five more days....

less than a week left...

today we went out to termini. my old 'hood. to the hotel where aubrey and i stayed the first time we visited rome in 2001. to my first home in rome in 2002, for 30 days - up 5 flights of stairs in a tiny-ass room. to visit my FIRST friend in rome, gino.

gino runs a small 2 star hostel very close to the termini, the main train station in rome. cheap hotel rooms, very very clean rooms, and super friendly staff. you become part of the family there.

gino told me in the beginning that i could stay as long as i needed. he helped me out with the language, where to go, aspects of roman life, and great homemade wine. if you are planning a trip to rome, you must stay at his place.

anyway i lived there for a month before i found the apartment near piazza navona. i stopped in every now and then to say hi, but after a while we lost touch. today's visit was actually the first in more than a year and a half. we hung out, talked about our lives, caught up, and then had lunch.

he treated us to a wonderful lunch at a sardinian place nearby. vegetable antipasto, spaghetti with clams, and TONS of fish for the main course. and of course, enough vino and grappa for a whole day.

he's thinking about coming to america for thanksgiving. that would be great. although he says, for 35 years he's been talking about going to america. i hope this is the year! i feel so terrible about not keeping in touch better in my 3 years in rome. we were just a bus ride away.

but i guess life gets the best of you sometimes. you get stuck in a rut, even in a place like rome. and one bus trip seems to much to do sometimes. when he comes to the states, be it for thanksgiving or some other time, he is more than welcome at our house. and finally we'll get to offer him lunch and dinner...

we've got about one more bag to pack. tomorrow hopefully we'll get the baby stuff to grazia, and the fridge to rich. monday giovanni will be taking the bed. we're winding down here folks. my stomach has been a mess; aubrey's too. luca knows something is up, but he is it at least still cheerful!

sunday night is the nbc farewell dinner at roberto's. one of our favorite restaurants. that will be fun. i'm planning on getting the recipe for thier specialty, pasta norcina. its rigatoni with a light cream sauce and sausage. im not holding my breath that i will succeed here... we'll see what happens.

we've got some more shopping to do, some espresso to bring back home, some wine, and other things... it's going to be a frantic few more days here.