Nadal a Roma
Being in Spain meant it was easy to travel to Rome for Christmas with the Radding side of my family. We found a "residencia canina" for Lusi, suitable for longer trips. There don't seem to be kennels within the city; they are all out in the country, but thankfully they provide transportation.
We joined Chip and Maureen, Jonah, Ashley and Gaia, and Ashley's mom Dee in Testaccio. It was especially fun to be with a large group for Christmas after several months with little social interaction!
Dad and Maureen cooked for Christmas eve, and on Christmas day we ate at the Gran Sasso (aka da Paolo), where our family has been going for almost 40 years! It was special to eat the Christmas meal there - the food didn't disappoint, of course.
But it was also really great fun to see Paolo, who has retired to the mountains of the Abruzzi, while his son manages the restaurant. He brought with him handmade boar sausage and prosciutto.
Ed managed to dig up a 10-year old photo of Paolo, a devout Lazio fan, wearing a Roma cap (think Cubs/White Sox or Yankees/Red Sox) that he had borrowed from Madeline, who was younger than Gaia is now.
It wasn't really gelato season, but we gorged on pizza a taglio and suppli, from our first to last hours in Testaccio.
It was interesting to see the contrast between Rome and Barcelona - Rome looks rougher around the edges. Apparently this is partly due to the incompetence of the current government. However, even in the best of times it is not the well-oiled machine that is Barcelona. In that respect, Catalans seem more like the French.
