So Thursday I rushed home from work to say bye to Rihem and to get ready to go meet my parents. They were staying near Saint Peters in a hotel, dad had arrived around 4:00pm, mom met him at the airport and they had plans for me to meet them at the hotel at 7:15. Obviously when I call my mom and say I’m on my way to the hotel she replies, oh well were going out, so we won’t be there, can we meet somewhere else? Luckily the bus I was waiting for that would go direct to their hotel hadn’t come yet, so I could adjust my transportation plans to accommodate their movement! Instead mom told me to meet her at Hotel Rafael, near piazza navona, where we would decide together the plan of action. So, I took the bus to Argentina and walked to the hotel where I looked around the lobby for my parents, called them, no reponse, and then waited outside, calling my mom every couple of minutes. 15 minutes later mom returns my call, I ask where she is, clearly she responds “at the bar at the top of the hotel!” How the heck was I supposed to know she would go up there? The whole 15 minutes I waited for them, they had already been enjoying their premium service and white wine atop the hotel roof! Beh!
Osteria delle Frezze, Citta del Gusto |
Anyways, around 6:00 I called mom to see what the plan was going to be for dinner and everything. They said they would be home by 6:30, so I just waited for them to get back, then we figure out the night plans. The buses were up and running for 5-8, so we decided to grab the 62 and take it to Argentina and walk near Campo de Fiori to find a place to eat. We walked past La Carbonara, contemplating eating there, then walked into Piazza Farnese and landed upon a much nicer atmosphere and larger crowd of Italians at a restaurant called Da Gallinetto. Our table had a wonderful view of the Piazza and a very lively table of Italians. For my primo piatto I had gnochetti al gorgonzola con noci, mom had some kinda of spicy pasta with fish, and dad had pasta alla pajota INTESTINES!! Gross! All of the primi were delicious, and then we got a thin cut of veal for a secondo to split between the 3 of us. For dolci we had a ricotta and chocolate torta, and the wine that mom ordered was delicious, a rosso from Montefalco. I ate the majority of the dessert, then we paid the bill and walked back towards Largo Argentina, my parents to catch a cab, and myself to head to Trastevere to meet up with Helena.
I found Helena on the steps across from the Ponte Sisto, one of our usual meeting points, and she had run into Fabien and Jan, the french people who we had met last night at Aperitivo. So we hung around the steps with them until well after midnight, then we went with them to Campo de Fiori where they all ordered shottini that looked like french flags, but when they gave them to us they said it was for america. Funny! I had told mom and dad I would be back between 2 and 3, and as we sat outside chatting, not doing anything particularly great, the clock turned 2:30, and I felt it was time for me to leave the gracious french. Helena stayed behind with them, as she had no curfew, and I went and hailed a cab because the sciopero was still in effect and there weren't many buses running, and I was fast asleep in Rihem's bed (mine occupied by mom) by 3:00am.
We woke up around 9:00am, packed up our things, mom and I squishing our stuff in to dad's suitcase since neither of us had our own (Marta had taken mine to ESPANA) and then headed up toward Piazza Bologna to stop at Mizzica for a cappuccino and cornetto before heading to Muto. Mom and dad got to see why I was so intimidated of the place... Dad ordered 3 cornetti and 3 cappuccini, almost got stiffed 10 euro (by accident, and it all worked out), then once again I had to return to the cassa to pay 80 centessimi in piu because we picked pastries that were more expensive than what we paid for. Woops! We sat outside at a table on the side of the road with all of our bags, thoroughly enjoyed our colazione then proceeded to walk to the metro B where we took it to Termini, switched onto the A line and got to Anagnina. At Anagnina we went to the parking garage and tried to figure out how to pay the parking ticket, which we thought we did effectively, but once we found the car and tried to drive through the gate, the gate didn't seem to like how we validated the ticket... We backed out of the gate that wouldn't let us through, 4 cars had lined up behind us and after we moved they went right through the gate no problem. Mom went down to ask the garage attendant what the issue was, he said everything was fine and he told us if it didn't work again to press the help button and he would assist us. What do you know... it didn't work again! We pressed the help button, the mans voice came on, and he said it HAD to work, but we tried every which way, and we swear it didn't work, so he just buzzed us through after he got fed up with us dumb Americans!
We were en route to Via Muto by 11:30, and mom had plans to stop briefly at the mercatino (an old junk shop) before getting to the house, so she could seek our approval on a green set of drawers she had seen that she wanted for the bathroom. When we arrived we found that the drawers were no longer there, things go quick at the Mercatino! Mom was dissapointed, but no worries, her need to buy something old was quick resolved when she opted to buy a large print of Lire (the old italian currency), and I found a group of Nutella jar cups for 1,50! Score! When we arrived at Muto, Nonna had cooked and was waiting for us and Vince and Annie to throw the pasta in. We weren't sure when Vince and Annie were arriving so we started unloading the car... soon after Nonna started yelling at my mom for bringing more junk into the house when she saw the large Lire emerge from the car... It was nearing 1:30 and we didn't know where Vince and Annie were, so mom gave them a call, and they said they woudn't be arriving for an hour or so, so Nonna threw the tortellini in the pot, and we were eating the delicious brodo with tortellini 15 minutes later. Delicious. It was my favorite meal to have, especially in the windy afternoon at Muto. After we cleaned up Vince and Annie arrived, Nonna forced some food down their throats, and we sat out and talked for a while. At 4:30 Ilario came to pick me up to go see Harry Potter e i doni della morte. We went to a cinema in Isola Liri and saw it in 3D, I amazingly understood everything, and only got caught up where they mentioned characters names because for some reason they have different names in the Italian book... After the movie he brought me home and said he'd be by at 9:00 again to go to the comedian in a nearby hill town (castellini?). The parents were going to La Perla for a nice dinner, so I pulled out the leftover soup from the fridge, heated it up, and grabbed some veggies, and ate outside while Nonna rested nearby in her chair. Prompt as usual, Ilario arrived at 9:00, and we were off!
Around 3:30am our stomachs began to growl, so we went to the panino truck and the boys got porchetta sandwiches, and I got a slice of pizza. Once again, they REFUSED to let me pay for what I was getting. I tried to shove money in their pockets, but they just shoved it back in mine. Gentlemen those Italians. I don't pay for one thing when I'm in Fontechiari, it's ridiuclous! So they bought me some pizza, we sat and ate and chatted atop San Donato, then we headed on home, I honestly don't know how I made it. Che stanchezza ce l'avevo. Descending down the mountain back toward Muto, I again nodded in and out, and tried to stay awake by texting people on my phone, but that just turned into messes of letters... ask Lindsay! I got dropped off at home and ran upstairs, not stopping at go, and not collecting 200 dollars, jumped into bed and fell fast asleep. I didn't hear any dogs or foxes that night!
Sunday morning I woke up around 10:00 and just hung out enjoying the countryside until Nonna served dinner. Pasta. Nom. Nom. Nom. I finished up the laundry I had brought to Muto to do, packed up and waited for when my parents wanted to bring me to the stazione in Frosinone. I figured they had trains every hour, so I said we could go whenever, but I wanted to go kind of early incase Helena wanted to do something. I probably should have looked at the schedule because when we got to Frosinone, we realized it was Sunday, and the next train wasn't leaving for an hour and 45 minutes. Oh well... I had books and my laptop, so I told mom and dad to leave me, and I'd wait alone, so after we made plans for the next weekend to pick me up in Cassino, they left me, and I was on my way back to Rome for the work week. On the train ride home Francesca texted me to let me know the B line was closed between Tiburtina and Castro Pretorio... there had been a fire at Tiburtina station, so when I arrived at Termini I had to figure out the bus to get back, but they had an alternative shuttle running the same stops as the metro, so everything worked out, it just took a little bit longer. By 11:00pm I was back at Via Udine, ready for bed, and ready for my birthday week to commence!