In Rome You Are Never Alone

We we're incredibly well hosted in Rome by our friend Sole. We met her when she was staying in San Francisco last summer, having swapped her lovely Roman apartment for two months so that she and her son Martino could visit the Bay Area. She found P's book in City Lights and fell in love with his work. She found that he was having a show, visited the gallery a few times, then begged the owner to give Paul her number. And now we're staying at her apartment (while she stays at a friends nearby). Voila - you've got to love life!


Though we just got back last night, we are still processing our Roman holiday. Granted, we were incredibly well hosted by our friend Sole, but (as most of you are well aware) P and I tend to prefer to be more autonomous. We walked amongst all the ancient sites – the Coliseum, the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus – as well as having a visit to all the “things” to be seen in Rome: the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Many days were spent similarly – walking around ruins, stopping into one of the many piazzas (neighborhood squares) for coffees and people watching, and writing/and or drawing. As usual, my favorite spots are those where locals hang out, and are less touristic. One of my favorite squares was the Piazza Madonna dei Monti (and not just because of the name). In a tiny piazza just off the main road towards the coliseum, you find a local neighborhood with a group of old men gathered and talking by the central fountain, a young boy and his father kicking a soccer ball, and a few cafés sprinkled around, overlooking the square. We wandered around the streets, popping into a few boutiques. Sole and I each bought a pair of earrings from her favorite shop – the proprietor's brother makes them all by hand (I was in dire need of earrings since in my frantic dash to finish packing, I had left all of my jewelry behind). After a visit to Sole’s friend Claudia’s incredible terrace overlooking the Piazza Madonna dei Monti and the nearby Roman rooftops, we went to the “Ghetto”, the Jewish quarter. We popped into a tiny nearly-private piazza where we felt like we had our own private Rome with a quaint view over the Teatro Marcello ruins. Sole’s sweet friend – and our new compadre – Cecilia joined us, for a fancy late-lunch snack of fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, bread and a glass of wine at a beautiful little enoteca (wine bar) called Roscioli, then a coffee in a little piazza where P drew and Ceci and I chatted. We ended this particular evening with a stroll through a quaint little ancient neighborhood, Trastevere, sipping a glass of Chianti in the main piazza, then sharing a slice of Roman pizza (thick and simple foccacia-style bread, sauce and cheese) sitting on some stairs and watching the throngs cross the Ponte Sisto bridge, to come revel in this hot Friday night neighborhood. P and I decided to walk all the way home, stopping by the ever-popular Piazza Navona for an ice cream to enjoy on our way home. It took us about an hour to walk from the south-side of Rome’s Historic Center to Sole’s in the northern “suburbs” above the beautiful park, the Villa Borghese. It was oddly quiet as we walked back through Rome - especially since the streets and monuments and parks are generally so packed with people! Seriously, in Rome, you are never alone!

As most of you would agree, time passes so fast anymore. Time slowed down in Rome, to about a third of the normal pace, and the five full days in Rome somehow felt more like ten. We saw everything we wanted to see, plus spent time in the park, at cafés, and in the Modern Art Museum. Sole hosted a lovely dinner Saturday for eight on her incredible terrace, where we chatted with her brother and our friend Ceci until after 1 a.m. (Sole left her own dinner party at 11p.m., to which her friend responded to my confusion, “Welcome to Rome!”) We were taken and dropped off here and there by Sole in her cute little Mini, as well as being joined here and there by her friends. Sole took good care of us, and boy she fed us well! From the perfect snacks she picked up for the apartment (blood-orange juice, apricot jam, proscuitto and cheese and tasty bread) to a fine lunch at TreeBar in the park and an amazing typically Roman raw seafood meal: carpaccio-thin slices of octopus; squid salad; split-open raw shrimp that went down like fresh sweet caramels; spiced lobster; and an asparagus octopus cream sauce over spaghetti noodles as the second course. Often we'd wake up to cornetti (Italian-style croissants) awaiting us in the kitchen in the morning, and eat them on the terrace with coffee. And yesterday, before heading to the airport, we had lunch in a lovely semi-private restaurant with plates and plates of veggies, pasta, salads, beans, and meats in a casual “all you can eat” buffet, and then Sole got amazing little cream-cup desserts for us to have with one last coffee at her place, then sent us packing with breaded and fried rice-mozzarella balls for the plane! Sweet Ceci met us at the train station, having already bought our tickets to get us to the airport. She saw us to our platform, and waved good-bye as we jammed in the with the dozens of others cramming into the one tiny door to get on the train, to get to the airport - ah, Italy!

Rome has an ease and casualness to it that took some getting used to and in general, the Romans were warm and welcoming, and didn’t care much (in the good way) who we were or where we were from. Aside from the throngs of tourists that pack the streets in the historic center, it is an easy city to be in. The Romans themselves kept claiming how provincial and somewhat boring Rome tends to be (aside from dining with friends) and now that we’ve returned to incredible cosmopolitan Paris, I see even more what they mean. Sadly we have only 9 days left in Paris, but take full advantage of them, we will!