My Saturday morning walk took me away from my usual route up Viale Trastevere to the Study Center in a south-bound journey across the river into an area called Testaccio. Some of the girls I live with and I, desperate for groceries since our kitchen was beginning to look pretty bare, braved the bridge connecting Trastevere to Testaccio making bets as to whether or not the river would overflow because the water had already engulfed the huge trees growing on the submerged sidewalks, only leaving the topmost branches exposed against the roaring current. As we pointed our eyes ahead, even from quite a ways away, we could see an interesting tuft of what looked to be an oversized pile of fire kindling looming in the distance. It turns out that this is an art installation at the mouth of the MACRO Testaccio museum of modern art called Big Bambú. Like its name suggests, this massive structure is built entirely of bamboo with metal and rope reinforcements where needed. It looks like a bee's nest of tangled stalks adorned with colorful string and little note cards that have letters written on them. You can (actually, more like have to) walk through the bottom of the structure, and looking up at the chaos made me slightly nervous. However, if you look very closely there is a spiral bamboo walkway that leads all the way up to the top, and apparently if you visit during the week (and sign a waiver) you can go up it yourself. I'm not sure I have the courage to attempt that, but it sounds like a really cool experience. We got caught up looking at the structure and entangled in the various posts for a few minutes, but emerged among the old stables of the slaughterhouse (turned-museum) and giant hanging windchimes and eventually made our way across the street to the market.

Mercato Testaccio is an enclosed marketplace where we were greeted by aisles of square white booths that boasted of fresh produce, assorted cuts of meat, and various other Italian delicacies. Our first stop was a little gastronomia stand called Mordi & Vai, where we each ordered panino con l'allesso (a sort of stewed roast beef). The man preparing our sandwiches soaked the bread in the broth from which he took the meat out to sliced it up on the spot, and dressed our sandwiches with whatever we wanted from the several toppings available. We all tried the mashed potatoes with fresh olive oil and special herb sauce. I must say the potatoes were an interesting touch, but appropriate for filling up in the cold weather as I feel like I haven't eaten anything hearty in weeks since cooking and shopping for groceries is a completely different experience here. The meat was definitely the highlight, as we all joked about how we wish we could just buy tubs full of it to feast on for dinner. We then moved on to the rest of the market where I bought a large bag full of fresh vegetables and fruit including apples, bananas, garlic, spinach and onions (for some omelettes tomorrow morning) for a fraction of what I'm used to paying, which makes me think buying produce back in the States is going to be painful for my pockets when I return. There was also a wonderful old woman who sold me some fresh mozzarella, and lots of meat stands selling all different sorts of cuts (I'm pretty sure I saw a scalped lamb head in one of the display cases). I didn't venture too far out of my comfort zone, but did manage to pick up some fresh cut prosciutto crudo and some homemade sausage to fry up for dinner. As a little treat we all indulged in freshly-prepared cannolis, which were really tasty as well!

And now for the moment that brought light to the otherwise gloomy and miserable experience of venturing outdoors! It's almost a tourist cliche to say that you're going to buy a nice pair of Italian leather shoes to remember your trip (not to mention they are supposed to last you a lifetime). Never in a million years did I imagine that I would be buying myself a pair, and you would have had me laughing if you told me a few weeks ago that my genuine leather shoes would be a pair of worker boots. Yep, it happened. If I were to have imagined buying nice shoes here I would have expected something more along the lines of a pair of luxe black leather pumps, but I succumbed to the cold weather and invested in some sturdy Lumberjacks. I will say it was almost a twist of fate how I came across these. I had searched long and hard for two days prior, visiting at least ten different stores looking for shoes with substance, further ruining the only pair of winter shoes I brought in the process. I even looked up the exact stores that sell this brand because the first store I had seen them at did not carry any in my size, and I could not bring myself to pay €120 for some ill-fitting Timberlands (and, of course, no more of that €20 pleather boot gimmick for me! Lesson learned from those combat boots from home). A friend was off buying a trench coat at one of the pop-up stands in the far corner away from the groceries, so we followed her there passing many shoe stands and little odds and ends stores. Right across from where my friend was paying for her purchase I casually glanced over and saw these sitting in a jumble of hundreds of boxes and shoes on display. Testing my luck, I picked up the first pair I saw and they hallelujah they were in my size... and €25 cheaper than I had seen in that first shoe store! It was like the Roman gods of warmth and fortune had descended upon me; I swear I could have believed in magic and psychics in that moment. I'm sure they will take some breaking in, but I am very excited to have found a solution to my cold-toed problem and just in the knick of time, as our travel plans for break may include a forecast of snow showers.

I would call that a successful first experience at a real Italian market, and I am eager to see what the other famous ones have to offer. My next destination will probably be Mercato Trionfale, which is up in Prati near the Vatican. Unfortunately we have class during its regular hours of operation, but hopefully I will be able to check it out one of these upcoming weekends!