Auguri, Anna!

Today is Anna's 19th birthday - Tantissimi auguri, cara! :) We all came into her room singing at midnight, it was cute :)

We made plans to celebrate at night because during the day we had a scheduled outing to Campagnano, a little outside of Roma, where we were meeting some of Professoressa DiFabio's relatives. Francesca, their youngest daughter who is a year or so younger than us, led us on a guided tour around the historical part of the town, and then we returned to their casale for pranzo. There we met everyone else - nonna, zia and so forth. And then we feasted.

And I mean FEASTED. So much good food; I've never been so full in my life. (Except I seem to be saying that after every meal here. Life is good.) All the food was homemade in their wood oven with fresh ingredients from their enormous vineyard and orto (vegetable garden). Appetizers of fried mozzarella balls, prosciutto e melone, zucchini flower pizza (they use the flowers here!), fried artichoke hearts; mixed green salad; homemade pasta (pasta here is the PERFECT "al dente" - sosososo good!) in tomato sauce, rosemary potatoes, baked/breaded zucchini strips (I ate those too, grandma); some kind of veal dish that was good even though I don't like veal... and so on. I didn't actually know what some of the other things that showed up on my plate were, but by the 3rd course I just accepted it and ate everything. "L'appetito vien mangiando" - appetite comes with eating ;) And then there came dessert. Homemade biscotti, homemade gelato, homemade flan-like dish, fruit, happiness, and total gastronomic satisfaction were all on the menu.

So of course, we all went to sleep when we got back to the hotel. Sonno - sleep - also vien mangiando :P I actually couldn't take a nap, but I rested a little and then my friend Rachel and I went over to climb to the top of the cupola at St. Peter's, which, as has been my luck with the Vatican, was closed :( So we walked around in that area for a while and stumbled upon a big open market which demanded our perusal. Then we realized we were actually standing in front of Castel Sant'Angelo (don'tcha just love when things like that happen?) so that was another site to check off the list. While we were walking around the market, we talked to a few of the vendors, one of whom asked what part of Rome we were from, then asked me "Sei sicura?" - Are you sure? - when I told him I was from the U.S., so that made me happy. Plus we found a little pink Vespa keychain to give Anna as a regalino - little gift - because she adores Vespe. (Well who doesn't? Though I am more of a Fiat Cinquecento girl myself.) So Anna (I know you'll eventually be reading this, and if not you, then at least Frapp will see it and comment on it :P!), I hope you enjoy your Vespina, and that your hopes weren't too crushed when I came into your room exclaiming that I bought you a Vespa for your birthday ;)

To bid farewell to both Anna's youth and Rome with a bang, we left our textbooks behind and headed out to explore the city in a more ... shall we say, 'practical' manner. I will leave the details sparse (as to creep out my parents to the utmost possible extent) and just say that this practical exploration involved an ice bar, aka an indoor igloo in which we had to wear really attractive capes to protect us from the cold, a random siting of the Roman Forum en route to a discoteca in Campo dei Fiori, and a 4am arrival home, leading into my first all-nighter out of the country. Will catch up on sleep during the 2 hour bus trip to Perugia :)

Day's Recap:
Hours spent eating: 4-5 
Hours spent sleeping: 0... 
Number of people in Rome who asked *me* for directions: 4 (yay!)
Flavors of Gelato Tasted: nutella and another one I'm trying to think of the name of

PS - Mom and Dad, stop worrying :P

Stanca morta - superrrr tired,
Michelina