ANGEL TALK
Updated: Nov 29, 2020
Although I’m accustomed to travelling alone, I’m quite enjoying exploring Rome along side a friend. Bill, who was in France and Germany on a work assignment, joins me for a few days. It’s a treat to experience this epic city along side a Montreal chum. Stumbling across it’s ubiquitous fountains and breathtaking ancient monuments in the company of someone who is seeing it for the very first time, with fresh eyes, is proving to be quite a lot of fun.
Rome’s magnificence aside, we are not in Canada! We have escaped some of the winter, and there is a certain contentment and satisfaction when such things are accomplished. We have outsmarted the elements and here we are, leisurely roaming the sun-covered, cobblestoned streets of a city that was once one of the world’s largest empires. We meander through what feels like a museum.
Rome is impressive on so many levels, from the food to the architecture, to the art, to the language. One can get lost in its streets, but is bound to find something spectacular along the way.
We ask for directions not necessarily because we want directions, but for the simple pleasure of hearing Italians speak. It seems like every person we meet talks with a different melody. Each is a treat to these travelling ears.
A group of young women converse softly with each other in an attempt to decide the best route to navigate us down. They speak in a melody that I have not heard as of yet. There is no ‘boom’, no ‘bang’ punctuating their sentences. Instead it is smooth and flowing. Their talk is angel talk. Their youth and innocence swirl around them, as both Bill and I listen and watch transfixed, falling in love with every word they offer up.
We eventually arrive in the Trastevere neighbourhood. Bill is leaving in the morning and so we seek out an exceptional supper before he ventures home. Someone has recommended a little place in the Piazza San Giovanni Della Molva, but when we arrive it’s closed. We see a terrace next door with the sun still beaming down on it, enticing us over. We sit down slowly, aware that we are now offering up our hunger to fate. We have been told that the recommended restaurant is sensational, but what of this one? Our growling stomachs reassure us that we can take the risk. And it is a risk completely worth taking, as it ends up being one of the best meals I’ve ever experienced. It’s a bulls-eye, serendipitous encounter. Take note: Osteria Bacco in Trastevere.