We really out-touristed ourselves yesterday. Cameras in each hand hitting all the sites.
We started down via XX Settembre past many government buildings. People were lining the street (including 3 that made an accidental Italian flag) and cabinieri were everywhere. Fighter jets spewed red, white & green smoke behind themselves over the city. Turns out we were in the best place to see the presidential motorcade pass. We made our way through the throngs to the piazza Venetia and the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II aka The White Typewriter. Honestly, it felt like every Roman was there along with half of Italy.Walking along with everyone else, we went to the Trevi fountain - turns out it is in a bit of an alley. We had such gorgeous weather that everyone was taking advantage & we soon left. Snapping photos the whole way we walked to Piazza Navona, across the Tiber and back, Ara Pacis Augustae & the Spanish Steps. We stopped for a late lunch at La Fiammetta - the best eggplant parmigiana and tagliatelle with pistachio & lemon sauce. At the top of the Spanish Steps I took a photo for 3 British tourists & actually let them pry the new camera from my reflexively tight grip to take one of us.
Such an incredible view of the city from up there but we didn't feel up to exploring the giant park yet. Instead we walked back down and got our daily gelato at Il Gelato di San Crispino - more pistachio, crema, their signature flavor (crema with wild honey) & grapefruit sorbetto. Since we can't count pistachio twice & I'm iffy on the sorbetto rules, that only bring us to 5 flavors in 2 days. Best gelato so far - all natural and it showed.
We came back to the hotel to rest, upload our 87549769 photos & make dinner reservations for Goffredo di Roberto Pepe. First dressed-up event in Rome. Delicious 4-course dinners - we shared the fish & meat ones. Highlights - good cheap wine, tiny clams in the shell, baby lamb chops & lemon sorbetto inside a lemon peel. Plus, defending our national honor when the table next to us assumed the rowdy teens tramping down the street were Americans. They were Aussies! We had seen a cool-looking bar on the walk over & tried it. Too crowded. We'll go back I think.
All in all a fun way to celebrate Festa della Repubblica with most of Italy touristing it up with us.
