Before the bacon could humiliate me, I decided to order a bowl of gruel instead, in the spirit of Dickens and Christmas. The spoon was a manly-sized implement, and the porridge was much more satisfying as a result.
After the meal, we were whisked away by RyanAir for a mere £20 each from rainy, miserable Manchester to sunny, temperate Rome. OK, £20 was the "headline number", and of course there was the £6 administration fee for the one-way flight, and the £15 for the checked bag. Our allowance was 15 kg, and our bag weighs 10 kg, so we packed one change of clothes, and wore sixteen layers on the plane to avoid paying the £20 per kilo overage charge. After adding the £2 seating charge (versus standing the whole flight), we managed to get to Rome for £33 each!
Lucky for us, we have arrived in Rome on a holiday...which means that we have time to get a siesta in and get our bearings before we have to dodge swarms of buzzing Vespas and molto rapido, crazy Italian drivers while walking around, wide-eyed and gob-smacked looking at the amazing architecture and antiquities. Today is La Befana, which our driver explained is a holiday where a horrendously ugly old woman on a broom flies around and gives candies to the good children and lumps of coal to the bad ones. With a little research, I discovered that it is indeed La Befana today, and it is also The Feast of the Epiphany. The Epiphany, also known as the Twelfth Day of Christmas, celebrates the day the Wise Men delivered their gifts to the baby Jesus. Since this side of the holiday slipped our driver's mind during the ride in from the airport, it would appear that the candy companies now outshine the Epiphany here in the heart of Catholicism. And, yes, he was an Italian and a lifelong resident of Rome, not some imported driver working on the holiday.
What's the first thing you do in Rome (especially when you had to get up at 3:30am to make the flight)? Head to a trattoria for le specialità locali. We are lucky enough to have a great pizza place (at least according to yelp.com) right next door to the apartment we are staying in, and the taxi driver recommended a trattoria that was close by and open on the holiday. Surprise, we dropped our bags and headed out for a meal!
At the Trattoria da Bucatino, we were, alas, too early for the pizza as the oven doesn't get going until 7:30pm. Our son had his heart set on having pizza as his first meal (in fact, as every meal), while in Italy. Instead, he had "the best spaghetti I've had in Italy" as his first meal. I enjoyed the Coniglio alla Cacciatore or Huntsman's Rabbit, and my wife had the Pollo con Peperone, or Chicken with Peppers. I didn't take any pictures, as I was too busy looking around trying to figure out what it is Romans do when in Rome, so I could do it too. The Delizia al Pistacchio and Tiramisù were amazing for dessert. Maybe next time, I'll sit in a restaurant full of Japanese Romans, so I can take pictures.
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