There is a certain pleasure inreturning to a familiar city. Specifically, everything is easier. On the first visit, I have to figure out how everything works. It takes a few days to work out the details of what is expected in stores (in which ones to pay first or later, self serve or not, etc..), how the metro and buses work (tickets, passes, automated kiosks, routes, transfers, etc..), what the accepted level of courtesy is, good places to eat and shop, and so on.
When I arrived back in Rome it was like an old friend. I knew how most everything worked, where things were, and what was expected. I could relax from the start. I easily found a better hostel than on my last visit and it was close to the central train station, Termini. Too bad I was only there for a day an a half.
After a nap, the first thing I did was to get some giant scoops of pistachio and coconut gelato from Old Bridge Gelato. OMG. I love that stuff. It was even better than I had remembered and I had to fight the urge to get seconds. Instead I walked the two blocks over to St. Peter’s Square and savored the grandeur of the enormous space as darkness enveloped the ancient city.
The next day I took a train to the town of Macarresse to check out a house for rent for my friend Chuck. I was hoping for a cute little Italian village but I ended up wandering in a bedroom community that could have been in almost any country. The house was nice though. On the trip back, I could not find anyplace to buy a return ticket and ended up riding for without one. I figured it was a small payback for the airport taxis in Paris.
I made it back to Rome in time for a free pasta dinner at the hostel. The little hunched-over Italian grandma in the hostel kitchen handed me a plate of penne that was barely coated with sauce and sparsely strewn with tomato chucks and beans. It looked like it needed a big scoop of sauce. I was wrong. Very wrong. I do not know how she managed to pack that much flavor into so little sauce. It was fantastic. Eating the perfectly al dente pasta, I felt guilty about my initial doubts and had to erase them with the distracting pleasure of another plate. I love travel!
