My Trip to Italy - Day 1: Spaghetti Night, Street Performer Moonwalking?

Alright, where are we starting off from this post? Oh yeah, from the hotel, at 3:00 PM. Well, let's get started. If you haven't already read Day 0, click here!

So after settling in by putting our luggage, clothes, bathroom essentials, and other stuff away, we decided to get some food, because I'm starving, and so is my mom. I wanted fast food to fill up my stomach, but I searched up on Google Maps "fast food near me", and the only fast food restaurant that showed up was McDonalds. It was not that far from the hotel, but my parents wanted me to get some local Italian food. 

Also, we needed to buy water bottles, because we were going to need plenty of them. We searched up supermarkets nearby, and we found one named Carefour Express. I honestly didn't know what the store is, and I've never heard of it before, either.

20 minutes later, at 4:00 PM, So we went out of the hotel and walked south to explore the nearby stores, looking for food for my mom and I, and we stopped by a restaurant cafe. There was freshly baked pizza shaped in a RECTANGLE. I thought to myself, so that's how they make pizza in Italy! I got pepperoni, and my mom got tomato and mushrooms on hers. It tasted good, fresh out from the oven good.

We saw the Spanish Steps, which was basically an empty town plaza, but it wasn't really empty, as many people were walking and taking photos of themselves. (And yes, there were steps that people were sitting on.) Horses were parked in the middle for possible horse tours. There was a fountain where you can FILL UP YOUR WATER BOTTLES. I was surprised that they had such a thing. Did we ever fill up our bottles there? No, that was because my mom does not trust it, while my dad does.

We kept walking south, walking into the few stores that catch our eyes. We passed by the McDonalds that I saw earlier on Google Maps, and I saw a Mccafe restaurant. There was a souvenir shop that I planned to come back to because I needed to buy some type of souvenir for a friend of mine. My parents bought some gelato; I was going to buy some, but I just finished my pizza, so I passed on the dessert.

Also, we started to look for the supermarket. We got lost for a bit, but found it soon enough at 4:30 PM. There was one thing I always wanted to get in Europe that was cheaper, and it was Milka chocolate. It's a very good universal chocolate brand, and I only saw this in San Francisco and at the YVR Airport. It was only 1.50 Euros. We also got 2 bottles of water for the evening.

On the way back to the hotel, in the big town plaza, there was a man with a suit but no head sitting down in a chair. I have not encountered anyone like that before, so I decided to take a photo with him, doing the peace sign. Pretty cool, my mom joked that it must be hot inside, and he said yes to that. 

After that, around 5:30 PM, we went back to the hotel and wait for dinner. I decided to check out what's on TV, and almost EVERYTHING was is Italian. Besides some news and sports channels like CNBC, CNN, and Eurosport, I only recognized three TV channels: VH1 (music channel), ITV (British channel), and MTV (another music channel). We had pleasant air conditioning and the hotel stocked up the bathroom with toilet paper, soap, etc.

I went on the internet, but I was still very sleepy. I got to sleep for an hour until I had to wake up to go to dinner at a restaurant. Here's the thing. My dad told my mom and I that dinner in Italy is usually later than dinner back in North America, at around 8 PM. The restaurant that we were going to was called Cantina & Cucina, and it was about a 10 minute cab ride from the hotel.

At 7:15 PM, we reach the restaurant, and there were about 12 people standing outside, waiting to get a table. We had to wait about 20 minutes to get seated. There were lots of people eating inside. I got a restaurant card and a wine cork, and one of the waiters offered the people in line outside some wine. There was also a man selling cheap bracelets for 5 Euros. He sold one to a young couple for 4 Euros after they tried on like three or four bracelets. But at 7:30 PM, we got a table. I ordered some pasta, and it was very good. 

After dinner, we decided to walk around the neighborhood we were in, and we saw another mini town square with restaurants and shops surrounding it, with lots of things going on in the middle. There was a dancer dancing (No way, what does a dancer do?), more people selling art pieces and toys, two separate groups playing their instruments and singing, and a live toxic painter.

(There was more going on when we come back here another day. Spoiler!)

Anyways, it was very busy, with people sitting down near the statue fountain on either sides, customers eating and drinking in the restaurants surrounding the square. There were people selling green flashy lights that looked cool, and a squishy mouse that lights blue when thrown in the air. The dancer did some slick moon-walking, and it was really good, because was wearing a hat and his black and white shoes.

Meanwhile, my mom went to the shops and looked to buy small gifts, and I went around to buy some water. I had to go outside of the square to buy some bottles. Coming back, I took some pictures of the statues and monuments of this square.

We stayed in the square for a while until 9:30 PM, then took a taxi back to the hotel. I had a shower, went on my phone/laptop for 30 min, and I was sleeping by 11 PM.

That's where I'll stop for now, stay tuned for Day 2 of Rome!