Eccoti, Roma

A common theme in my life over the past few days has been the daily Roman ritual known as fare la passeggiata. It's a walk, and it's a habit every real Roman sticks to. Every day around the city-wide siesta time (between 12,30 and 14,00) you see businessmen in their suits and ties (though because of the intense heat they lose the jackets) and students wandering the city among tourist swarms and you see shopkeepers and restauranteers closing down shop for a few hours. So everyone goes for a walk. It's basically a glorified lunch break, a chance to see and be seen around the neighborhood. I don't stick to one neighborhood of the city.. no.. my passeggiata involves leaving Trastevere, wandering into centro storico, into the Pantheon neighborhood, up to Piazza di Spagna, to Piazza Venezia. I just wander. It gets pretty hot, but there's always some shade. Usually a gelato stop is involved, and I see the COOLEST things.. now for a picture tour of what I've seen on my passeggiate a Roma e fuori Trastevere e la cittá Vaticana:

Abandoned osterie and trattorie...
...smoke breaks...

...gorgeous berries for sale at Campo dei Fiori.....
...this woman and her closest 9000 pigeon friends having lunch....

....and some excellent italian graffiti..

a presto!