Training Log Archive: Charlie

Very nice day in Ostia, ancient port city of the Roman Empire. I had seen many photos, but had no concept of the scale. It is an enormous area, mostly quite ruined, but some of the buildings quite intact, including a theater, the Forum, the Forum baths, a Capitolium, various houses, etc. really fascinating, and the first really beautiful day of my trip. Mostly it has been cool, cloudy, occasionally some rain. Then after several hours among the excavations, a beautiful lunch at a fine seaside restaurant, a real pranzo. Calamari, moscardini fritti, spaghetti with calamari, mussels, clams and shrimp, big ones with the heads on. A nice pitcher of Prosecco, pronounced "onesto" by Tullio, and a caffè macchiato. Very fine, and seemed like a nap would be in order.

C • Ostia 8

A very fine evening with Tullio and Giulia and their friend Umberto who had accompanied us to Ostia. Their younger daughter Cristina came over with her young man Emiliano and a chocolate cake for Giulia's birthday, and it was generally a fine time, picking up about 40% of the conversation, less from Emiliano who is very fast and doesn't enunciate, more from Cristina who is very expressive, and getting filled in periodically in English by Tullio and Umberto. A very nice party. There was a lot of prosecco, and one over chilled bottle of champagne. Long travel day tomorrow.