Back in the SPQR

That's right, it's back to Rome, Amici. Because I just can't get enough, that's why. And because that's where my hotel reservations are. And because if I get on a northbound train, there's no telling where I might end up.

Anyway, my first night back I decided to spring for a nice dinner. Usually, when I travel alone, I have my biggest meal in the afternoon and hit a grocery store for dinner. I have many reasons for doing this, but the main one is that it's cheaper. But now I'm in Rome and it's Springtime, which means that the dinner hour doesn't really get going until 8:00 or 9:00 and people are out living la dolce vita in the streets until all hours of the night. And I'm just itching to get out and rub elbows with some sweaty Romans, and people-watch in a nice restaurant.

Il Gabriello: What a nice little place! On a side street, in a basement, with medieval arches. And good food. Dinner=Arugula salad with pears and Parmesan cheese, steamed mussels with some kind of tasty tomato and wine sauce, strawberries with lemon and sugar. Mmmmm!

The Spanish Steps turn into a big par-tay in the evening.

View from the top of the steps: looks like a good time, right? It is.

The roasted chestnuts apparently aren't such a hot commodity when it's 75 degrees out.

Another happenin' piazza (there's a little bar in the far corner). The columns on the right are ruins of a temple built to honor the emperor Hadrian in 146 AD

The Pantheon, an obelisk, a couple, two police officers, a waiter, and the moon.

View of Castel Sant' Angelo from across the Tiber.

St. Peter's with traffic.

Aahh, that's much more peaceful! Nighty night!