Beer at lunch, wine at dinner, and gelato inbetween

Faithful readers know that I've had a lot of food angst on past trips. Traveling to Europe -- especially Italy -- is much about the food, but as a solo traveler, it's hard to have exceptional food experiences on your own. Last year, when I traveled to Ireland with a tour, I finally had folks to eat with, but all of our meals were had at hotels or pre-selected restaurants. They were of decent quality, but limited in range and devoid of creativity. It was rather like attending a conference every night where the choice was chicken, salmon or pasta, Ireland style, which is to say, not great.

So, I've been rather excited about having a travel buddy to share meals with. Tonight, after consulting trip-advisor and yelp, we walked to Al Forno Della Soffitta on via Piave, a short jaunt from our hotel. The reviews we read said it was frequented by locals, and this seemed to be the case. When we pushed open the heavy glass door, the restaurant was well populated, but even so, we were seated straightaway by a welcoming host.

We had an amazing meal. I had a lobster pasta dish and as you can see they did not phone it  in. Wendy ordered the squid special and received an enormous and beautiful serving. The people sitting next to us -- a mother/daughter duo -- told us that the pizza they shared was the best they had had in Rome.  With wine, almond-chocolate tort and superior service, we were very happy customers.

Prior to this spectacular dinner, we spent the day visiting the Vatican, the Trevi fountain (dry and under repair) and the Spanish Steps area. Today's highlight was a tour of the necropoli at the Vatican, one section of which was discovered and excavated in the 1950s, and the other, just since 2003. It was fascinating. They have done an excellent job excavating some of the site, while preserving much of what was found in situ. Visitors traverse criss-crossed catwalks that allow a surprisingly close-up view of the scene. We were also surprised that we were allowed to witness and photograph ancient remains in this way, but we appreciated the experience.

Tomorrow we're headed for the Colosseum, Forum, Palatine Hill and more.