After arriving in Rome at 4am after a not so Easy Jet flight, I wondered if I would feel like this was my second home town again?
Wandering through the streets it was like not a moment had passed, although it was over four years. Any use of maps or guides was superfluous as Rome was to be mine.
I found in moments the restaurant my brother and I had searched hours for only to find the kitchen closed as we took too long getting there – closed for renovation. Never mind, onto the world’s favorite fountain – closed for construction. Spanish steps – surrounded by building work. Colosseum – don’t even start – scaffolding. Even the statues seemed to be having some sort of mud treatment.
Rome wasn’t built in a day but last time I was here it looked pretty good, I knew people came to Europe for a facelift but this is crazy. My desire to reconstruct the experience was seemingly being mocked, yet all it did was make me feel more at home.
After some shopping, a visit to a barber for a short cut and a long chat, gastronomic plates that make you proud to have a large waist line (well that is what I told myself – note: few photos of me)…dinner was at the tiny and hidden Trattoria Dell’Omo, it was my Lee’s Fortuna Court of Rome..two waiters looked after everything while their mother cooked away…grande pasto.
Arrivederci Roma (1955 by Renato Rascel) played in my head as I set off on the train to Levanto on the Italian Riviera…although with all the construction…Roma, why you break’da my heart?!
