La dolce vita

We were living the beautiful life today, except we were not quite as well dressed (I'm dying to buy an Italian suit!), stylish or vocal as the typical Roman. I have seen hardly any women in activewear and the ones that were wearing it were probably foreigners. Actually I believe Activewear in Italian translates roughly to 'big lass who doesn't own a mirror'. But I digress, what we did have was the Italian trifecta; pizza, pasta and gelato. This was only consumed in the name of scientific research and was promptly burned off after we had walked another 20k around Rome. But why wouldn't you walk as much as you could here when every street is cloaked in history and has heard the footsteps of generations over two millenia.

Our morning began with breakfast served by our hosts. I don't know what I ate, but it had pastry, custard, fruit and something else that's probably banned in 3 systems. I do know that it had me repeating 'grazie mille' to our hostess like I was some demented Italian CD with a scratch in it.

After humbling myself before this breakfast saint we headed out for another day of Italian sightseeing.

We started by following the Via Del Corso towards the Spanish Steps, continued to the Obelisk before backtracking to see the Trevi Fountain. Fountain must mean something different in Italian, as this one had no water in it, at the moment. I guess the Trevi Stone Bowl doesn't flow off the tongue quite the same though.

We finished our tour off with a look through the Pantheon, which wins dome of the year award from me. It's a cracker!

Sightseeing ticked off we headed back up the hill towards Corso d'Italia and our hotel, but some cunning person went and plonked about 50 authentic Roman restaurants in our path. They even had the foresight to include outdoor seating and proudly proclaim their ability to give me gelato. That sealed the deal and after careful technical analysis we chose Baccanale, where we proceeded to devour fresh pasta and pizza chased down with the aforementioned gelato.

By now clinically obese we somehow managed to drag our bodies back to the hotel and crash for a siesta.

Tomorrow we're up early to take on Italian drivers as we run the gauntlet of Roman traffic to the airport and on to Berlin. Arrivederci Rome, it's been strabiliante and I hope to come back soon, for longer and to see some football. Viva l'Italia!Read more