You would think that on a two month trip to Italy there would be plenty of lazy, carefree, unstructured days. Well, three weeks into our trip we haven’t really had one. Yesterday we finally did and boy, was it nice.

I certainly hope I don’t sound like a whiner. Our three weeks here have been filled with wonderful memories and good times. But for those first three weeks we had a minor army in tow, everyone looking to Suzy and Bill for structure, organization and transportation. We provided it and then some. Then on Sunday they left, bound for school, leaving just Suzy, Bill and Erin in Rome.

Our first impulse was to jam as much into our short stay in Rome as possible and on Monday we did just that, taking a fabulous walking tour of Rome with Elizabeth Minchilli. And we had similar ambitious plans for Tuesday. But when the sun came up, we did not.

We slept. We pushed the snooze bar. We finally got up and sat on the terrace of our lovely Trastevere apartment. We read. We wrote. We answered emails. We nodded off.

Not until after noon did we even begin to think about striking out and doing anything. I was going to get my hair cut. Suzy and Erin were going to go shopping. We were going to have lunch on the terrace at the Hotel Palazzetto, overlooking the Spanish Steps. We were going to see the city and get back home in time to enjoy dinner with some friends who live here in Rome.

Not much of that happened and we could care less. After a few false starts, we made our way out of the apartment and wandered over to the Viale di Trastevere, the main street that runs through this working class neighborhood. There we played local and hopped on the trolly car that crosses over to the other side of the Tiber River, heading toward the Palazzetto, a nice restaurant with some of the best people watching in Rome. Along the way we called for a reservation only to find that the terrace restaurant, which was closed for renovation when we were in Rome last fall, is still closed. Never mind, we headed toward the Spanish Steps anyway and found a nice sidewalk restaurant a few blocks from the Via Condotti, where Suzy and Erin planned to shop.

There we had a very leisurely lunch of artichokes (what else) and a main course. Afterwards, as the sun began to dip in the sky, I wandered to the shopping area with the womenfolk, said my goodbyes and returned to the apartment to finish some work and not interfere with the important shopping at hand. No haircut, no worries. The girls hit a number of stores and returned a couple of hours later with many bags in tow.

And so our day, which 24 hours earlier had promised to be a mad dash around Rome in hopes of not missing anything turned out to be a rather non-event. Lunch and a little shopping. The way more days ought to be when you are on vacation.

* * *

But we did accomplish one thing of note. In the evening, on our way to dinner, we made a stop by our friends Kay and Massimo’s apartment for a brief visit. Massimo is recovering from a fall and some other health issues and we were hoping to see him before leaving Rome. Although brief, it was nice, as always, to see his warm, smiling face.

Then Kay joined us as we met our friends Clark, Raffaella, Dianne and Frances at a local restaurant just a few blocks from the apartment. The restaurant, which we had dined at once previously, is called Baccocco, and styles itself as an enoteca/bistrot. Its specialty is a varied wine list and lots of small plates, many of them raw offerings. Our group of 8 dominated the tiny restaurant and for the next several hours there was a lot of shouting and laughing, chewing and gulping. As with the visit with Massimo, it was good to spend time with these good friends.

The Italian word for nothing is niente. Yesterday you could say we did niente. But sometimes, like yesterday, nothing is more than something.

Ci vediamo!
Bill and Suzy