(9/8)
We’d had a problem with our debit card the day before, but neither of us paid attention . . . BAD IDEA. You see, taxis in Rome don’t take credit cards. The metro is pretty cheap, but still requires moolah to make it work, and we didn’t have enough to make it to our meeting point for today’s tour. Bank after bank machine turned us down and we were running out of time. . . . and then we missed the tour by 5 minutes.
DAMN.
Turns out our Capital One debit card — which we use because it doesn’t cost a fee to withdraw money in Europe — developed a ‘glitch’. We found this out after buying Skype for a month and using it to direct dial the US number. (Int’l toll free didn’t work.) So I talked to a nice young man who was very apologetic and un-glitched the card so we had access to cash again.
And we didn’t make it to Hadrian’s Villa. Again.
Deciding to not make it a bad day, we walked across the street to our neighborhood restaurant for lunch. Il Mozzicone was nice, and safe and nothing further be said. Afterwards we spent some time reading in the sun and had a glass of wine as we talked and wrote and enjoyed a quiet day.
Dinner was at Osteria della Commari which specializes in traditional Roman dishes. I started with zucchini blossoms stuffed with anchovies (delicious!) while J. enjoyed a caprese. His main was a polpette (meatball) in orange sauce (red pepper and tomato) and I had cod fish in a sweet and sour sauce with onions, pine nuts and raisins. Yummy and recommended.
I know, I know — where are the pictures? I didn’t take many. So here’s a selection of street art I found interesting and/ or amusing.
