Luggage, Tours, and Tomatoes

I just got back to the hotel after my marathon day. I am totally wiped and it is only eight o’clock in the evening. It feels so good to be laying down and relaxing. I have finally stretched out from my plane ride, where I watched three movies in a row (my total dream blob out). Thankfully there were no real interruptions, allowing me to squeeze in an hour nap during my movie watching marathon (during movie #2). The trip through customs was uneventful and I even got my bags off of the baggage claim rotating belt all by myself. Hooray for small victories.

The challenge lay before me, though. Was I up to navigating two fifty-pound suitcases through Rome airport and to the bus? It was a challenge but I did it! (Again, hooray for small victories!) I successfully got myself and luggage to the bus and loaded. It was a scenic trip into the city-proper of Rome. I was immediately delighted when we passed a pickup truck laden with flats upon flats of ruby red tomatoes. I have never seen so many tomatoes in my life. It felt like a scene only out of Italy – I really cannot see a pickup truck racing down I-287 in New Jersey with racks of tomatoes. It really hit me then, I was in Italy.

A highlight of my marathon day was that I had Italian food on Italian soil for the first time. Yes, I did have a chocolate croissant when I was in Milan airport but I really don’t count that. My first Italian meal was a pizza, with focaccia type bread. It was so delicious and very fresh, making me flash back to the tomatoes. Were some of those tomatoes used to make this sauce? It was a thought that I pondered for the rest of the day.

The final activity for the day was a bus tour of some of the major sights in Rome. We drove past the Castel San Angelo, the “Wedding Cake”, the Coliseum, the old Roman Forum, and Piazza Navona. I was very excited, taking pictures of everything and anything, trying to capture Rome with my camera lens.

I finished up my first day in Rome with dinner at a cute little trattoria called Wanted. It had pizza, pasta, and some killer looking desserts. I ordered gnocchi, beautiful clouds of potato dumpling pasta, in a thick pomodoro sauce (aka red sauce with lots of yummy extras).  My dinner made me think of those tomatoes and if some of them had made their way to a Florentine farmers market, waiting for me to take some home with me and put into salad, sauces, and dinner fixings.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Ciao!