My Heart is Like an Artichoke

My return to Rome on Sunday afternoon was quite welcome after being gone for 10 days. Yes, I had an amazing time, but that didn't mean that I was ready to keep living day to day - I wanted to get back into a routine. (And, I needed to rest my poor, tired, blistered feet).

Last Monday and Tuesday I spent catching up on work and relaxing. Wednesday, on the other hand, was a big day - my Grammy and Papa arrived from Chicago!!! This was the best treat that I could have gotten after my 10 day vacation - 2 of my favorite people in my "foreign" city. What more could I ask for? The first night we just wandered around Piazza di Spagna and had a quick dinner so that they could go back to their hotel and get some sleep and try to acclimate themselves to the right time zone. I decided to take the 44 bus back to my apartment from Piazza Venezia. Bad idea. The bus broke down right in front of AUR. By this point I had to go to the bathroom terribly, but the campus was already locked for the night. So, in a moment of genius I called Jessie who lives only a few blocks from campus and asked her if I could run up. Thank goodness she way home! But being there was great fun because I got to go through my bag of goodies that Grammy had brought for me. I got my Uggs, a menorah and candles in preparation for Hanukkah, chocolate chips, a pedometer, and a fabulous shirt from Urban Outfitters that reads "Friends don't let friends vote Republican." Amen!

Thursday I had class in the morning, and then decided to be a bit of a rebel and skip my second class to go and meet Grammy and Papa in the Jewish quarter for lunch. Oh, and what a good lunch we had. Since I arrived in Rome I have been talking about going to the Jewish quarter to have their famous specialty - fried artichokes. Ok, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but they were wonderful! We also had fried zucchini flowers and fried cod, but neither were as good as the artichokes. Then, each of us had a primi (aka a pasta or a risotto). It was a truly wonderful meal.

From the Jewish quarter, the three of us got on the bus and headed up towards school so I could show them the campus, and then we went to my apartment. I think that both Grammy and Papa were honestly impressed with A) how well I know the city and the transportation system B) how nice campus and my apartment are. I would have to agree with them on both of those counts.

After resting and doing some checking of the email accounts, we headed off for dinner back by the hotel. Another wonderful meal ( I can't think of a bad one that I have had since being in Italy, come to think of it). I had prosciutto crudo and fresh buffalo mozzarella. Yummmyyy! Back at the hotel we had a few logistics to work out due to the newly announced information that there was going to be a nation-wide transportation strike the next morning. Now, this wasn't going to really affect the three of us during the day, because we had planned to go to Perugia early in the morning, but it was going to affect us upon our return - when it came to getting back to the hotel and me getting back to my apartment (which is not exactly within walking distance). What was decided (and what we learned) was that in the morning, before 9AM we would be fine, but after that - there was no way of knowing. So, the plan was that I would stay at the hotel on a cot for a night upon our return so I wouldn't have to worry about getting back.