Spending Valentines day at Castelli Romani

Pretty much like last year’s Valentine’s day, this year was a pretty simple affair. Regardless, Cart and I had a very nice day.

The initial plan was to head out to the Mount Terminillo to see the snow but the weather in Rome has been rather bad, hence we headed to Castelli Romani instead.

It was interesting going through the roads. There were layers of snow everywhere. Since we were outside of Rome, it was colder and more prone to snow.

By the time we reached there, the main roads were closed and I saw a number of traffic police wardens giving fines and towing vehicles away. And then I saw a number of booths being set up. It looked as if there was a pasar malam about to start.

I was very curious by this point of time. What was going on?

But there was no time to stop and investigate as we both did not want to be late for lunch. Italians are very iffy about their food times. If you go to a restaurant at 3.30pm or later for lunch, big chances is that you’ll be turned away.

Anyhow, we headed to Trattoria dei Cacciotori. And much like the last time that we were there, there was an interesting display that we saw, the first thing that we entered the place.

Hohoho! Big diamond! Imagine if there were anyone having a diamond ring as big as this!

In anycase, we were lucky that even with the large amount of patrons in the trattoria, we had a table. And it was really crowded. The waiters were running around serving the patrons, some looked quite tired.

So we camwhored while waiting for our food to arrive.

Here I am posing with my mini-hat. I bought this while in Singapore just for fun, not knowing when I’d wear it. But I’m wearing it now since its the last few days of Carnevale. When else would I wear it after all? Its cute how people tend to smile and wave more when I’m wearing it. Hehehe!

As a sidenote, I saw something similar to my mini-hat in a shopping mall in Rome. It was almost 50 euro! Woah! I liked it, but I couldn’t bear to pay that much money for it!

Cart camwhored too :-P

Eventually, our food arrived and it was interesting to see how our table was decorated. With the red flower shaped place mat, and the heart shaped napkin holder.

I was admiring the napkin holder and that’s when I saw some words printed behind it. Rubato alla Trattoria dei Cacciotori. And I asked Cartcart what Rubato meant.

And he replied, “Stolen from”

We had a good laugh out of that.

Soonafter our food arrived. I had my beloved Piccantine ai funghi porcini and Cart had his Ravioli.

And then Cart had his artichoke while I had my verdure cotte in the background.

Cart absolutely LOVES artichoke and he’d buy 6 pieces of fresh artichoke at one go in the market. And for one week he’d make fried artichoke, artichoke in fritata, pasta with artichoke. Oh my god. I don’t mind artichokes in small doses but I’m starting to have a phobia of these things.

Anyway! On to the desserts

Initially I wanted tiramisu but since they ran out of it, I settled for this Torta Della Nonna. It was good! I loved the lemon cream in my cake.

And no, I didnt share with Cartcart

Cart can keep his Creme Caramel :-P

We left the trattoria after having our espresso and thats when I saw what was going on. The booths were fully set up and there were loads of people in costumes walking around. There was a carnevale festival going on! Oooh!

Its not as festive as the ones in Rio De Janeiro but it was still very cheery and happy-fying anyways. I loved looking at the different colours which was in contrast to the cold chilly afternoon.

Everyone was having fun, smiling and playing with each other. There were heaps of confetti pieces everywhere. On the floor, on people, being strewn in the air.

And there were so many people wearing costumes both young and old. I spotted out this group of costumers wearing a Cleopatra outfit, an ancient Roman soldier, a princess and Pinocchio … Hmm … So tempted to pull his nose off :-P

There were also several cute outfits that I spotted out, like a really adorable Hello Kitty baby! Daphne would love that! Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to snap them. But I did got a couple of shots.

This is Po from the Teletubbies! (By the way, its interesting that the Italian version of Teletubbies, they speak properly, not in baby language)

Here is a cute little chicken about to lay an egg

And this is a totally fake looking Minnie and Mickey mouse with fake pooh in the background. Could be a copyrighted issue.

They were a hit with the kids anyway, with kids asking them constantly to play and dance with them.

And there were countless of kids throwing confetti and spraying foam from cans. I’m not too fond of the foam things. So upon spotting them, I quickly swerve and manouvered away. I don’t want to get my outfit messed up.

But these kids are having fun spraying it on their friends. Their cheeks a bright pink from all the running around. There was one boy who made a foam beard on himself even. He looked like a young santa claus :-P

I was a little confused though, as I saw a couple of policemen confiscating the foam cans from a couple of kids and pulling out the nozzle so that it doesn’t function anymore. The ironic thing is that there was a small booth selling it just next to the policemen. So is it illegal or no?

Anyhow, there were also a few sideshows. Cart and I spotted a small parade band, a South American musical performances and this acrobatic act.

It was ok. I mean, after being used to seeing Chinese acrobatic troops, I’m a little harder to impress :-P

At the end of the road where the festivities ended, Cart and I naturally camwhored.

For some reason, my sister thinks that we look very married in this picture. Maybe its because we *are* married :-P

We later drove to Nemi just for a quick look see since it was along the way. Cart feared that it would be like during the Ferragosto period and would have absolutely no space for parking.

Fortunately, it was fine, and we found a spot at the entrance.

I was still fascinated by the stacks of snow everywhere. The different seasons is something interesting to see. The same spot looking different at different times of the year.

Lake Nemi is still as pretty as the last time that we’ve been there. I liked looking down to see the different buildings and farms which is built in a concentric manner around the lake and the cars going by the roads. They were so tiny from down there! Like the size of ants.

Having a bit of time before it was completely dark, we walked up to an area where you could see the lake better.

It was really nice to see the area decorated with valentine’s day decorations. There were balloons and pinks at every turn and corner. Its so secondlife!

We walked down the bridge and thats when I saw a familliar face. Its the same kitty I saw the last time we were here with Jerrick!

Its impossible to take a clear shot of the cat since she’s always moving and wriggling. And she is still as claw-y as ever. Here she is molesting my chest and clawing my coat

But its probably because of the cold. I’m tempted to just kidnap her but she looks well fed and taken cared of, so I’m sure that she belongs to someone.

Anyhow, it was getting darker and colder, so we went to seek refuge into a little bar called Locanda lo specchio di Diana.

While this bar has excellent strawberry and strawberry cakes, we were here more for the hot chocolate instead since we were still full from our lunch.

What was interesting about this place is that they had speciality hot chocolates. I had the orange and cinammon flavoured one and I liked it very much.

I didnt take a picture of the hot chocolate that we had, since all hot chocolates look the same as each other. But here is a picture of me posing with my hot chocolate

While Cart had his with chilli.

I tried a bit but I didnt like it that much. Its a tad bit too hot and a little wierd for me. I think I prefer chilli in Curries and Masak Merah and such.

Anyhow see what the hot chocolate did to Cart.

First it made him, “Woah this is very hot!”

Then he was like, “Urgh! This burning feeling, but I’ll be macho”

And then he’s like, “Oh please, its not hot at all!”

And finally he’s all Giles-like, “See, I’m a man!”

Tee hee hee!

We left Nemi pretty much tired from all the walking, but it was such a nice day experiencing and seeing all the sights and sounds (and tastes too) together. I really enjoyed Cart’s company :-)

Oh and before I end this post, check out the hat I bought from the festival

Cute! And I’m talking about the hat, and not myself, naturally

Hohoho! Its like I’m collecting hats all over again.

If you enjoyed reading this post, you might also like :

• Going to Castelli Romani in August
• Going to Castelli Romani in November