D136 -- Roman Holiday

We packed up, grabbed some chocolate macaroons for the road, and headed to Rome. Thomas and I were traveling together, but Sarah was on a different flight that originated and terminated at different airports than ours. I was a little worried about this, as she doesn't speak French or Italian and the only time she'd been alone in a foreign airport was for about 10 minutes in Paris before I met her there. We arranged a shuttle to pick her up at the apartment so she wouldn't have to navigate the subway alone, and had plans to meet her at (supposedly) the only McDonald's at Termini Train Station in Rome. Our flight was fine, but when we got to Termini we couldn't find her. Agghhh! I was worried about Sarah, but more worried about the wrath of my sister Patty if something happened to her “little girl.” You don't want to see her when she's angry. You wouldn't like her when she's angry!

It turned out that there were three McDonald's at the train station (!) and we finally found Sarah at one of them. We jumped into a cab with the most agitated cabbie I've ever met. He was yelling constantly AT other drivers, TO US about other drivers and the traffic... I thought for sure he was going to stroke out right there in the driver's seat. Our first few minutes in Rome and we met a total Italian stereotype. Awesome!

We got checked into our spacious two-bedroom apartment at piazza Campo dei Fiori – a great location! The area was so vibrant and full of people and in the next piazza over there was an outdoor concert going on. Thomas and I were so excited to be in Rome, and Sarah's reaction was “I gotta come back here with my friends!”

Prudence, the apartment rep, recommended a place down the street for dinner. We've been looking forward to Italian food for months and it was fantastic. Every dish we had, save the Caprese salad, was something new for us. We had three “firsts”: pasta shells stuffed with ricotta di bufala and covered in a walnut sauce called Tripani; handmade ravioli with a lemony parmesan cheese and basil sauce; and linguine with pepper and goat's cheese. We split one “second,” a sliced steak with balsamic vinegar sauce. It was all great, but way too much food, although that didn't stop us from cleaning our plates and washing it all down with a bottle of wine. We're off to a great start in Rome!

-Elva