By stlake
Bad News: My trip to Rome was nothing like the Lizzie McGuire Movie. I did not impersonate an Italian superstar, ride a Vespa nor did my best guy friend FINALLY confess his love to me. And at 5, I was not served the cookies (If you don’t know that reference, you need to watch the movie again ASAP).
Good News: My trip to Rome was just like Eat, Pray, Love…minus the praying, loving and Julia Roberts whining that her privileged white-American life is just so awful (don’t get me started with that book/movie). So right now, I’m gonna take the time to brag about everything I ate and you all are going to hate me for it, but I don’t care #sorrynotsorry
Day 1:
Well technically I was only there Monday night thanks to a delayed flight, lost and found luggage and getting lost walking from the Trastevere train station to my wonderful friend Carolyn’s apartment. But let’s get back to the meal. We went to Il Spaghetti, and I had pasta Carbonara, which is a tomato-based cream sauce with bacon. I also tried these fried balls of risotto with cheese and tomato sauce, which were so good. Then we went to a local homemade gelato place where I had the Madagascar chocolate and blackberry flavors. By far the best gelato I’ve had in my life.
Day 2:
-A salad at Nero Café, which is right by Carolyn’s school. Not that exciting, but they have balsamic vinegar in Rome, which they don’t have in Spain, and I definitely was missing that.
-Frigidarium gelato where I had the house flavor, which was a combination of cookie, chocolate and caramel. Divine recommendation by other Greenwich Academy friend, Christine.
-Went to Tony’s, Carolyn’s favorite restaurant. Just a fun, classic Italian restaurant, where the owner Tony kisses every girl on the cheek as they walk in the door. I had penne a la vodka-the sauce was perfect and I soaked up every last drop of it up with their bomb.com bread.
Day 3:
-Another salad at Nero Café.
-Gelato #3-by the pantheon, not really note-worthy
-My second romantic dinner date with Carolyn. Took a break from pasta and had a veal burger with eggplant, tomato and cheese. As far as burgers go, nothing beats my burger in Barcelona (reference post #3) but it was really good. And of course, had to have hot flatbread covered in oil, vinegar, rosemary and thyme. And for dessert, this homemade Nutella flavored mousse/ice cream. What this desert actually was is kind of unclear, but my obsession with it definitely is not.
Day 4:
-Grilled Turkey Salad and pizza bread. Definitely the best salad of my trip
-Gelato #4-chocolate and pomegranate flavor. The chocolate was alright but the pomegranate was absolutely delicious. And yes, you read right-I had gelato everyday of my trip. Zero regrets.
- DAR POETA. This was the second recommendation from Christine. Carolyn, her friend Eliza and I were definitely are the verge of starvation and our waitresses definitely hated us and, I’m just gonna be blunt-she sucked (sorry Mom, I know you hate that word but it’s the god’s honest truth.). But this meal did not. We started out with tomato bruschetta and then I got the best pizza of my life. It was pesto, mozzarella, tomatoes and wait for it…potatoes. Sounds kind of strange, but I definitely was having a relationship with this pizza (The only line from Eat, Pray, Love I like. God Julia really let me down with that one, but I digress.) And then for the grand finale, we shared a Nutella calzone. No words can describe it.
So when I wasn’t stuffing my face with pizza, pasta and things, I walk all around rainy Roma. I saw all the classic touristy things except the Sistine Chapel, and I didn’t get the typical throwing the coin into the Trevi Fountain pic. Ugh, guess I’ll just have to come back to Rome sometime in my life 😉 My favorite sight was St. Peter’s Basilica. Just the details in the walls, the color, the smell-I’m not a religious person by any means, but the churches in Rome, especially this one, definitely bring you to a different place. And waiting in line to get into the Vatican City, it poured so as I entered the church, I was cold and wet with curly hair. But no bad moods even though I looked like a damp poodle; the church was just everything and more. The #YOLO moment was definitely karaoke at Scholar’s. My other high school friend Desiree brought me with her friends from her program. At first, I wasn’t going to do it but then her friends asked me if I knew all the words to Gold digger by Kanye West. Obviously I can’t turn down a moment to sing a classic Yeezus jam, so I decided to help them out. But when we got up there, Ignition Remix came on. Luckily, I know all the words to that one too. According to Des, I killed it. It was just so much fun!
I’m writing this from the Italian high-speed train to Florence to visit my best friend, princess KC. The countryside is absolutely beautiful. OMG, I just saw a sheep. We ain’t in Kansas anymore. Until next time GW students, family, lovers and friends (Yes dad, I said “lovers” again).