Day 7

Captain’s log day 7: we sleep in for the first time in a week. It’s amazing. We wake to our own circadian rhythms, have some ajwain tea and head out to meet Belle at a little corner coffee shop, John Bourno. We have a delicious juice and of course, more espresso. We see the cutest little Italian toddler with suspenders and a gold chain and speaking Italian (obviously). Adorable. From there we go to Belle’s local gym to take the total body class. The gym reminds me of Average Joe’s. It’s small and cute and the owner lets us have a free day pass. Nicola absolutely kicks our ass; it’s like a cross between Zumba, step (more steps!!) weight training and Pilates. It’s all in Italian which makes it a little more challenging but it’s so fun and feels great to sweat. From there we decide to go this amazing day spa we found. For only 50€ you can spend the day in the Roman bath rooms - there’s a progression from steam/scrub room to rinse room to dry sauna to ice room to salt room to hot tubs to rest room with a face mask. Twas glorious and exactly what we needed. We stroll the cobblestone streets looking for our next food stop. Note: I continue to be enamored with the doors here. We end up by The Duomo. I’ve lost count of my emotional outburst at this point, but I have another. It’s breathtakingly beautiful and gargantuan but with so many intricate details carefully and skillfully carved out of marble. I don’t know much about this building, so I’ll be researching. We find a great little restaurant with outdoor seating and have another delicious meal. Truffles are an Italian ingredient that don’t get enough love. They make everything better and I will be using them at all times when I return. We run by the grocery on our way back to pick up more tp (), toothpaste and some laundry detergent. It’s so busy and honestly a little dirty, but the produce, meats, cheese, breads, pastas are so fresh I have a hard time not buying stuff just to cook it. We get back to our flat for a drop off of the day’s shopping haul and head to a local pub to meet Belle and her friends. It’s hot as shit in there with the crowd and the lack of AC, but we’re able to chat with Belle and her new friends, which made it tolerable. They decide to go to the club and want us to tag along I feel very much like that scene in Knocked Up where Craig Robinson is like “You old, she pregnant.” but we decide to go in for 1 drink. We don’t make it that far...because while we’re not pregnant, we are old and are out of there faster than we came in. We leave the babes behind and have a heartfelt discussion about the blessings and challenges of raising adult children as we make our way back. It was an incredible day in this lovely city. Ci vediamo domani!!

PS I drank from a noodle straw