fine settimana & Franca
Rome: September 29, 2014
Hola mis amigos!
I’ll try and keep this post short, but decided to post mostly because it would be a disservice to not recommend the gelateria I was invited to this evening as well as documenting where it is and how to find it.
A little background on the weekend. Ellie and I had the whole apartment to ourselves (the one we are still sharing with our coworker and her other flatmates). The rest of the ragazze went off on different weekend trips leaving us to a spacious apartment to walk around in our underwear as we pleased. Last night we decided to venture downtown without much of a plan and explore the nightlife. After having a delicious meal and glass(es) of vino at a place called Vin Allegro (cash only and the largest selection of bruschetta ever), we stumbled into (literally and figuratively thanks to all the cobblestone) Freni e Frizioni where Saturday turned to Sunday and we ended up making friends with Ed Sheeran’s doppelgänger, his sister and two locals they were staying with. We also apparently made plans and bought tickets for the Snoop Dog concert October 19th if anyone is in the area and cares to join. Italians LOVE Snoop.
I’ve realized I may FEEL like a 21 year old when I go out, until I actually run into a 21 year old and/or the next day has to happen. Needless to say, this domenica (Sunday) was spent indoors, in bed, and in the dark. Ellie was comatose until literally 5 minutes ago, but I managed to get out of bed and move to the kitchen for some much needed tap water around 7pm (apparently the tap water here is GREAT for you- a plus because bottled water is $$$). I was surprised to find one of our roommates, Franca, back from her family’s home outside of Rome in the kitchen. Although I probably should not have been considering it was 7pm.
Background on Franca: she is an ANGEL. But speaks NO English. Or Spanish. Or any other language besides Italian. She is also a little hard of hearing according to our co-worker, but that doesn’t stop her from talking, chatting, sharing stories, etc. Even if I can sometimes deduce what she is saying (she speaks at lighting speed), most of the time I just say ‘si!’ and smile or laugh. I just hope I don’t ‘laugh’ at a comment that really is meant to be cried at... I’m assuming she could tell (or smell) that we had been out late and invited us to get gelato- her treat! It was such a nice gesture. Although curling back up in bed and saying no grazie was an option, I thought a little sustenance would make me feel better since there is no such thing as Seamless Web, GubHub, or ANYTHING that delivers straight to your door like I was used to in NYC. I see potential business opportunities in this particular arena. Franca (from what I put together) was dying to try this gelato place she had seen and walked by with 'a lot of flavors' (again, I think that is what she said, but we passed four gelato places with lots of flavors that weren’t ‘the one,’ something must have been lost in translation). Fast forward two hours with the help of google maps, stopping people on the street and my empathy for others who are also directionally handicapped – we found THE gelataria!
I could not be happier we waited for this particular one, because Gelateria La Romana was unbelievable AND such a cute space, not like most of the gelaterias Franca and I passed that doubled as kebab restaurants.
I should have taken photos of our route to have as a reference for when I take friends and family or my Italian boyfriends out on gelato dates. Naturally I couldn’t help myself and took photos of a family with very cute Italian bambini instead.
bambini at La Romana
Below is Franca! I don’t think she understood why I wanted to take a picture of her with our gelatos. Or why Americans love to take pictures of their food in general.
Before I go- I want to wish my Italian sister from another mister- CHRISSY CALOGERO – Tanti Auguri (HBD)!!! AND A BELATED GOLDEN BIRTHDAY to ALIX PRUZANSKY! Gelato consumption totally in honor of you 2.
Until la prossima volta!
