Dinner was awesome. Don’t know where to begin to describe it. At Obika in the Campo dei fiori , we dined at a FOAK (first of a kind) mozzarella bar. Started with the “gran degustazione” aka grand tasting of 5 different buffalo mozzarellas from Campania. We were instructed to enjoy the mozzarella in order from Paestum, then Pontina, then a smoked mozzarella, then a ricotta and a burrata. Oh. My. God. It was served on a bed of baby arugula with half cherry tomatoes and olives. So yummy. D enjoyed what we like to call “green pasta” in our house (trofie al pesto) which is trofie shaped pasta with cut green beans, potatoes and pesto. Paul had a delicious lasagna with beef ragu made with Chianina beef from Tuscany and buffalo mozzarella, and Miss M had a pizza with mozzarella, roasted tomatoes (which were so delicious, and she picked them all off) and basil (which she tossed onto Grandmas plate along with her pizza crusts.)

Had our fourth gelato of the trip with flavor choices selected by the family ranging from multi-berry, Baci, nutella, Ferra-Roche, nociolla (hazelnut), lemon, and more.

The Euro Cup finals began while we enjoyed gelato, so it was fun to watch the crowds watching the game at all the outdoor bars with such fervor. Since we’re one block from the Campo dei Fiori, Paul and I quickly got the kids to bed, left them with Grandma and Papa, and high tailed it to Circus Maximus for the second half.

We’re estimating there were 100k people at circus Maximus. The crowd was despondent, but calm and quiet. No yelling. No profanity (that I could tell.) In Boston you’d see some type of drunk fan making an ass of himself, but not what we witnessed. When the score reached 4-0 and firecrackers were being shot off, we bailed. Spent the next hour taking in Rome by night…the colosseum, roman forum, wedding cake, etc. We ended up back at campo dei fiori for drinks with 1,000 of our closest friends. The campo dei fiori reminds me of the Boston Haymarket (open air market in the morning and night life at night.)

Pictures forthcoming.