cars rushing around it. This particular site was the Area Sacra Argentina where 3 different places of worship once stood. They are now restoring it somehow.

We paused by the Pantheon and down a few streets where we eventually came across a great sweets shop called Della Palma. Located on Via della Maddalena, 20, it is a gelateria, cafe, and sweets shop. There are bins of gummi candies, Italian confetti almonds shaped into flowers, and a wide assortment of Lindt chocolates, which is a favorite of ours. We bought two different Lindt bars. After that, we looked at a few stores in hopes of finding a place with baby things. I am hoping to buy something for the baby from Rome, not just something we can buy at home. No luck with the stores but we arrived at the restaurant, Grano, a little early. Patrick and Marta were also early and had just gotten seated. This is one of their favorite restaurants and they know the owner well.

Patrick and Marta are warm, generous people good for lively conversation. They love to travel and when Patrick is engaged in conversation his eyes light up like a child. You can tell he's just a happy and gentle soul with a zest for life. Marta keeps him grounded so their dynamic is funny and they are a great match. She also happens to be pregnant with their first baby and due two weeks after me!

They already had glasses of prosecco ready. We toasted and enjoyed a slow, mellow dinner in this bright, clean restaurant. Grano makes homemade little rolls served in a basket, a variety of olive bread, plain, and a few others. Perfect little bite sized rolls.

For dinner, I started with their eggplant parmesan which was perfection and Jason had some really good fried meatballs. That started a whole line of jokes. Then for the main course, I got a white fish (forget what kind, sort of like branzini) with a thick eggplant sauce next to it. I should have eaten the skin with the fish as it was nicely salted but it wasn't all crispy so I had to add salt to the fish in order to bring out the flavor. Jason loved his tuna steak.

For dessert, I got a millefeuille (layers and layers of flaky pastry) with berries and cream stacked in between and dusted with powdered sugar on top. SO good. Overall, the place was a cozy restaurant with good food and reasonable prices. The owner was a very nice man who even brushed off the fact that Patrick, in his gusto of a story at one point, knocked over Marta's glass of wine and sent some flying onto their white wall. We had such a great time, we didn't realize it was 11PM!

Patrick and Marta escorted us to a cab, making sure we didn't get ripped off, and we said good night with the hopes of being able to do dinner again before we ended our trip. So, thank you Brian, for introducing us to your cousins. They are wonderful!