You know that earliest part of the day when the clouds are
light and pink, and the air is fresh and the wind is just enough to make your
eyes bright? I don’t get to see it too often as I’m always in my bed at that
time of the day… but on a trip to the truly beautiful, postcard-perfect Roma, I
experienced it midday. Pure loveliness.
I was forecasting sunshiney,
gelato-friendly weather, but instead this intermedium of daybreak and dusk was
following me around town – and conveniently creating an amazing backdrop for my
photos. How nice.
My mission on this one-day venture was to find really tasty Italian
food. Yummy pizza, amazing gelato and blogworthy pasta. No mean feat when my
available time extended to an afternoon and early evening (must get back and
sleep before working the flight back the next day).
I started my search, as I’m sure many do. Lonely Planet
guidebook firmly grasped in one hand, map in the other, camera over one
shoulder… and some sniggering locals behind the other I’ve no doubt. Laughing,
and rightly so, at my comedic over-enthusiasm. I might as well have been
walking around with a neon sign saying ‘TOURIST’ plastered to my head with a
Big. Flashing. Arrow.
Anyway, me and Lonely Planet Guidebook (LPG), hit the
streets of Roma. Wandering in amongst the beautifully architectured streets in
Trastevere, down shy cobbled lanes, and past rows and rows of scooters, their
slim parking spaces surrounded by decorative drapes of pretty flowers. And all
the while, with this dawny-dusky sky overhead, giving the buildings a sort of
burnt glow, and adding warmth to all the colours around me. It was the perfect
antidote to the busy flight I’d worked just hours before.
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| Do I really have to leave tomorrow? |
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| Cobbled streets, trattorias, motorbikes, really bad parking... yep, I'm definitely in Rome. |
About an hour into my meandering, I gave up on LPG.
Much as
I love their handy tips, I fancied the idea of chucking the map and just taking
myself wherever I felt was the right direction.
That sort of thinking obviously led me straight to a little
gelateria for my sugar fix. My obsession with all things dessert-related called
me in to visit Alberto Pica. That’s the name of said restaurant/gelateria, by
the way. Not some handsome Roman. Just for the record.
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| As my good friend Laura might say, YUMOLA. |
