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19 November 2018
9:17 PM - Rome
The enemy of food tripping -- diarrhea. lol. Had to quickly go back to the B&B today because I was barely holding on to dear control, so I didn't see much of the Spanish Steps and totally missed Villa Borghese.
In other news, I walked a total of 25,363 steps today! Of course, I also had pasta, gelato, tiramisu, cornetto, and 2 cappuccinos so it all evens out. I hope.
Today, I am thankful for the places I visited and the food I ate.
1. cappuccino and cornetto for breakfast. I didn't really know what a cornetto was before today but man, it was so delicious.
2. St. Peter's Basilica - the climb to the top (dome) was literally breath-taking and so was the view at the top, figuratively. Inside, wow! I was so overwhelmed... and a little emotional. I don't know why... maybe because I felt that was the closest I could get to God, in this lifetime.
3. Musei Vaticani - I'm not really into museums so I was expecting to be out of there in an hour, maybe 2 hours tops. But I didn't even notice that 2 hours had gone by and had to rush the last few parts because I still had a lot in my itinerary today. I was there for close to 3 hours.
4. Frigidarium Gelato was good.
5. Armando at the Pantheon - had egg drop soup with cheese and Spaghetti alla Gricia - my first Roman pasta. It was good and I'm glad I made a reservation because a lot of people were turned away for not having one.
6. Pantheon - I was surprised that this is a Catholic church. Apparently, it was converted to one from being a pagan place of worship. I really should read more history. Maybe.
7. Tazza D'Oro (El mejor del mundo) - I don't know if it really is the best in the world, but I took my cappuccino as the Italians do - at the bar standing up.
8. Piazza Navona - as I was walking to the Armando restaurant (this is 8 because I almost forgot I went here today), I saw a sign pointing to Piazza Navona. I had planned this stop later in the day but I'm glad I stumbled upon this place earlier because of what happened next.
9. Spanish Steps - while walking from 7 to here was when my tummy started to make itself be noticed in a little too uncomfortable way. It may have been all the food I've eaten for the day at this point but I was sweating from trying to clench. 😁 It was cold but I was sweating. So I saw a glimpse of the Steps, took a quick picture, and walked to the Metro station trying real hard not to poop in my pants. 😅
10. Piazza del Popolo - after I did the much needed "movement" 😁, I thought it would be a shame to retire so early. So I took the Metro again to go to this place. It was pretty. I think all the piazzas that I went to today would have been a lot busier had it not been raining the whole day.
11. Pompi tiramisu and cannoli - I saw the long line of people to one of their stores my first night so I thought I had to give it a try. The cannoli was a bonus (paid, not free) I saw when I was paying for my tiramisu. (Gosh, I'm so baboy.) Both good. I'm glad I took them back to my room and eat them right where the toilet is only few steps away. My stomach still had aftershocks from the earlier episode.
