Rain

Bit of a slow day today. There is no market on the Campo on Sundays, and many of the shops and food stores are closed or operating on limited hours.

A small group of us took an early tour to the flea market at Porta Portese. The market features what felt like miles of tents packed right against each other, each with an energetic seller proffering his or her particular (often very random) goods. Prices for items are only sometimes marked, and bartering is always expected. We primarily just walked through parts of the market, clutching our belongings closely in the dense crowds. I didn't see anything particularly remarkable to purchase anyway.

Afterward, on the way back to our apartments, David led us to the general area of the Arch of Titus - the structure that he will be presenting to the class tomorrow. Each of us has a particular sculpture/structure/person of Rome to present to the class and write a report about. My topic is Galileo, and I should have that ready in a couple of weeks.

As we were walking back along the Tiber, we got our first experience with rain in Rome. The skies had been, overcast and menacing all day, but it was around 11 in the morning when the rain came crashing down. The rain here seems to be quite sporadic, but when it falls, it really falls. We were drenched in about one minute. And the rain just as soon stopped completely.



My afternoon and evening consisted mainly of reading and napping (didn't sleep particularly well the preceding night). We begin class on Monday, and there are a few articles for us all to read beforehand.

David, Daniel, and I did make spaghetti tonight, though. We used tomato sauce, herbs and pepper flakes, and fresh mozzerella in our sauce. No meat this time, since the butcher shops were all closed today. The pasta actually turned out quite good, and David even had the idea of making garlic bread. We had half a loaf of day-old bread, which tasted quite good when lightly toasted in a pan with olive oil and garlic. All in all, a successful first cooked meal for us.

P.S.: Happy Father's Day!