Rome, Italy (the city with good food and confusing toilets)

I returned from Rome yesterday. Four AMAZING nights in my new favorite city. In the world. Hands down. I wouldn't be able to do Rome justice if I tried so I will leave it at this...the city is a-b-s-o-l-u-t-e-l-y amazing.

The streets of Rome are beautiful, winding, cobblestone-lined paths. Every corner you turn causes your breath to catch as you stare at another amazing piece of architecture/famous ruin. In fact, the other day, an adorable elderly Italian man had to tap me on the shoulder to inform me that the intricate, stunning piece of stone work (that I thought I would only see in a history book) was in fact concrete they were using to plug a landfill. What can I say?? I appreciate the little things in life.

Don't even get me started on the food. Luckily I didn't gain weight as we walked EVERYWHERE. The Italians really do it right - vino, pasta, gelato, cappuccino....I could go on and on about the food like Rachel Ray after she opens a new bottle of EVOO (shudder).
Needless to say in four short days I had completely fallen in love with the city, the sights AND the food. The only thing I had left to embrace was the culture (well...and a man that wasn't skinnier/prettier than me).

I had the very good fortune of being able to travel to Rome with my dear friend Richard. We work together at a theatre marketing agency in London and were excited to experience a "local" theatre production. We pulled ourselves away from our pasta bowls and bellinis long enough to purchase tickets to "Footloose Il Musical". A musical we came to embrace as a thrilling tale of Italians, pretending to be Americans, but still speaking Italian. A highlight for me was when one of the lead actors took a break from his monologue to personally push the set (a house) from the wings of the stage. He really had to thrust his entire body into the collapsible house to open it up. A few grunts later...and Act II began! Ta-da!

Intermission came and, if you can believe it, I was ready for a break. This "local" experience was clearly one aspect of Rome I wasn't going to be writing home about. Or so I thought...

The line for the bathroom was quite long and I wanted to move fast so I could return to my seat. That's where it all went to shit (not literally, thank god). There was a cord hanging from the ceiling which I assumed was used to flush the toilet. I pulled. Hard. A very loud and a very alarming buzzer went off and I made a dash for it. I didn't alert Richard of my faux pas until we were back in our seats. He had heard the alarm go off but hadn't realized it was me. Lovely. Apparently it’s an alarm for disabled people. Only to be pulled in times of extreme need. It was a humbling experience to say the least.

Did this minor set-back discourage me? Did I no longer view Rome as my golden city?! Absolutely not! It only made it more obvious that my task in Rome was not to support the local, cultural community. It was to eat and drink as much fabulous food and vino as possible in four short days. And that my friends, I succeeded at.