I returned from my trip almost two months ago but work has been a nonstop joyride since then, so I've been ignoring this little blog.
I fell a little out of love with Rome on this trip--not entirely, but if we are having a love affair, we are at the point where I start to see flaws and am getting a little bit annoyed on a daily basis. I might say, "Let's spend a little more time apart, shall we?" in the hopes that absence will bring the magic back a little bit.
I'm not sure why this was so--possibly it had something to do with some major work issues just before I left, which caused not a little emotional drama for me, not to mention a broken shoulder blade that was still causing me some pain (although I was given the OK by the doctor to go on the trip). Ironically it was probably the most fun and busiest vacation I've ever had there. I met up with
NYC Caribbean Ragazza, aka Arlene, at the Caffe Farnese, went to a wine tasting at Vinoroma, met up with friends at their home outside the city, and hung out with a friend who was in town with Pavement.
This was very much an "outside" trip. I didn't feel like going inside museums or churches, for the most part. I had a few things I wanted to see again (some of them for research on a possible book), but mostly I just wandered. And ate.
This was an entryway on the street where I stayed in Trastevere in an apartment. (My front door was covered in graffiti, which is charming in a different way.) I got to look at it for a while as I waited about an hour and a half for the guy from the rental agency to show up. The jasmine was in bloom all over Rome and it perfumed my visit.
Rigatoni all'amatriciana at the no-frills trattoria in the piazza down the street from my place, served by a slim, supremely diffident twentysomething guy whose family owns the place.
I love taking pictures of peeling posters and patchy walls. I have a Polaroid of some peeling wood in Venice that is one of my favorite photos ever.
In general the window displays in Rome pale to those in Paris, but I liked this one, which references the dominant tones of Rome--ocher and mustard. In fact I saw a man holding up paint chips to the yellow wall in a courtyard of a church.
Peeling street art.
I went to an extremely enjoyable wine tasting at
Vinoroma, which you can read more about
here. Unfortunately my scent-identifying abilities have degraded once again--wine just smells like wine once again. I really have to concentrate and think about it to say what the wine smells and tastes like, when I just want to get to the drinking.
More to come!
