Tea Time with a Best Friend

Sleep last night was awful. Jason and I both woke up around 4 AM stunned that the room had gotten so hot. The heater wasn't on and the A/C was broken so we couldn't cool it down unless we opened our balcony door. Jason was actually sweating. It's around 40 degrees at night so there's no reason it should be that hot but it was miserable. We actually left the door open all night and tried to go back to sleep.

We had to wake up again at 7AM in order to make it down for breakfast before Jason hopped on the bus that would take him and his colleagues to the training site. My original plan was to call down to the spa and make an appointment for a facial or massage (work research, of course) before heading into town but I was so tired I decided to lay back down since I knew I'd be out for most of the day with Rickey once he arrived in town. I was surprised at how hard it was to fall back asleep. I did manage to get a few hours in.

Once I was awake and got myself together, I decided to head to the city early, hop on the Metro, and wander on my own before Rickey came in around 2PM. I caught the shuttle with other tourists and looking at my map, decided to take what looked like the shorter route to the left of Vatican City to get to the Metro. What a terrible idea.

I should have walked to the right since eventually that's the direction I was going myself. But no, I walked to the left and landed in the middle of residential areas that I clearly was not supposed to be in. I kept going, stubbornly believing that I could get there rather than just turning around to go back the other way. You'd think being a city girl for part of my life I would know better.

But I followed my GPS and it led me up and down through neighborhoods until I was walking past more rundown buildings. Not the tenderloin necessarily but a far cry from the Spanish Steps. And the Metro station had all kinds of graffiti on it. I felt like an incredible idiot but had my city girl posture, walking like I knew exactly where I was going.

I managed to get onto the Metro with no problem, making a mental note to take the route to the right tomorrow. After a nice, quick ride in the tunnel, I came out in familiar territory, outside the Spanish Steps. I stopped into Babington's to see if I would need a reservation for tea later. The girl at the front wrote my name down on a card but it didn't look like a major issue to make a reservation.

I went back out, found a place to grab a slice and went back to the Steps to enjoy my lunch. It's the one and only time, after having climbed the steps so many times in the two trips, I actually sat down there to enjoy the sun and the view. Just a peaceful way to pass some time on my own. Shortly after that, I received a text that Rickey had arrived at the train station. I figured he would take the Metro in and it would take him some time to get to the hotel but he took a cab instead.

With uncanny perfect timing, I'd sat down in the hotel lobby for a brief moment when he walked by with the bellhop. I flagged him down at the elevator and it was such an ecstatic moment to see each other here in Rome! I chatted with him as he got settled in his room, surprisng him with the pregnancy news. This was one moment that I was so happy to be able to share with him in person, rather than over the phone, since he lives in San Diego. He cried which of course, made me cry. But I believe this sort of thing to be in the grand scheme of some higher power where we were able to take this "once in a lifetime" trip together.

Once he was settled, we headed down to Babington's. It's a pretty large tea room with cozy chairs and tables lining the rooms, a pastry display and store at the front of the establishment, and the ladies serving are dressed in cute knee length frocks. On certain days they offer classes like cake decorating. People were there to enjoy various things like a nice brandy and a treat, or some snacks, or even generous desserts. Rickey and I, having a lot of catching up to do, decided on high tea.

High tea comes with a LOT of food. There are a variety of tea sandwiches (cucumber, salmon, watercress, etc) served with a delicious, dark tea, as well as your choice of a slice of specialty cake or bowl of fruit, and finally a plate of their little desserts like brownies, cookies, pastries, and cakes. This was definitely a splurge kind of occasion but totally worth it. We sat there for an incredibly long time, something like 2.5 hours. At some point soon, we would be meeting Jason for dinner!

So we walked out and I took Rickey along the simplest route that would get him back to the hotel if he walked back on his own. He was smart and took pictures at major crossroads and landmarks like digital breadcrumbs. Since Jason's bus was taking awhile to leave the hotel, we took our time down Via del Corso and without telling him, walked Rickey right to the Trevi Fountain. It was lit up in all its glory and it caught him off guard. Immediately, his eyes filled with tears.

I was thrilled that he was so moved but a little surprised too. He took it in for a minute and then explained that a friend of his took a picture in front of the Trevi Fountain shortly before he passed away. We slowly then made our way across the street to the Pantheon and while Rickey was taking a few pictures I checked my phone, having lost track of time. Jason had been standing in our meeting place worrying about where I was since I hadn't answered the last three texts. Oops. :-/

Fortunately, he was just down the street at Piazza Navona. The Piazza was filled with artists and others selling their wares and there was even a woman starting a tap number in front of one of the restaurants. I couldn't believe she was going to tap on the stones!

We walked out of the Piazza since everything there is ridiculously expensive and wandered down a few side streets. You can get lost in a nice way down these curving little streets that have restaurants and cafes dotting them with the occasional guy outside trying to coax you in. Those are usually the places you want to avoid because they're not as good.

Jason thought there was a restaurant he wanted to try nearby so he pulled up the Yelp app (thank you Yelp!) and we found one right in front of us. Da Francesco (Piazza del Fico, 29, Rome, Italy). What an absolute treasure to stumble upon. You know it's a good sign when it's crammed with Italians inside. They squeezed us in at the end of a table where 2 guys were already seated. Very Italian that way, and Chinese for that matter. If there's a space in there, they'll put you there and you're now dining with another guest. This guy was very sweet and offered us, a number of times, a piece of flatbread he'd ordered. We politely declined and he shrugged his shoulders.

Our waiter, possibly the owner, was a handsome middle aged guy with a huge, warm smile and gray hair. He provided wonderful service and the food was top notch. I had a mouthwatering black tartufo bruschetta followed by a caprese salad. Tomatoes were fresh, basil was flavorful, and the cheese was delicious. The boys had bruschetta and salad, then Rickey had a truffle and mushroom pasta while Jason enjoyed a pizza.

After that, we decided to share a chocolate mousse. Really, Rickey and I had it since Jason's not big on mousse. It was rich and thick, nothing like pudding. So, so delicious and the perfect ending to our meal. We found out during our next dinner with Patrick that this is one of the top restaurants in Rome! We definitely will come back here next time since the food and service are outstanding and prices are really reasonable.



Rickey and I at the Four Rivers Fountain

Since our bus back to the hotel was near the Spanish Steps, we walked Rickey back, stopping into Piazza Navona again in order to take some pictures by the beautiful fountains and doing the same at the Trevi Fountain since there was hardly anyone there at this hour. We also came upon a huge structure with old columns in the front. Earlier it looked like they were repairing or preparing for something inside. There had even been security standing around outside. Now, the place was lit on the outside, with the colors of the Italian flag on three of the columns. The building used to house the Italian stock market apparently. And now it seemed they were renovating it. There would be a big speech the next day so I guess they were setting up for the press to come in.

After dropping him off at the De La Ville, we found our bus and after in unbelievably long wait (some of us had fallen asleep), at around midnight, we finally took off. It took almost 45 minutes just to get back to the hotel since they dropped off one group at their hotel first. The bus couldn't even drop us off at the front door since the front gate was closed. Being lazy rather than pulling up and buzzing in, the driver just let us out across the street, leaving us to figure out how to get back in. We were so happy to be back in our room, even if it was 80 degrees in there. We slept again, with the balcony door wide open.