Finally Pasta!

Well just as I was walking out the door, Kristine came up the stairs. It’s a good thing she caught me, because she ended up taking a taxi and I would have been waiting at the train station for a while. We walked to the nearby Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano which is actually the cathedral of the diocese of Rome where the pope celebrates mass (not St. Peter’s). Nearby was the Santuario della Scala Santa (Palace of the Holy Steps) which contains the steps that are said to have been those that Christ walked on his way to see Pontius Pilate. They are now covered in wood for conservation purposes and “pilgrims” can only climb the steps on their knees. Afterward, we took a stroll to the Colosseum. It was starting to get late in the afternoon, so we decided not to go inside since it would be closing in less than an hour.

After continuing on to the Pantheon, we were both pretty hungry and decided to ask Arthur what kinds of restaurants were nearby. Coming highly recommended was the Osteria del Gallo which he said was in a tiny alley off the famous Piazza Navona. Just when Kristine mentioned reading in the blog how Hunter and I could never find the restaurants we set out for, there it was. It’s beautiful old building that was the authentic version of what so many Italian restaurants try to imitate. Kristine started off with Bruschetta which had the most delicious fresh tomatoes and then had a ravioli dish with spinach and ricotta cheese inside while I had the special which was a pasta dish with salmon. The sauces on both were fantastic. We spent a while admiring the building and finishing tour glasses of house wine before heading back to the Piazza Navona which is a bustling square lined with restaurants and filled with artists and street performers. In the middle is Bernini’s beautiful Fountain of the Four Rivers. The Piazza Navona was simply fantastic. It was lined with restaurants and filled with both street performers and artists. A few street performers were playing music. We stayed for hours because we didn’t want to leave. It was a perfect way to spend our first night in Rome. Eventually, we decided to head home after a long day of traveling to rest up for the Vatican tomorrow!