Day 2 - Mint & Lemon Cream

Bon Giorno! 

Welcome to day two of my Tour de Gelato. Thanks for reading! I hope you are insanely jealous of my adventures.

What Happened on the Way to the Forum

I did not get nearly enough sleep last night. I can no longer use jet lag as an excuse. Just need to get more sleep. Part of it was finishing readings for this study abroad (can you believe that we actually have to do stuff while we are sightseeing?), and part of it was working on my presentation about the Temple of Vesta. Stay tuned to learn more than you ever thought you needed to know about that, by the way!

We visited the Circus Maximus, which was at one time a racetrack used for chariot races, and I was struck by how casually everyone seemed to regard it. I saw someone jogging around it, I saw someone walking her dogs around it, and I saw someone riding his bike over it. I mean, most of the Circus was little more than gravel at this point, but still. Learning about the Circus Maximus as well as other monuments in class left me with an awe for them bordering on reverence. If anything, coming to Italy is helping dispel those notions, replacing them with excitement at the prospect of being able to visit, to touch these things.

Our next destination after lunch was the Roman Forum. We passed the Colosseum, which was surrounded by tourists, and punched our ticket to enter. I was blown away. The Forum was huge, much larger than any textbook diagram could ever hope to convey. It was also much less level than I had always imagined, which makes sense, considering the Forum was built between two of the famous hills of Rome, on drained marshland.  

Unlike the Circus, sections of the Forum were cordoned off, and we were restricted to a path. Also unlike the Circus, there was plenty to see. I get the feeling I would have to visit with a face in a map to fully grasp everything that I am seeing. There was a point when we went to sit in the shade, and it hit me. The rocks we were sitting on were bits of buildings that had been erected thousands of years ago.

The Gelato

Today, I had two servings of gelato. The tiredness made my self-control very weak. I had mint over our lunch break, because I was feeling slightly ill and I hoped the gelato would be light and refreshing. It was, as far as ice cream can be! Strangely for Roman food, it cost 2.50 euros for a serving. Probably because the shop was near the Circus.

This certainly did not taste like an extra €0.50

Later in the afternoon, we set out to the store. It was closed early due to a national holiday, so we made up for our lack of groceries with more gelato. This time I had lemon cream with pine nuts. That was much better than the mint, because it was less sweet and tasted more like straight lemon curd.

It was a good conciliatory snack.

If you are ever in Rome, travelling with people that you are not familiar with, invite them to get gelato. It is the best way to break the ice (cream) that I can think of, and it is well worth every euro.

That's All Folks

Come back tomorrow when I will hopefully have a post about a museum, complete with pictures, as well as a recipe for sausage pasta.

Ciao!