An Evening Stroll

Day 101

I have decided that my for the remainder of my time, I will give in to that impulsive side of me that I always try to suppress.  That means when I want to do something, I'm gonna do it; if I want to eat something, I will walk clear across the city and get it; if I pass something I think is pretty, I'm going to buy it.  The last 3+ months I have been so incredibly careful to budget out my money and time that I now find I have an excess of one and none of the other.

So I started today.  After coming home from a dinner with a family friend I decided that, since it was promising to be such a lovely evening, I would sit in the rose garden next to the convent and read a book rather than go study.  It had rained earlier today and the shower has made the garden more vibrant than ever.  I love this place.  Over the past week I have been considering becoming a nun, but only if I get to live in the convent I'm currently in, because it is just in the perfect location for everything and is surrounded by beauty. 

When the guard came to kick me out at 8, rather than crossing the street and submitting to studying for finals I decided that I wanted gelato, and not just any gelato, but strawberry and melon gelato made using fresh melons and strawberries (you can taste the little chunks of fruit still in it).  So I set off down the Aventine and along the Tiber.  Walking along the Tiber I made another resolution to take my camera with me every time I leave my room because I'm going to need to take pictures of every inch of this city at least twice more.  For instance: walking along the Tiber I was struck that it was just so pretty and had to snap half a dozen pictures on my poor quality iPad camera.  Lets get one thing straight: three months ago, I would have said the Tiber is about as ugly as a river can get.  Its brown and full of trash and constrained by these unnatural walls.  But tonight, man, it was just the prettiest thing.

So I finally get myself some gelato from Fior di Luna (the gelato), and decide to just wander the streets around the gelato place since it, like the Tiber, is just the prettiest thing I have ever seen.  Lining the streets are all these vendors selling everything from scarves to art to jewelry to pouches of dried lavender.  And wouldn't you know but I just had to buy this one scarf.  By the time I hit the end of the street I'm scraping the bottom of my cup.  I'm disappointed for a minute until I realize I have to pass back by Fior di Luna to get back home.  So I eagerly head back down the road crowded with hawkers, diners, and that something that makes Rome Rome, and get myself another cup of gelato.  And then, for the hell of it, I buy another two scarves (I now have enough scarves to open my own shop).  Walking back home I pass another part of the Tiber that I needed a picture of. 

And to think, the day started out rainy and miserable and me being sure I wouldn't do or see a single thing all day.

Ciao,
J