Day 14: Non posso credere che ho mangiato tutto

Our first dinner in Rome.  I can't believe I ate the whole thing. Do they have Alka Seltzer in Italia? Mia sorella Margarita can't believe I could eat so much either. My excuse is that Nonna stretched my stomach with all her great cooking. I must learn not to let the proprietor order for us! And also, not to try to keep up with mio fratello, Giovanni.

Granted, we were hungry... but we kept saying "that sounds good" to everything he suggested. Ultimately we ended up with 2 antipasto dishes, soup, pasta, salad, wine and an after dinner liquer (from Potenza in Basilicata (Lucania))! (Margarita had limoncello).

Margaret and John got here at 10am, they were tired so we all took a nap (does it matter that I had just woken up?) , and around 2, we were ready to go. We walked to the Galleria Borghese which is only about 5 blooks from our B&;B. M&J had a wow moment! It is a museo fantastico. I like it because each piece is special, and, unlike the Vatican Museum which is troppo grandisimo and full of stuff that all looks the same (to me) until you get to the "good stuff" at the end. The Galleria is just the right size and filled with the most beautiful pieces of sculpture. And the villa itself is "over the top" beautiful.

Then we walked through the Borghese park and down Via Veneto (famous for La Dolce Vita... beautiful hotels, shops and restaurants)..., then to the Trevi Fountain. John was in awe. A nice Italian man saw us trying to decide where to eat and told us.. First go to this lovely church in front of you, then come to my ristorante... This had happened to me once before, at Trevi Fountain, a few years ago. And, I had loved the place that time, so I thought why not? Also, he was so friendly and helpful to us, how could we resist? I had never been to the church he suggested.... It had two beautiful Bernini statues of angels... We've seen a lot of Bernini today. And then the restaurant food was fantastic.

Then we walked to the Spanish steps and UP and UP and Up those steps (It's a lot harder when you've eaten 20 pounds of food). Now we are all in our jammies and fighting over the 2 laptops we have :)


A presto
Maria

PS: It is killing me not to be able to talk (English or Italian). I try my Italian but it comes out all croaky.  I'm really disappointed because I wanted to show off my very poor Italain to John and Margaret who don't know any better than to be impressed.  If I add "mente" "icolo" "issimo" etc to English words, they think that I am really telling them the right words... (shh.. don't blow my cover)

John in front of stained glass window of The Beatles (Hard Rock Cafe, Via Veneto).  I took this picture... you can tell because its blurry.

At Trevi Fountain

We should have stopped after appetizers

OK, this is gross but it tasted good.  Have you ever seen a shrimp this big?  Is that an oxymoron?

Not bad for holding out the camera and clicking, John!