Day Two 2014- Recovery Mode

Was rousted from a deep dream state this morning to find that Marianne (the Miraculous) (aka the wife) had overcome her usual lack of inner map to make it all the way from the Rome airport to the door of the apartment here. This was a good thing, since she also had no other real way of contacting me or our friends. She had not run into any of the blocks that I did, and made it straight through LA-DC-Rome.

It's Artichoke season!!

 Took a few cups of coffee to get my motor to idle correctly, then we took the little puppy (Bella, a Yorkie) out for an excursion to the market at Campo di Fiori, which is literally about 10 steps away from the front door. OMG! I love farmers markets, and especially somewhere foreign, where there's always something different to explore. Right now is artichoke season, so we picked up a couple of fresh looking ones. They also have (real) new potatoes, which are about the size of a malted milk ball, and several great looking mushrooms.

Fresh fruits and vegetables at the Campo di Fiori

Darius and Erica's flat is very nice; not huge, but carved out of an old palazzo with exposed wooden ceilings and curious little brick niches that look like ancient ossuaries in the bathroom- perfect for storing toiletries! They actually got chosen to do one of those HGTV shows on apartment hunting a few years ago, so we had already seen it before we got here. Darius is also on TV fairly often in his professional capacity as an archeologist. They took off for an all expenses paid ski junket thanks to Erica's gig as an online reviewer for a variety of magazines, so we have the place to ourselves for a few days- whee!

little brick niches in the bathroom- perfect for shampoo and towels!

After coming back with the dog, we went down and had delicious pizza- vegan for Marianne and Gluten free for me! Been so long since I've had a nice pizza, and to have it be wheat free was fabulous! Then we moseyed on up to the Piazza Navona, poking our heads into any church door that was open. The sky was marbled with clouds that looked like rain, but it didn't, and the temperature is actually quite mild now, having risen a bit in the last week. Made the requisite stop in the Pantheon to pay our respects to all the gods (and artists and architects) of our ancestors, then had our first gelati (I got Limone and Nocciola- Hazlenut.)

Marianne sees the light in front of the Pantheon

I like this attitude! "Well, we know the pillars will have pigeons on them, so let's beat them to the punch!" On Sant'Agnese in Agone on the Piazza Navona

After a bit more wandering, taking in the Caravaggios in the Contarelli Chapel, we found ourselves once again at the Trevi fountain, which is remarkably crowded considering we're just in to March and it's still cool here. I guess there's already a pretty heavy dose of spring breakers on the loose, as we've seen the marauding bands of teens all over. We threw in our coins for returning next time, then went home as the sun faded, stopping to pick up a phone card so that I can use text and google maps here. Flat rate of $35 to put a different card in my phone and have enough phone, text, and data to easily get me  through 3 weeks. Easy Peasy! 

Saint Hilarius, patron of comedians, died in a tickle fight with the Devil.

Back to the flat to walk the dog and whip up a fab dinner of salad with some weird octopus-like green i've never seen before, leftover pizza from lunch, and our two magnificent artichokes. topped it all off with some amazing real amaretti, which are nothing like what you get in a bag in the states, and some herbal tea. Then it's now! Time to post!

These weren't ours tonight, but they may be soon! Nipples of Venus!!