Day 6 - Wildberry Yogurt

Salvete omnes!

Hi there, and welcome (or welcome back) to my adventures in Italy. Thanks for tuning in!

Come si dice "water"?

My experience with water in Rome has been an interesting one. At the University of Minnesota, should I desire it, I can fill up my water bottle at a convenient fountain designed specifically to fill water bottles. Most of the time I don't bother. Drinking water serves more to keep me awake in class than it does to keep me hydrated. At my apartment, I have a pitcher in the fridge that filters water on-demand. Sure, I may not change the filter as often as I should, but it still tastes fine. Good, even.

Confirmed: magic.

I would never fill my water bottle at a sink. I never have to. Even  if the water is completely safe, which I have no doubt that it is, the thought always comes off as sort of cringe-inducing. Why? I really do not know. Logically, I should be fine with whatever water is available. Water has a different meaning at home than it does in Italy. In Minnesota, water is what I drink when I take my pills, or when I want to lay off the soda, or I need something to do in class. I grab water bottles from the fridge at work, I fill a tall glass at home, I get free water at Chipotle. In Italy, it's different. The temperature during the day regularly reaches 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and our trips regularly leave us walking around in the sun. It turns out that I don't like wine, and need to wash it down with something. Water is EXTREMELY important.

The Nasoni

Our first day out and about in Rome, I saw a dog drinking from a fountain at the edge of the sidewalk. I thought to myself, "Oh man, Rome is an extremely dog-friendly city!" Then I saw the dog's owner bend down, cup her hand, and take a drink as well. I thought it was weird. The fountains must have been ancient. Fast-forward an hour, and my whole group was relieved to fill our water bottles up for the third time. Hydration is important when the weather is extremely hot, and our water would heat up in our water bottles if we failed to drink it fast enough. The water from the fountains is always cold.

"Nasone" means "big nose." See the resemblance?

It took me a literal hot minute to accept that for the next three weeks, these would be my source of water. One day, I kept track of my consumption and found that I had gone through ten bottles' worth of water. On the streets, there are guys that sell bottles of water to tourists for one euro each. Without these fountains, I could be spending ten euros a day. Thats FIVE scoops of gelato. Thank you, nasoni.

Speaking of Gelato...

Today Suzy and I had a bit of a hard time locating a gelaterie. We were in an area near a train station, that had loads of high-end shops interspersed with shops that screamed "tourist trap." Finally though, we found our gelato.

Everyone in that shot is a tourist.

Suzy got lemon, which she claimed tasted exactly like lemonade. I got wildberry and yogurt, which was a more delicious version of the cherry I got in Tarquinia. The berry was much less syrupy than the cherry had been.

Ciao!

P.S.: I told Suzy about the subject of this post. She replied that since the fountains were named after noses, that meant we were drinking snot. So that is a lovely visual.