Although I am determined to describe the day in full detail because it was so exciting and huge, let me first say that the hotel breakfast buffet I’m sitting in now is almost more interesting. They have ketchup-style packets of olive oil and the jam is dispensed through a surprising upside-down contraption with a lever. I have a view of St. Peter's Basilica as the sun rises to write this.
Back to day one:
Yesterday We got off the plane at 8am after a very rough 2 hours of sleep. I felt pretty tired but being with Raffi is energizing. We took the Leonardo Express to Roma Termini and the ride into the city was beautiful. It was the most gorgeous day, so sunny, and we could see apartment buildings and highways and some incredible stone arches and bridges.
The train station was massive and beautiful and we emerged into the city and walked 5 minutes to our hotel. So exciting to check into a hotel! This was the cheapest place we could find to stay for the two days, less money than all the airbnbs and hostels, but the location is amazing and we get free breakfast! Which is good for me now because Raffi is sleeping but I’ve been up for hours and needed somewhere to go.
By 9:30ish, we had dropped our bags and walked to a bakery Raffi found - her ability to locate the best food is unmatched and I wish I could say its just a talent but I see the work she puts into scrolling through google maps and reading every review. We got a broccoli rabe panino (this is the singular… I think) and a pizza, just flat bread and tomato sauce. It was INCREDIBLE. The pizza was so bright red and every bite was perfect. We walked down the street to an Illy and got 2 cappuccinos and a chocolate croissant. First coffee of the day.
Then we returned to the hotel so we could get dressed and walked out again to the Trevi Fountain. The walk there was 20 minutes and we got to taste some free samples of cheese on the walk ;)
Raffi’s friend Alejandro (Ale) who lives and works in Rome met us there and they pretty much transformed our day from here on out. We began a walk to our lunch spot, but Ale navigated us past the Pantheon and we were shocked to see it as we rounded the corner. I loved being in there, but the christian stuff that has been added in feels so out of place. We saw the tomb of Raphael and Ale said ‘this was once a temple to the gods, but now it’s a temple to all beauty’ to explain why Raphael was there. The opening at the top was inspirational for what I would like my future home to look like. Maybe something like The Globe theater, with theater seats all around and the top is open. We’ll see.
Next Ale asked what else we want to do while here and Raffi mentioned seeing the Caravaggio paintings at San Luigi die Francesi church to which Ale said ‘oh that’s right around the corner!’ We made it just in time before they closed for an afternoon break. Ale is a Caravaggio expert, literally, and he is in the process of completing a PHD at Harvard and his dissertation features Caravaggio heavily. He was able to give us an amazing commentary on the paintings we were seeing, about the light and the reason for Caravaggio’s relevance. The church had work by other artists too so he pointed out the differences, how the other paintings from the time don’t contain the same kind of darkness in either subject matter or color.
Next Ale took us to their favorite coffee shop in the area and we got macchiatos and Maritozzo which are like slightly sweet bread rolls sliced and filled with whipped cream. Raffi loved them because they're not too sweet - ironic because her middle name is Sweet, but she simply does not have a sugar addiction and for that, we applaud her.
Ale bid us temporary farewell and deposited us at a metro station to make it to our lunch reservation. This lunch was really our only experience leaving the historic / tourist center of Rome through both our days in the city. We passed a small chocolate festival happening in that area.
The restaurant was Santo Palato and Raffi got her first Amatriciana pasta of the day, and I had Carbonara. We split a smoked cauliflower appetizer that tasted like nothing I’ve had before and we also split a glass of rose that was dark red and tasted like red wine vinegar lol.
Very sleepy at this point, we returned home for a quick 1 hour nap and we're back out again.
We walked over to Ale's place of work where he is doing his studies and maybe other work although I could never quite figure out where or what he did lol. He also works a few days a week in the archives on the top floor of the building the Trevi Fountain comes out of and described opening the curtains and watching the crowds. But this work building was an art history library, the largest in Europe. It is in a complex made from 3 former mansions. We walked through the gorgeous halls and met some of Ale's work friends and emerged onto the roof which has quite possibly the best view of Rome. From all sides you could see the city completely unobstructed. It was crazy. We shared a bottle of wine with Ale's friend Torban who is german and told me he wanted to be a theater director when he was 18!! And he worked at some theaters and did dramaturgy work. We discussed Hamletmachine and he recommended a production I can stream from one of the German theaters.
After sunset we had to head to dinner and try to get a table at Da Enzo, a restaurant that is extremely popular right now. They don't take reservations so you have to arrive about an hour before they open to wait in line. At this point it had already opened for the evening and after walking across the River Tiber and through Trastevere, the line was sooo long.
Ale ushered us past the line and to the small church opposite Da Enzo. It has been turned into an art gallery and his new friend Polina works there. She showed us the exhibit and told us about the space - it was built in the 8th century and has had transformations through the centuries. It was a carpenters office at a point, then sold to a family who planned to turn it into a restaurant until the city’s cultural organization stopped them because the building is too old (if I’m getting this story right) and now the space is a contemporary art gallery. In the photo of the church below, the thin green strip along the center of the photo, running against the church's wall, is the art.
Polina didn’t want to join for dinner (she’d gone to Da Enzo for lunch…) but she went over to talk to the restaurant for us - if we had joined the line, we would have been waiting for hours, and maybe not getting in at all. She and the owner devised a plan to have us walk in one by one and pretend we were there to use the bathroom. He saved us a table and then, facing the outdoor seating and his back to us, gave the signal to send the first one of us, then 2 minutes later, another signal for the next one, and a few minutes after that, the last one. We got truly VIP treatment the whole night as Polina’s friends and she wasn’t even there. She’s so powerful…. Ale and I both ordered Cacio e Pepe and Raffi got Amatriciana #2 of the day. We shared artichokes prepared 2 different ways, a raddicio salad, and a mountain of sautéed greens. The bread basket included mini pizzas and we drank Spritz’s. Dessert was a tiramisu, a wild strawberry and marscapone cup, and espressos. Yum.
We walked to Ale’s apartment after and he changed clothes for the sun party and off we went. I was feeling throat pain and this point so I left and Raffi and Ale stayed and danced - again, raffi has an incredible about of energy and she came home around 1am. I felt progressively sicker through the night and at 5am I made a doctor’s appointment for the next day because clearly something was wrong with my throat. I thought it was strep but its just a throat infection… so far…
Anyway that was all one day, and our first day in Rome! On almost no sleep! Ale made it so special and really is the reason this day was so magical. Thank you Ale!!
(Note from the present: it’s a few days later now, we’re in palermo and I’m late to posting this because I got very sick. Hopefully I will recover soon and post about palermo!)
