Sunday morning I woke up to a rainy day, and voted to spend another hour in bed instead of partaking of the group tour. After that extra bit of blissful rest, I bundled up and headed out to the now-merely-drizzly weather. I had forgotten that the Rome Marathon was that day! The Italians were so cute, standing along all the sidelines and cheering for strangers as they ran past.
I went back to the amazing Caffe Eustachio, where we'd stopped at on our tour the first day- in Piazza St. Eustachio. They make an amazingly creamy "Gran Caffe" that, when I asked how they made it, they told me was a secret and I'd have to take a barista home with me. No protests here. Sadly, they were joking.
I then began my walking tour of Rome:
St. Eustachio
Fontana Trevi
A Palazzo guard
A park
A beautiful baroque mini-church. Didn't get the name.
Fontana dell'Acqua Felice (Fontana di Mose)
Fun fact: when they were translating the bible, the word for "ray" of light is very similar to "horn." So for quite some time poor ol' Moses was depicted with horns.
I walked into Santa Maria della Vittoria right as they were starting Sunday mass. I stayed, and it was absolutely beautiful. The rain was pouring outside and the priest sang in Italian.
Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa
Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. Built into some of the baths of Caracalla, designed by Michelangelo. It's not much from the outside, but the inside is breathtakingly monumental.
Piazza della Repubblica
Orange trees lining the streets
The piazza above the Spanish Steps.
A gorgeous sculpture of the deposition by Achtermann, inside Trinità dei Monti (the church above the Spanish Steps).
Piazza del Popolo
Lovely umbrella-ed ladies I met up with for lunch.
Santa Maria del Popolo
Dinner was fantastic. We went to a little trattoria near Piazza Navona called Trattoria Gino e Pietro. They treated us like princesses. We love them. I had Carciofo alla Roma (artichoke) to start, and then the best Spaghetti alla Carbonara I've ever had.
Look at that crispy pancetta floating blissfully in a bed of cheesy, eggy noodles...
When we were finished they brought us free shots of limoncello. Then free shots of amaro. Then free shots of grappa. WOOHOO! The people at the next table gave us some dirty looks, but after the amaro we stopped caring.
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