gli ultimi giorni

Gli ultimi giorni- the last days- were so bittersweet. Mostly surreal, though. It didn't seem real! So the second my finals were over, I stepped out of the "security"-guarded doorway of the Guarini campus of JCU and didn't wave bye-bye. It was sort of raining (huge surprise..) so beneath my off-toned rainbow umbrella I slipped and sloshed through the slick, black, uneven cobblestone streets of Trastevere as the chilly rain ran down the burnt orange and brown buildings and kept everyone drinking their morning caffé indoors at Café Settimana across the narrow street from school. So instead of crossing the flooded Tevere over Ponte Garibaldi, I opted for Ponte Sisto, right across from Piazza Trilussa
Wandered through the backroads of the Jewish Ghetto, up behind a very soggy Campo de' Fiori, up Corso, through the Pantheon neighborhood.. just kind of saying bye, I guess? It felt more like a routine walk, though. Around 13,00 I went back to school so that Julianna and Mary Beth and I could go eat our way through the menú at Carlo Mento vicino a scuola. So a menu' italiano is a set four-course menu where you only get to pick between a few options for each course. Menu' typically cost between 10-15E , so for four courses......cheap. So this is what I ate: antipasto was a typical crostino with basilico and tomato. For my primo, I chose the Penne Carlo Mento, which ended up being really good. I also ended up eating about a third of Julianna's spaghetti alla carbonara (egg-cheese sauce, specialtá romana, kind of incredible when done right). My secondo was saltimbocca enveloped in pancetta [veal cutlet] and some greens, and per il dolce we all got the torta della casa, a custardy-puddingy vanilla almond tart with pinoli (pine nuts)- also really really Roman in its ingredients and flavor. So this plus vino and caffé- awesome! It didn't end there, though. Later that day I met Nathan for dinner and we went to Luzzi, my old standby FAVE. Cheap and oh so Roman, with outdoor seating even in this cold (thanks, heating lamps!)

A few days earlier I had gone to the Baths of Caracalla, which is significant because I wrote my Ancient Roma term paper on them, so I figured that I should see them at some point. They're on the south end of the city right near Circo Massimo and though they're ruins and have been stripped of all mosaics, purple/yellow Numidian/blue/green exotic marbles, some parts of it are relatively intact. So it was pretty sweet to see the structure itself.
The next day was all about exploring and wandering and just seeing what I found to say bye to. I ended up making not one, but TWO new discoveries (just in time to leave? more reason to hurry back!!!) one being a new gelateria, del Teatro, which was a little pricey but oh-so-hole in the wall with a cool selection of flavors. Pera al caramello.. tartufo..etc.. then I went to Giolitti, which after 4 months, I've realized is my Happy Place in Roma. Figures. My second discovery happened when I wandered into my favorite vintage store- usually I just look around and rummage through the packed shop-- 1970s Burberry raincoats, leather purses, dresses, shoes, belts, sunglasses, boots.. all perfectly organized but somehow there is still only room for you and the shopkeeper in the entire store. So I ended up finding the perfect pair of brown leather boots (already sort of broken in!) and knocked 20E off the starting price!

That evening was the evening of a nightwalk- MB and I stopped at each of the major tourist sites/monuments one last time. The funny part about the tourist traps is that italiani hang out there, too. They're not Mona Lisas that only tourists parade past- they're living, breathing piazze and fountains where people hang out and meet friends.

Saturday, our last day, brought shopping and lots of gelato- and the Vatican Christmas tree lighting ceremony. This year's tree is a realllllllllly tall Austrian fir donated by some diocese-equivalent in southern Austria, and after the Vaticano is done with it, it'll be made into furniture and children's toys. It's lit, now, though, and on Christmas eve they uncovered the nativity scene that sits in front of it in the middle of piazza san Pietro. That night, a group of us went to piazza san Pietro and just stared up at the starry sky (in what other city in the world do you get stars???!) and soaked in Roma. Roma nostra. What an incredible place. It begs to be returned to--- and I'm guaranteed to now: