...now you're all gone got your make-up on and you're not coming back...

good heavens, i have been spending money like i own this town and a large stock in AT&T. now that i have finally gotten up the courage to eat in proper restaurants, its all that i want to do. last night i went about town, Holga in hand (*note: a Holga is a german-type extremely manual camera that takes "sunlight" pictures, as i am fond of calling them, and looks like a prop from some Princess-of-Hanoi-Weds-G.I.-Joe one-act). the fun thing about this camera is that, without a flash, you have to hold down the shutter button for several minutes in order for it to collect enough light for an evening photograph. basically, you have to line up your shot (e.g. the pantheon and surrounding foot traffic), press down the button, and then stand perfectly still and count to 180. people walk all over the place, in and out of the shot, and some of them stare at you because you are standing stark still with a camera poised 2 inches from your face and your right eye's squinted up to keep your angle. in the end though, it is almost like a photograph of a short film, capturing 2 minutes of life in front of the pantheon on a saturday night all on one little square of film. i took several pictures with the Holga, and i hope they come out as beautiful as the feeling of taking them was.
aside from taking pictures, i spent a couple hours last night trying to decide where to eat, getting lost, and thinking, "oh! i know where i am" and then realizing that no, i dont actually. eventually my slingbacks rubbed such blisters on my poor, war-torn feet that i took them off, and pranced barefoot over the cobblestones. this, plus my pretty yellow dress, plus my fanatical picture taking got quite a few glances, but i felt mysterious and important and untouchable in my pursuits. the restuarant i finally decided upon for dinner may not have been the best choice, as they charged 3 euro for the bread basket and 5 euro for a bottle of pelligrino, but the food was delicious and the wait staff friendly and the fine-dining atmosphere went along with my bohemian-girl-with-gobs-of-money persona that i like to front so much. i had buccatini with basil and octopus and teeny-tiny lambchops over a bed of broccolini, and a glass of white wine from Friuli, the region that i will be making my farming debut in (feel like its best to taste the local flavors ahead of time, so wine really is like school assignment). i wanted to stay out through the night, but i was so exhausted from lack of (decent, regular) sleep that i came home and slept from 11pm till 11am, which was amazing.
spent today looking for the trevi fountain, which for some reason i refused to look up on a map or ask directions to. went into Prada on the way and smelled the most lovely orange blossom perfume. it came in a tiny, tiny bottle, obviously v condensed and special, and when i went to smell it i accidentally (on purpose) let the top of the bottle touch my nose, so i smelled orange blossoms when i breathed all day long, which was nice. the trevi fountain was incredible as always. rome, itself, is incredible. i love how even the most ginormous, breathtakingly important sights are totally disguised and secret, absolutely impossible to see over the winding, towering streets, and you can spend forever searching and searching, and then, suddenly, youll come around the corner...and there it is. the pantheon. the trevi fountain. the spanish steps. so solid and commanding but yet completely set within its own private space, like you really do have to be there to be there. it moves for no one. no matter how many times i come upon the pantheon, whether intentionally or accidentally, it always takes my breath away.
i ate lunch at another absurdly expensive restaurant, but i was totally lured into it, and no girl in the world could have refused. walking through the streets away from the trevi fountain i started to think how hungry i was. i had tried to save money by making my own lunch at home, but even at the time i knew it wasnt going to work- my bow-tie pasta and arugula with pan-tossed eggplant that i love so much at home was just not going to hold me when i got out into the streets and smelled what rome had to offer. i really did try though. anyway, i was wandering around, probobly with a worried look on my face, debating whether to stop and find some food, when this positively beautiful man said, "ciao, pretty. are you looking for somewhere to eat?" i nodded yes, immediately noticing the way his curls were just long enough on the left side to wrap under his ear. he said "oh! good! well come sit here, and i will serve you". could not argue. i ordered prosciutto and melon, veal piccata with wild mushrooms, and a 1/2 carafe of another white wine from Friuli (also school related), and sat at that sweet table in the sunshine for probobly 2 hours, reading my book and taking my time and chatting with Luca, who is in school in rome for jewelry design. i told him about moms jewelry company, il ninolo bello (sp?), and he seemed very impressed. but then he said, "and you?" to which i replied, "oh, ha, no, i only wear jewelry". later realized he was asking about what i do in school, but was too late. anyway, lunch was fantastic and men kept coming up and asking me to drop what i was doing and run away with them, or have a cigarette, or let them sit down, but i was enthralled with my singularity (i.e. luca) and told them politely to move along. anyway, cost an arm and a leg, but now i have a friend.
the sun is setting which makes the stucco walls of the opposite building glow, and theres even a little breeze. will probobly just eat pizza tonight, as have spent weeks budget on food in the past two days. but, as jane lurie and i always remind ourselves when faced with buyer-second-thoughts, it is not going to matter the money you spent but the memories it afforded you, so it is all worth it.