Our hotel in Venice does have TVs in the rooms! Now I just have to figure out a way to wake up that early without waking up the rest of the family and turning on the TV very quietly. I hope I can pull it off.
But I digress. We decided we should get out today so we jumped on the tram and went up to the Cats. We stopped and admired the kitties for a while, then wandered down to Santa Maria sopra Minerva. On the way we discovered big signs for a new bike-sharing program in the city. The sign was in Italian of course, but it looks like they are setting up about 15 stations in the city center where you can rent a bike. It looks like you have to sign up for the program and get the bicycle equivalent of a library card to use it.
I am not sure when it will launch, but we noticed the signs in a couple of different places. I think it’s a great idea, but Rome doesn’t seem like the easiest place to ride a bike. No real bike lanes in the city center, and narrow streets. I hope it works though. The kids expressed an interest in trying it out, but I don’t really think I want them riding bikes in central Rome. Plus they don’t have their helmets here.
Our real mission today was to find the giant foot we read about in the DK Rome Guide. We found the street, but no giant foot. We did find the Via del Gatta or street of the cat, and the cat stature that looks over it from the top of a building. The kids liked it. And fits in well with their current fascination with cats.
Once we found the cat we walked back to the Pantheon. We were on the hunt for a new gelateria we had heard about. Well, new to us, it’s actually been there for about 50 years. As we were walking back the way we came, we found the giant foot! It is just tucked up next to a building in an alley. And we probably missed it the first time because there was a motor scooter parked right in front of it. D’oh. It wasn’t as big as we expected, but it was pretty big. Especially if you stop to think about how big the whole statue must have been with a foot that size.
Onward past the Pantheon to Giolitti. It is huge, and way more than just a gelateria. It looked like they also had a bar and a pastry counter and a tavola calda where you can get hot food. The dining area was very 1950. Pink and gold with big chandeliers. I loved it. We have to take Tom there. I had cinnamon and Grand Marnier ice creams. They actually complemented each other quite nicely. We had cones, a departure for us. But when we handed our ticket to the man behind the counter he just grabbed cones. I have to say, the ice cream was good, but the people who worked there were pretty surly. The woman at the cash register never said a word beyond telling me to give her 6 euros. No hello, no thank you, nothing. Charming.
Posted by goitaly 
