roma, part one

rome, goodness there was so much to see. we arrived very late in the evening and since we weren't familiar with our surroundings just yet we decided to just have dinner at the hotel restaurant. ooh my goodness I am soooo glad we did, that is where I had my most favorite dish of my italy adventure. I ordered gnocchi pomodoro with smoked buffalo mozzarella. holy mac was it delicious. I have never tasted anything so unique. the mozzarella had an intense smoked flavor that blended perfectly with the light pomodoro sauce and fresh parsley coating each gnocchi. I am determined to recreate this some how some day. the next morning we set off to the colosseum. not before of course stoping into a pastry shop and getting something for breakfast. it still boggles my mind that there we were just walking down a busy street then suddenly this huge ancient stadium just comes to view right at the end of it, cars and people buzzing all around. it was quite magnificent, the fact that it still stands is just insane. once inside we walked it a couple times even though it was sprinkling out, and under covering there was a museum of its own with artifacts galore of ancient rome. outside we walked passed the arch of constantine and into palatine hill and the roman forum. the whole area is one of the most ancient parts of rome and is filled with ruins of various centuries. it was interesting to see, this used to be a palace, these were the  gardens and so on. then there was the roman forum where the likes of julius caesar himself walked about. it was raining pretty hard so for our late lunch/dinner we decided to tuck away under the canopy of an outdoor restaurant. I had 'bruschetta natura', which was crisp toasted bread spread with garlic, doused with extra virgin olive oil and freshly cracked pepper. even the simplest of bread dishes they really put there heart into. for my main I had minestrone and wow was it wonderful, the fresh italian parsley really brought out its freshness. I have recreated this one already since being home and I think I got pretty spot on if I do say so myself so I was pretty excited. at each meal, after every bite I would take a moment to discover the flavors and pin point every ingredient I could and I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget. It was pretty wet out and our meals usually took a couple of hours so we walked back to our hotel and relaxed for the evening, ready for a full day at vatican city the next day.