Sunday, May 20 - Rome!

We slept in still unable to move after last night's indulgence.  Before we knew it a housekeeper was at the door to finish up cleaning the apartment so we dragged ourselves out.

I love this city.  I just want to walk and walk and walk, which we did.  It's been 12 years since our last visit and much has changed, which is hard to accept because we came here annually for about 6-7 years in the 90s and NOTHING changed in that time.  So there is some regret in seeing old haunts modernized, names/owners changed etc.  as we could always rely on them being there in the past.  None-the-less it's still spectacular.  We decided to get out of the center as it's just so jammed with people  so we ended up on the other side of the river near the palace of justice and Castle St. Angelo. Tom has such a wealth of knowledge about Roman history that I'm going to start recording him at various locations; he wouldn't let me today because he said he looked like rubbish after last night's food romp.

At about 3p we came back to the flat for tea and a nap then headed out again for the passegiata (everyone who has legs, and some who don't, get out between 5p - 7p and stroll).  Tom was hankering for a decent beer, not having made the psychic switch from beer to wine yet, and I recalled reading about a craft beer bar so we headed for it.  Open Baladin near Piazza Argentina - odd name but intended to be welcoming.

 What a gas.  It's definitely a spot for the younger set, but very cool. 120 Italian beers (in bottles the size of generous wine bottles) and 20-30 beers on draft.  We had two Stupid Monkeys and a batch of their hand cut potato chips with a sweet savory paprika sauce - saporita!.  Again, great fun. We didn't stay for dinner as we were in the mood for some trattoria style dining tonight.

On the way back Tom spotted a place which turned out to be just great.  Locanda Antique.  The main room had just 3 tables, very cozy, wine bottles displayed all around.- husband and wife team run it. I had the spaghetti con vongolle (clams), the artichokes Romano and some chicoria;  Tom had bistecca with rosemary potatoes.  It was excellent and I hope we get back here.  We ambled back and called it a night.