October 19

This morning we switched apartments and Todd was so happy about it. He was getting pretty weirded out by the old lady who lived there and the lack of hot water was making him irritable. Plus it was just one floor down so an easy switch. Today began with a trip to St. Paul's Outside the Walls and it was beautiful as usual. It's pretty incredible all of these famous, ornate churches are free to enter, contain fantastic artwork, and still function as churches for their public. 

Next we went to Saint Peter in Chains, but it was closed (most of the churches close from 12pm to 3pm) and we were hungry so we went to the crappiest food place down the street. A tiny bowl of dry, frozen and then heated carbonara with pieces of fat instead of meat for €7 was what they called food. At least even the crappiest place can't screw up hot chocolate. The best part of this meal was when this lady tied her rather large dog to a thin, metal chair near our outside table. She rain inside for coffee and while she was gone, the chair fell over, made a loud  crashing noise, scared the dog and so the dog takes off running with the metal chair clanging down the cobblestone behind it. It took out the restaurant's sign, and we heard it clanging/running for a very long time down the street, then a very far off voice started screaming about the dog, the owner was still inside and didn't notice, and some Italian lady nearby said, "you gotta think about what you're doing. You can't just tie a dog to a chair. What if a little kid had been walking down that street? He could have died." So there we all are, a bunch of people outside looking around like "wtf just just happened," the restaurant owner standing there looking pissed that the dog took out his sign and made such a commotion, and no dog owner. You guys, it was so loud and the dog ran out of sight so we didn't see it run forever, the loud clanking just never stopped, but just got quieter as he ran further away. This is making me cry tears I think it's so funny.

So, after a bad lunch we saw Michelangelo's Moses when the church had opened back up. Twas marvelous. Then headed to Santa Maria Maggiore and it was closed for "security reasons," then we walked to see Bernini's St. Theresa at Santa Maria della Vittoria and that was closed for the same reason, so we walked to the Quattro Fontane and saw Borromini's cool Baroque façade. The interior was TINY! I love the oval dome and how intimate it was. 

We went to the park at the Villa Borghese  and Todd tried to rent bikes, but they needed i.d. so we just walked and laid down awhile. I was very disappointed after all the churches being closed, the buses not working, a terrible lunch and no bike riding, so we decided to go somewhere that never disappoints - La Tavernetta. Dinner. Was incredible and perfection. The service is wonderful, especially the tiniest waiter, the area isn't touristy, the food is delicious and not overpriced and everything about it is just what we needed to cheer me up. We orded mixed bruchetta with tomatoes, prosciutto and porcini mushrooms, I had pasta with sausage, pecorino cheese, and porcini, Todd had gnocchi with gorgonzola, and we shared veal with prosciutto and some basil (SO AMAZING), and a green salad. Mmmmmm.