Back in Rome

It’s feels good to be back in Rome—the noise, the graffiti, the crowds on the street. And, miracle of miracle, Telecom has finally come through and I have an internet connection at Vicolo del Cedro. I’m all ready to Skype.

We say hello again to the people in our neighborhood—I wonder if they noticed we were gone. There’s the older man who sits on a bench down the street with his two little dogs and smiles at me as I go back and forth all day. Today, he was carefully giving a hair cut to one of the dogs and piles of dog hair littered the street. Then there’s the owner of the newsstand where Steve buys his many papers every morning. And the woman in the bakery where I stop to buy a fresh piece of pizza bianco after my workout with Aramis.

During the day and especially in the morning, Trastevere, our neighborhood, seems like a little village. Heavy gates are pulled down over many of the restaurant entrances and only the shops that cater to the locals are open. By late afternoon the crowds of young people arrive and it feels like a party is going on. Souvenir venders set up tables full of cheesy merchandise at the main intersections or piazzas. Restaurants set up tables and chairs outside and bars are overflowing. Last night we stopped for a drink at a particularly popular bar overlooking one of the piazzas. (We were, of course, the oldest people there.) The bartenders, in tatoos and dreadlocks, were whipping out the drinks to a eager crowd of 20 somethings who then went outside to smoke and hang out or stayed inside to chow down on the huge table of free food in another room.

I had spent the afternoon alone wandering around the historic center getting lost but not really. I love walking up and down all the little streets and alleys with a vague sense of where I am and where I ultimately want to go. I have to keep reminding myself to walk slowly, to stroll down the street like an Italian instead of racing down the sidewalk like an American. Old habits die hard but I must be making progress. Twice during my afternoon stroll, I was asked for directions by Italians!