Bella Roma

I arrived in Rome yesterday morning to a beautiful sign from Cristina and Matt for "Veronica". It was just a completely lovely day. I asked for latte and the guy arches his eyebrow at me, "Milk?". "Cafe?" I ask, hopefully? Cafe Latte! he explains. Ah ha! CAFE Latte. Does Starbucks know about this? Rome has an express Train from the airport to the main Train/Bus station downtown known simply as "Termini". It looks like an airport itself. Their little apartment is just beautiful with large long windows that open up to the outside. No bugs. A little balcony. Perfecto! This is our piazza, Cristina announces, Piazzi Fiurne. The box of dishes arrived with me with nothing broken.

We chit chat and head out to get lunch. Piccolo something or other. MMMMMMMMMM! Heaven! Vegetable Anti Pasta with peppers, mushrooms, oinions all marinated and stuffed with a breaded mixture. Marinated Artichokes and a little red wine. The big meal of the day is lunch, I am told.

Next we shop for staples... Water, both kinds.. (?) mozarella, cheese, (mozarella not considered cheese?), olives, sausage, nuts, fruit. I am amazed that it takes a twenty minute discussion to get a few kinds of cheese, and sausage. The lady wants us to try several kind before we decide. She looks at me and guesses , "Americana!" Si,, si,,,, So both kinds of water is sparkling and non sparkling. (oh yes, Pellogrino). A small stop at the wine store.. mmmmmmmm... I am also amazed at Cris and Matt's Italian. They are so fluent!

We dress for a deacon ordination. Cris shows me how to wear a scarf, EVERYONE wears a scarf. There is the cold and not cold way. Not cold, you take your time and around the neck, then a looser tie. The Cold way, fold in half and tuck the ends through the loop. Voila! Most Romans seem to be wearing the cold way. I show Cristina my "Quad", MAC eyeshadow holder. The ordination is at the Cathedral of Peter and Paul for Benedict. Benedict is never there, but it is the Cathedral of Rome. There is the most gorgeous statue of St. Francis and his brothers facing the Cathedral but across the street, must be at least 40 ft high. We have special "invitations" from Chris network of Seminarian friend connections. We sit down. Matt starts thumbing through the Italian program. He looks at me, "This is going to be really long." "It's O.K., I yawn, what two hours"? "Three." "Oh." "In Italian." "Oh." "I'm tired, says Cristina." We look at each other and all get up to leave. We see the Spanish Steps. Groovy. Tons of peeps hanging out here. We see a purse store and head straight for it. I'm looking for purses. The ones I look at are boring and low quality leather. Cris steers me towards the groovy ones. The one I like best has gold trim. Don't know if I can take the gold. "It's really more like brass." Matt says.

We're ready to drink. We find a lovely outdoor cafe and a bottle of vino. There are so many streets that aren't really streets, they are small little cobblestone alleys. The Cafe's are nestled against the alley wall with big white market umbrellas. It's multo charming. Baby G is hungry, so Chris and BG get a bowl of Zuppa.

At home, we must sample Matt's liqueur collection... Multo Bene. Also, we must wear slippers. M&C wear slippers and they have 10 pairs so that all the guests may also wear slippers. We settle into the Living room to talk about the Glory Days in Big D and suddenly there is a beautiful glass of champagne in my hand. Sigh... life simply does not get any better.