Untrainable

This morning just to show that we're not slaves to habit we did something different.

We turned left instead of right coming out the door.

This led to a different cafe for a start to the day. This bar was far more "Italian" than the ones we had been frequenting on the piazza and there is no better place to people watch than an Italian bar. This one in particular was excellent because the seating area was raised above the bar area.

The place operated like a Swiss watch. The espresso machine, set at right angles to the counter, was exactly counter depth. There was a set of stairs for customers to one side and one for servers to the other. To be really Italian one must take coffee at the bar, standing up. This is not only more culturally correct it is also cheaper (which may be the same thing) as there is a charge for table service.

After this start to the day I went on another long walk. This time I decided to venture into that area of central Rome where the train does not go, the "untrainable" areas. Piazza Navona where I went the other day is part of this but today I pushed on further.

I walked straight past the entry to Piazza Navona into an interesting area of small piazzas, apartments, and, interestingly, schools. I include a couple of street scenes of no particular importance other than the second which is a high end fabric store which Nancy really needed to have seen. There were a couple there close together. Top hole antique stores were also here along with an interesting shop of Oriental "antiquities".

Round building behind round man

This brought me once more to the River, this time across from Castel Sant'Angelo aka the Mausoleum of Hadrian.  I didn't cross the river but rather admired it from afar.

I did cross the River a bit further south though. I include the second picture above as one of several demonstrating that the camera can't catch what the eye sees. This particular one is what I believe to be the Janiculum Hill and it was dramatic. In the picture it looks like an intersection. Missing pictures include a campanile at the end of a narrow street, washed out as it was in bright sunlight. And there was a garden at the end of a hallway behind big doors; a tiny green blob.

The third (not much better) picture is of an arch leading into Trastevere where I wandered, this time from behind the basilica. I really like this area, particularly further to the west which is more like a neighborhood.

And then the tram back to Piazza Venezia and a walk back to the 'hood for a cafe with my sweetie.

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Nancy went in for a lie down while I took my clothes to the laundry. On the way back I got a gelato to take to her. In the stairwell, while the gelato was melting dripping all over my hand, my downstairs neighbor, a full-timer here in Rome, stopped me to inform me that the best gelato in Rome was available on the street behind the piazza. Tonight we tried it. Yowza!