It's Nice Knowing People In High Places...

When I was in Barcelona, I met a girl named Taylor who is a USD student currently studying in Rome. As soon as she heard I was going to Rome, she offered to show me around town. As soon as I heard her offer, I accepted.



We met at Piazza Venezia and took off from there to see the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. The Spanish Steps were fun, but I will let Let's Go describe them, as I found the following sentence one of the coolest from my entire guidebook:

Designed by an Italian, funded by the French, named for the Spainards, occupied by the British, and now under the sway of the American Ambassador-at-large Ronald McDonald, the Scalinata di Spagna exude internationalism.

On our way to Trevi Fountain, Taylor took me for gelato. This is where it came in handy knowing a someone familiar with the city. If I had searched for gelato, I would have probably stopped at the first cheap, decent-lookiing place I saw. Nope. Not with Taylor. She knew she was taking me to Della Palma. Somehow this place had evaded my guidebook. Shame on you, Let's Go. You'd think that a gelateria that serves ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY (yes, ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY) flavors would find its way onto a list of must-see places in Rome.

I want you to appreciate this place, so I have decided to post a picture of all of their flavors. (yes, ONE HUNRDRED AND FORTY)









They had a case dedicated to soy flavors. They had a case dedicated to mousse flavors. They had 2 cases dedicated to fruit flavors. They had a case dedicated chocolate flavors. They had ONE HUNRDRED AND FORTY flavors!

I knew it was going to take a while for me to deliberate as to what to order, so I apologized to my friend ahead of time, even before my mulling my options.

After careful thought, I decided to go with the following:

Chili Pepper Chocolate
Mango
Bailey's Irish Cream



25 minutes later, I went with the following:

Banana Split
Cappuccino Chip
Cocunut


We had intended to have gelato while sitting at Trevi Fountain, but um, the gelato didn't make it to Trevi Fountain.

Trevi Fountain is a really pretty, really cool place where a lot of money is wasted. The story goes that if you throw a coin into the fountain, you ensure a speedy return to Rome. Two coins yields your finding love in Rome. Money is tight for me these days, so I settled for a speedy return.



From there, we took to the streets of Rome. This was the first time I found myself apart from the touristy, heavily trafficked areas of the city, and it turned out I loved the neighborhoods just as much as I did the popular sites. The one thing that stood out to me was that Rome is a very green city. There are tall, lush trees all over the place, which is a nice change from virtually all other capital cities I have visited. The local streets have a warm vibe about them, and you can find friendly butchers doling out fresh off the bone meats and soft, rich cheeses to locals wherever you turn. In many ways, I found the local Roman streets very reminscent of an Autumn day in New York. Overall, Rome was arguably my favorite city in all of Europe (and yes, I often argue with myself).

After walking around the city, Taylor and I went to dinner at place I again would never have found without her. Located, next to her apartment, Mapi is a quaint, small, family-owned restaurant. When Taylor was welcomed with open arms as we walked through the door, I knew it was going to be a fantabulous meal. After ordering two pasta dishes, we chowed down on the best bread I have ever been served in a restaurant. It was soft, flaky and doughy foccaccia. They brought a lot to the table, but it didn't matter how much they brought - none would remain by the time the pastas arrived.

We decided to split two dishes: penne vodka and homemade pasta with tomatoes, tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. I'll let you ponder a guess how they tasted.




...Just another day in Paradise.