• Sitting Outside the Pork Market

    7/13/20091:56:17 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment

    The last time we visited Rome, Linda and I plus 8 of our friends were looking to enjoy a real authentic Italian dinner. We have come to find out . . . . . that we did not know what a real authentic Italian dinner was . . . . . until we arrived.


     


    But first, I need to begin a couple of days earlier.


     

    We arrived into Rome early enough to see and enjoy as much as we possibly could. To do this we hired a tour company complete with . . . . . . a mini-bus . . . . . . a driver . . . . . . . and a tour guide. We soon found out . . . in grand Italian fashion . . . . that hiring the right tour guide would be a benefit. It requires a guide with a lot of hand gestures . . . a certain way with words . . . and always follows up with a hug. To our delight, these three ingredients could get you to the front of any line and give you more time to explore. Our tour guide’s name was Albierto.

     

    We arrived into Rome . . . . . after an overnight flight . . . . . on the morning of day 1. As we transferred to the center of town, we had our first peek at the Roman traffic system.         WOW!        If you have ever been there, you know what I mean. If you haven’t . . . . . . it’s an experience. After checking into our hotel, Albierto was to meet us outside the lobby for our day visit to the Vatican . . . . . and all sites offered on that side of town. This is where the hand gestures and hugging come in handy as the lines were wrapped around the building, but with Albierto at our side (and he even knew to park us near an outdoor beer vendor). . . . it wasn’t bad as we waited for him to do his thing.

     

    I’m getting to the dinner.

     

    Day 2 greets us with a perfect blue sky and short sleeve temperatures. Albierto arrives bringing us his girlfriend problems. As he explains it “Me needa go to a sleep atta my mama’s homa toanite”. By mid day, he was calling Angie at GalaxSea Cruises . . . . in Atlanta . . . . with his stories . . . . . and had us rolling in the aisles. Day 2 began at the Coliseum, across the way to the Forum, lunch with some Chianti and continued to other destinations, such as . . . . . Trevi Fountain . . . . the Spanish Steps . . . . . more cafés and . . . a cannoli (a story for another day), but did you know . . . . . they do not call them Cannoli’s in Italy?

     

    We ask Albierto if he can find us a good Italian restaurant. The kind that is off the tourist hit list and something we would remember. We offered to buy Albierto and his girlfriend (they made up) dinner as long as he can get us there. The light of day is gone now, as he is driving us through areas of Rome . . . . . which definitely are not on the tourist “hit list”. However, “hit list” may be more accurate than we thought.

     

    Albierto pulls over at a place . . . . . which we didn’t think we wanted to be at. Cars are triple parked . . . . . some are missing a tire or two . . . . small groups of men are smoking cigarettes under the light post . . . . . Tony S is sitting outside the pork market . . . . and we are walking down a dimly lit alley without letting Albierto get more than a few feet away from us. He will be leaving us at the door while he goes to pick up his girlfriend. Oh joy!

     

    As you may imagine . . . . the door was locked. You knock . . . . . you enter . . . . and they lock the door behind you. We soon realized not to judge things by their appearance. Inside it was like a Sunday dinner at Momma Vespucio’s . . . . . outside was like a class of Mafiosa 101. The table was prepared with bottles of water . . . . . bottles of wine . . . . . and large bowls of sausages. Whole sausages of all types and sizes . . . . . and a large butcher knife. Not quite sure if that was for protection . . . or the sausages. In the words of Billy Mays . . . “but wait, there’s more” . . . the staff brings out the appetizers and breads . . . . . and more wine followed by the cheese platter. We haven’t ordered dinner yet, but it certainly will be pasta.    We think.     We decided to order all types of food “family style” and have a taste of everything. All homemade. All excellent. And the evening finishes up with a bottle of Lemoncello. Could have done without that.

     

    We are left to get back by cab as Albierto heads in the other direction with his Italian model at his side. Before leaving, he had arranged for two taxis . . . . and had already given them our destination. We thank the staff for their hospitality, find the keeper of the key and exit into the darkness to our awaiting chariots. Tomorrow . . . . . will find us aboard the Carnival Liberty, looking forward to the rest of our Italian tour. 

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