The Pantheon

Mother says that the only sure way to get my attention is to stand on a chair and yell, “CAKE!” 

Shelley, my good friend/former roommate/boss at Pierre’s, says that if she wants to get me to look at something, she just has to say that it is Italian. 

So one might think that an Italian cake would be one of my favorite past times (Panettone or tiramisu, perhaps).  But in reality, my favorite Italian hobby is gelato.  This makes sense if you know about my Santa Barbara obsession with McConnell’s ice cream and homemade ice cream sandwiches. 

I did something rather touristy yesterday.  I usually sit on the steps of the fountain with a gelato and contemplate the Pantheon.  But I’ve never been to Rome in the winter.  So instead, I paid €12 for bruschetta and bolognese with a cioccolata calda.  Hot chocolate in Italy is rather like chocolate pudding.  If one were to make chocolate pudding (cook it I mean, not the instant stuff) and if one were to pour it still hot into a mug and if one were to have zeroness of patience and not let the pudding set...basically, I’m saying that one must eat ciccolata calda with a spoon. 

Since this is a story about me, I suppose it is a surprise to no one that I ate the ciccolata calda first, before my dinner had arrived.  I had never seen the Pantheon without Jessie.  She didn’t show.  I dined, thinking about how I should like very much for it to rain so I could see water pouring in through the ceiling.  It didn’t show either. 

I asked for the bill, il conto, as one must do in Europe.  The waiter, an affable German (not sure I’ve ever had the pleasure of saying that before), told me that there was no hurry and I might as well stay a while.  He was right. 

I won’t go into an entire architectural history lesson on the Pantheon, I wrote an art final on the building several years ago, but like most of Rome’s buildings, it has a pretty rich history.  I contemplated the building for a while longer.  I told the waiter that I would like a cappuccino.  He replied, “Why not?” 

Why not, indeed...this is Rome.  Anything is possible.