Off bright and early in a taxi to Testaccio to meet a group for the walking food tour. Our guide was Sarah the American girl. The rest of the group were Americans. Very diverse group and we found out a lot about them!
We started with a walk to a near by bar for a morning coffee and cornetto and tiramisu  Then we continued to walk and took in pizza and then the deli and then found out about the cheese and meats then a visit to the cemetery – non Italian Non Catholic cemetery . It was so beautiful and peaceful . Keats and Shelley are both buried there. We moved on to the markets and tried the fresh version of bruschetta and then fresh buffalo mozzarella . Delicious . Now keep in mind we walking and the portions were very small!
So we then heard the history of this ancient area including the slaughter house – and how the hill of Testaccio was formed with the broken pots used for oil.
Then it was onto a new place for suppli – a form of arancini. It had beef cubes in a ball of rice then fried.  We then went to a restaurant  and had 3 forms of pasta and wine. It was around this time that we started to get the giggles. Our Ameican guide told us so much about herself….. That we thought she must be about 50 to have fitted it all in ! We were pretty much ignored as the other  became all chummy. It’s funny how some people are  not very interested in others!

Our last stop for he day was Giotti – the most wonderful old fashioned gelateria . We learned about flavours etc. I. Had fichi and banana. Delicious. Remember small serves!

We are now back at home- in the apartment in Campo de Fiori listening to the rain. We’ll head out soon for our evening passeggiata .
Later: what a night of the beautiful ( young models in Rome) and the not so beautiful -us in rain gear looking rather second hand!

Tomorrow a new adventure as we pick up the car. 

Wed 12th
My poor friends were so tired after their flight we were slow to start today. When we finally got going we walked towards the Vatican along Via Guila and then the river. I went into St Peter’s again and I still never tire of it. The paintings, the light, the feeling. This is despite the crowds . Rome is very crowded at the moment. More so than Florence.
We walked around  and decided to do the bus tour to save Anne’s poor feet. That made it easier to see some of the main sights.
Later that evening we went to Armando’s for dinner. It’s near the Pantheon and I went there with Catherine and the girls several years ago. It was also part of the Masterchef show . So our meal there was very good .
A little window shopping a small glass of wine near Campo dee Fiori and off to bed.
Looking forward to tomorrows food tour.