From Strasbourg to Rome

(Friday February 27th 2009):

We woke up gently around 8:15 am. My host parents usually are leaving the house around 8:30 for work, and I thought that we could stay out of their way by getting up slightly later. However, I forgot the fact that in France, everyone’s breaks are coordinated so since my host brothers had off, so did my host parents. I immediately noticed this fact when I heard my host mom asking Kevin “Tu veux Lindsay a préparer un petit déjeuner?” (Do you want Lindsay to prepare breakfast?) Kevin, still jetlagged, had no idea what she was saying and just replied, “Yes, I will wait for Lindsay” as he stumbled down the hall to the bathroom. It is funny how his responses were often very appropriate, which may have perpetuated my host mom’s idea that he understood some French. I then immerged and began to prepare my usual Strasbourgian breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, fruit, orange juice and coffee, and added some gluten free chocolate croissants to the mix. Although Kevin was eating Gluten and Dairy free, I still wanted him to enjoy some of Europe’s finest gastronomy.

After breakfast we headed to the train station, to travel to Baden-Baden. We had about an hour’s layover in Appenwier, so Kevin and I decided to explore. We walked about 20 minutes or so and found ourselves in a small little German town. Although it isn’t the cutest or oldest town I have seen, Kevin was beside himself with excitement over the giant pretzel sign and the store full of legos. From there, we took a train to Baden-Baden, then a bus to the airport. We waited for check in time, by eating some more Gluten Free PB&J’s which I packed and pacing down the hallway. Unfortunately however, Ryan-air has strict carry-on size and weight restrictions. Kevin’s bag was 2 kg overweight, so they made him pay to check it. Sigh, Oh budget airlines.





We excitedly boarded the plane to Rome Chiampiano. The flight was only an hour and a half, but quite hot and stuffy, and they kept announcing “specials”.
After landing, we took a bus to the center of town, then a metro to our bed and breakfast. It was actually about 5 miles or so outside of the city center, but a fun and “local-ish’ place to stay. We were greeted by a very friendly Italian guy, who showed us up to our room. The place was actually an apartment, converted into four separate bedrooms, and our room overlooked a view of the street outside.

Our host then asked us about our dietary restrictions (they recently joined the Italian Celiac Association, which is how I found the B&B), and when he learned that we were both gluten and dairy free he said, “Hmmm, I was hoping one of you had one allergy and the other had the other, but ok.” As he began to do his paperwork, and we began to set down our suitcases, we realized we had forgotten to write down the address for the place we made dinner reservations for. Kevin had decided that since we couldn’t be together on February 14th, we would celebrate Valentine’s Day our first night in Rome. He had laboriously researched and found a place named “Vini Ministrini”. I had called earlier that week and made a reservation via Skype. After a moment of panic, we decided to ask our host if he knew of the mysterious location of this restaurant. Our host did not immediately know, but picked up the phone and called a friend. After a minute of Italian conversation, he informed us that it was pretty far out of the way. Kevin then asked if he knew of any other celiac friendly restaurants, and he replied, “Yes, there is a pizzeria down the street. I can walk you there if you want.” We immediately jumped on this opportunity and followed him as he led the way. Kevin then asked, “If you had a day in Rome, what would you do?” He replied, like any good Italian, said laughing, “One day is not enough time! You need at least three. Next time, come for three.”

He escorted us to the Pizzeria and then started to rapidly speak to the owner in Italian, explaining our dietary restrictions. He leaves as we are escorted to a table. We order a bottle of wine and the owner explains what he can make for us. Our appetizer was a sort of bruschetta, some with olive spreads, an eggplant spread, proscutto and tomato. Our main course was two different kinds of pizza (without cheese), one with olive oil, zucchini and vegetables, which had a very sweet taste to it. The other was tomato based-which was very savory with lots of basil. The crust was thin, but stayed together very well, which is uncommon with gluten free items. After enjoying our first lovely, (and carbohydrate heavy) meal, we walked back to our hotel and went to bed.