Day Four

Today was full of little adventures.
First, my roommate and I got up early to go to the local open-air market. The market turned out to be the perfect size for us. With about 6 to 8 stands full of fresh fruits and vegetables we were able to pick out our items from a variety, without having to deal with large crowds, or be overwhelmed by options. The locals were also very accomodating, taking the time to help us, and being patient as we stubbled over Italian words.
We then spent the rest of our morning in our "Italian Survival" course and learning how to manuvuer the metro and buses. During our exploration we stopped at the Fontana di Trevi (The Trevi Fountain) and the Spanish Steps.
With our constant issues involving vendors refusing to take our larger bills, we desided to make a trip to the bank and exchange for smaller bills. This proved to be a very difficult task. First, if you thought bank hours were difficult to deal with in America, the Italian banks are even worse. The banks are closed for lunch for at least one hour starting at about 1pm. Then the banks typically close around 4pm. To make matters worse, the doors to the banks look like a teleporters from a futuristic movie. You must press a button and the front section of this tube-like-door will open. Then that door closes behind you. If you are deemed worthy to enter, then the second door will open, letting you into the bank. The problem I encountered was that you are not allowed to bring bags into the bank. Therefore, I couldn't figure out why the door never deemed me worthy enough to enter. So after finally figuring out the doors, we struggled to find a bank that was willing to give us change for our large bills. Thus, after going through four banks we managed to get change to go grocery shopping.
Having not quite worked up an appatiete for dinner, we desided to visit the Trevi Fountain again in order to see it at night. The pictures speak for themselves.

The Trevi Fountain during the day

The Spanish Steps

Via Del Corso, one of the main streets in Rome,
 with its Christmas Lights in the colors of the Italian Flag

Me and Trevi!

This fountain is huge!!

This was worth coming back

 We returned and made dinner from the items we had gotten at the market earlier in the day. We put together a spaghetti vegetable meat sause. The sause included zucchini, sweet red peppers, onions, garlic, and tomatoes. With a small glass of wine and a touch of parmesan cheese, it turn out perfect, and we have plenty of left overs to each for the rest of the week!

My roommate borrowed my camera while I cooked

In go the spices

Bon Appetit