Food and Italy: Day 25

On Thursday after class, I decided to walk around near Vatican city to find the hotel where my sister will be staying in two weeks. Let me tell you, the roads here are extremely confusing! Trying to find my way back was a nightmare. Thank you Google maps for still showing my blue dot moving even when I don’t have wifi. However, on the way there, I happened to find the best view of the city I have seen as of yet! 

The picture only does it about 25% justice. The rest you just have to soak up in person.

Friday was Cioccolentino! The chocolate festival in Terni, where St. Valentine is buried! It took a little over an hour on the train to get to, but I mean, chocolate.

(Zeppole con cioccolato)                                              

 

Everything was so good! I tried what are called zeppole with chocolate filling while we were there, which is basically fried sweet dough with a sugar coating, and I brought home some truffles, chocolate covered nuts (or nocciola), dried mango and some sort of amazing melon, and a chunk of dark chocolate.

(Candid of Danny and me eating our Zeppole in Terni. Photo credit: Evelyn Hill)

 

Saturday morning I went for a run/mostly walk for the third time. I had gone on Monday and was very disappointed with how my legs felt. I still stayed positive, and walked to the Villa Doria Pamphilij near campus where I was able to run a total of 20 minutes! It felt wonderful – the sun was out and my legs actually felt great! The amount of people there that were running or walking or even biking amazed me!

Then we found Eataly. It was slightly overwhelming. And by overwhelming, I mean there were four floors of specialty sections of food, and in each section there were actual restaurants that make you food! I bought some oatmeal with nuts, cheese that looks really good, and bread (that is amazing) that has pancetta and frommagina in it!

(A building with some awesome graffiti art we found on our way to Eataly)

 I got some homework done, and then we went out to one of the best pizza places in Italy for dinner, called Dar Poeta. We got there earlier than most Italians eat and it was already pretty crowded, but when we left there were lines of people waiting outside! (It also happened to be Valentines Day) I ordered the Patattacia pizza, which had potatoes, sausage, and mozzarella on it. It was, of course, delicious!

Today we went to the open market that is a block behind our building and stretches probably about a mile down the street every. I haven’t made it there yet, and wow, it is definitely something you shouldn’t miss if you go to Rome. You can buy just about anything you need there from coats to beads to make jewelry. I bout a baking pan (our apartment didn’t come with one for some reason) for only 3 euro!

 (I just had to take a picture of this - a hoodie from Wisconsin that I found at one of the vendors at the market!)

I found a theater called Nuovo Olimpia that is just off of Via del Corso. It plays movies in their original language, so I think the plan for the rest of the day is to get homework and other things done around the apartment, and then go watch Birdman at this theater!

Observation of the Week: Almost everything I did this weekend had something to do with food. And I am okay with that. They really do have great food here in Italy. Good thing I can start running again now!