A Difficult Decision

There has been a bit of a lag (I think one whole day!) since my last post, and I must explain it. Yesterday, I was down to my last euro coin, and found myself faced with a very difficult decision: should I spend it on an hour of internet use, or on a gelato? Clearly, I chose the gelato. As much as I enjoy writing this, that was one tasty gelato. I like to experiment with flavors, but when I walked into Miami (the best gelato place in all of Roma), I knew immediately what I wanted: pesca. I have always had a soft spot for peaches in any form, but peach gelato seemed like the pinnacle of peachy goodness. For some reason, I always get a fruit gelato and a cream gelato, so I paired it with straciatella, Italian chocolate chip. It was beyond delicious. The pesca had bits of actual peach in it, but not such large pieces that they froze my teeth or anything.

Having been inspired with this great peach success, I went to the market outside my current residence this morning, and paid attention to it for the first time. It is there every morning, and they start setting up (right outside my window) at about 5 am. Usually, I just hurry through it on my way to the Colosseum every morning, but today I was running early, so I ventured out to explore. They sell everything in this market, from cheese and meat to clothing and shoes, even though the whole thing takes up less than one block. I found the fruit stand and began admiring the peaches in a tactile fashion. The tiny old woman who owned the stand tottered over and thrust a brown paper bag into my hands and gestured majestically at the peaches. I was worried, because they were a bit hard, but when I expressed this to the old woman, she gave me a conspiratorial wink and pulled three gorgeous peaches out from another box. I bought them immediately, and had one on my way to the Forum. It was ripe and soft, and I feel very fortunate that Rome is a city of fountains, because I got peach juice all over my hands.

I met Gladiator Luca's girlfriend today. Her name is Gabriela, and she is the last person I would have ever expected to be dating big, blond, gladiator Luca. She is almost completely round, and dresses like an American tourist. In fact, I thought she WAS an American tourist, until I heard her speak, and then watched her plant one on Luca. She is very sweet, however, and brought Luca and Alessio giant bottles of water. I was a happy spectator for most of this, since there are still no tourists interested in the public tours. Still, I have heard rumors from Dara that there will be a change in the wind come July...