Piazza Del Popolo and the Spice Girls

Me, Alex, Anna, Danielle, and Katherine woke up from our naps, got ready, and told some friends that we were going to walk all the way down to Piazza del Popolo, and to meet us there. After mapping it out, our iPhones told us that it would take about 45 minutes to walk, but we wanted to because we wanted to explore everything the neighborhood around us.

We set off following my iPhone, thinking that we had to follow screenshots because we had to use the Maps app (assuming it required WiFi). So when we left our apartment, we clearly had no idea which direction to head, and ended up walking back and forth on Via Forli. Finally, I discovered that the Maps app would work regardless of the internet... GPS apparently. So we felt a little stupid after that.

Once we were headed on our way in the right direction, we were really taking in all of the ruins and ancient history surrounding us. As we walked down the street, we passed a lot of monuments that we unfortunately couldn't understand. We walked by a big castle-like structure and wall with a kind of monument of the Virgin Mary. When we later looked it up, we found that it was called Caserma "Macao" and was a kind of barrack. I tried to google it and found all of these pictures from a long time ago, but still can't figure out exactly what it was.

I don't know what it is with Italian men, but they definitely don't hold back. Waiters at a restaurant we passed yelled out, "Bella! Bella! Beautiful Americans!" A motorcycle leaned out and blew us kisses. I really think that they just have no qualms about saying what they want when they want.

We walked pretty far, and then ended up walking in the completely wrong direction, cutting through Villa Borghese, which is one of the most beautiful parks in Rome. Unfortunately, it ended up being really creepy at night. The iPhone was tracking us wrong, and we had to constantly backtrack. Not gonna lie, there were certain points when we heard a branch crack and we all shrieked and geared up to run. We passed amazing fountains, and finally ended up on the right street.

We arrived at the Piazza del Popolo about 45 minutes later than expected, and there's no way our friends were still there. It is kind of a little town center, with old churches and monuments surrounded by one huge Egyptian obelisk of Sety I. The whole center is paved in stones, and we passed by couples walking around with roses. When we first entered the gates, a guy who seemed a bit younger than was clearly struggling with something to say, and then in English he said, "You all are very well." I think he was trying to be nice, and we all smiled and said grazie.

As we set off to explore the three streets jutting out of the Piazza, we took pictures of them decked out in the lights from building to building. We walked down the first one, starving and ready to eat dinner. It was already around 10:30 pm, and we hadn't eaten since lunch at Villa Tortolia. As we walked past shops of Herve Leger and Tory Burch, we wanted to look, but our stomachs were growling.

We cut across another street and I peered at a menu at the Risto Brunettis. The prices were really good, and there was bruschetta, so we were in agreement. The man who was bringing the chairs inside, clearly the owner, came up to us and said in English, "Would you like to eat here?" It seemed like it was already closed, so I asked him, "Are you still open?" and he replied, "Just for you girls!"

He literally made the cook stay longer to make our dinner. The restaurant was adorable. It had nine tables, and as the man sat us at our table, he said "For the Spice Girls." Danielle immediately said, "Well I'm Scary Spice." I'm not quite sure what he meant by that, but we thought that he possibly thought we were British?

Three men attempted to come into the restaurant right after we were seated, and he refused to seat them and had a conversation with them behind us. All I could understand was that he said English (I know, I really have to work on my Italian). I think he thought that it was good business to have us there, so that we would come back. While we had our dinner, he sat at a corner table with a friend and drank wine while eating his own meal of pasta.

He gave us the house white wine, then we ordered a delicious order of bruschetta. He then took the order for our meals. Three of us ordered the cacio e pepe, which apparently is quite famous in Rome. It was just a simple, kind of spicy cream sauce with a thick spaghetti noodle that started with "t" that we can't remember. Anna got the gnocchi, and then Danielle got the same noodles as us with a white wine clam sauce. We all finished our plates, but the portions were literally perfect. We finished our wine and left, telling him that we would be back.

We knocked on the window of the million cabs parked on the street, and we got in. When I tried to say,"Via Forli", he asked, "Hotel?" He did not speak one word of English. Apparently we were not pronouncing the "i" right, and finally Alex said, "Piazzo Bologna". He laughed at us and started pronouncing the street the right way, and we tried to repeat after him. We were all giggling uncontrollably, and someone said, "Thank God we're not lost in Villa Borghese again." He laughed again and corrected our pronunciation again, saying "Si, grande parco." At least we could kind of communicate.

At 11:45 pm, we finally made it home. The cab ride was about five minutes, certainly less than our hour and half trek there. We will certainly be returning to Piazza del Popolo, just in a cab this time.