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The next morning we returned to Roma onboard the train, and after a tedious and pain-in-the-back bit of "schlepping" our suitcases on the train in both directions  I made an important "note to self"  in my journal notebook:  bring less clothes and a smaller suitcase on my next visit to Italy!  

The second apartment in Rome was not as well equipped with kitchen utensils and pots as the first apartment (see Italy Journal Part One) had been - I found that there was only one medium size stock pot, a beat up skillet, and one serrated knife to use so I had to call upon my inventive culinary techniques if I was going to cook our breakfasts and dinners. Luckily there were plenty of dinner plates, bowls, glasses and knives and forks. 

The area of Rome we were in was very near to the Coliseum and using my (unfortunately) limited Italian vocabulary, I was able to get directions to a supermercato not too far away from the apartment from a resident of the building.

We shopped at this supermercato on our first day back in Rome and bought breakfast and dinner ingredients which included fresh fruits, cereals, yogurt, dried pasta, pork chops, pork sausages, salad greens, vegetables, gnocchi di patate, canned San Marzano tomatoes, bread, and an assortment of cookies for dessert.  I hadn't discovered the fresh San Marzano tomatoes until the next day at a small produce store around the corner from the apartment building (see photo of the tomatoes above)  Oh, I almost forgot...of course we bought several wines...the price of good wines in Italian supermarkets is so reasonable....€2.50 ($3.40 at current rates) Gioia del Colle Primitivo 2003.

One of the best features of Italian supermarkets that I wish American stores would adopt is that they have disposable plastic gloves for customers to wear while picking out their produce items - yes this may sound like yet another waste of plastic, but since most people bring their own non-plastic shopping bags , they don't use as many plastic bags for their groceries as we do in the USA.  I think the use of plastic gloves for consumers to wear while picking through the apples, pears, lettuce, and everything else is a fantastic idea to help keep germs from spreading.

	We roamed around our new neighborhood taking in the sights - and the view of the Coliseum from the path which goes through a local park just a block from our apartment was lovely to see - I'm sure the locals are immune to seeing the Coliseum on a daily basis....just as we New Yorkers are immune to the breathtaking views of our landmarks.

One day we wandered into Piazza Madonna di Monti, one of the many piazzas that are so prevalent in Roma and other cities in Italy. It was a lovely setting with, of course, a fountain in the center of the piazza and surrounding the piazza were several restaurants.  We chose one that looked more inviting than the others and were seated outdoors facing the fountain.

We ordered a glass of red wine for Terry and a Prosecco for me and began to read the menu.  As I looked around at the other diners I was pleased to see that we had obviously stumbled upon a restaurant filled will locals instead of tourists ....yes, I know we were tourists but I prefer to be with locals rather than fellow tourists when traveling!  Our waiter spoke a bit of English so we had no problem ordering our lunch choices of a penne with a salmon sauce for Terry and a mushroom lasagne for me.  We ended the meal with an espresso - a drink that we had become very accustomed to ordering on our travels through Italy.

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