Day 94
Despite my inability to put together travel plans for this weekend, I was able to get out of Rome, if only for the day. Trinity put together "A Day in the Countryside" at
€20 a head. Less than half of the students signed up, but everyone who did is part of my friend group, so it was a guaranteed good time even before we knew just what a deal we got.
We met bright and early this morning and walked down the hill to get breakfast at a bar. Once we got on the bus Francesco (one of our directors here and the one who put the day together. I think of him as a mix of a dean of students and social chair) got up and started describing our game plan for the day, and making some outrageous comments along the way. (I think the comments were a result of the cold medicine he was on and which were making him a little loopier than usual).
So we take the bus to Sermoneta in the Alban Hills south of Rome. We had a tour of a castle originally built by the Caetani family (Very interesting history there. Apparently they were the nemesis of the Borgia family. The Borgias is the #1 show on my to watch list when I get back home: they have so much interest in the history here). The castle was very pretty, and the town around it absolutely adorable. However, by the time we left, we were all ready for the lunch we were promised.
Hopping back on the bus we drove for about an hour and then got off at an olive grove. Here is where the day really gets interesting and fits in so nicely with my slew of food posts. So the main advertisement of this trip was the chance to try a kind of artichoke called Carciofi alla Matticella which you can only really get in this one area of all of Italy because of a certain herb it uses. We were told we would get this as lunch along with a few types of grilled meats. Okay, sounds simple enough.
Ha! that meal description was so inaccurate. More students may have signed up if they actually knew what they would really be getting. It went a little something like this:
It started out normal enough: we watched the owners prepare these artichokes and bury them in the grill. Before the artichokes were done though, we were called inside for our first course: a pasta with some kind of creamy and spicy tomato sauce. Not knowing what the full menu was (or at least thinking I knew the menu was small) I ate an extra half plate of pasta. Then we were served grilled chicken and potatoes marinated in rosemary, salt, and pepper. There were two extra plates of potatoes on each table. (I withheld this time, because I was starting to get wary of how much might still be coming). Next came the artichokes (which were appropriately delicious given how much hype they had) served with sausage and bacon. Then an extra artichoke (that Francesco said we were not allow to leave uneaten). The next course was a huge platter of the traditional Roman springtime snack of fava beans and pecorino cheese. (This was definitely my favorite. I'm going out to buy some tomorrow). Finally, when we didn't think we could stuff any more food into our stomachs, we got some sort of cream and pastry and fruit dessert.
So for the final count (keeping in mind we only paid €20 and part of that logically had to go toward the charter bus we were traveling in) we got 6 courses and 9 different kinds of food. Oh, and lets keep in mind that there was unlimited wine, and still and sparkling water.
When we were finally fit to burst, we went and laid outside in the grass. Our respite was not long though, because the professor who had decided to join us for on our day in the countryside had brought their kids along as well, and they wanted to play a game of soccer. I joined in on the girls team (made of all abroad students and one 6 year old), and we were soundly beaten by the prepubescent and middle aged (only 1 student). In our defense though, we were outnumbered almost 2 to 1.
We got on the bus a while later and immediately fell asleep in order to give our poor bodies a moment to focus on digesting the feast we had consumed.
Ciao,
J
No comments:
Post a Comment