Latina - Italy Day 3

My third day in Italy was by no means as exciting as the first two, but it had a good ending.

In the morning, we woke up in Positano and had breakfast before hitting the road and driving back up north to a small city about a half hour from Rome called Nettuno.  This city is where Andrew and his friend Tyler would be staying for the duration of their baseball tournament. They are staying in some sort of police headquarters which seemed very intense. We had to wait around awhile for them to get settled, and by the time we left, it was already dinner time.

My dad and I drove 15 minutes to the hotel he would be staying in for the next week in another small city on the sea called Latina. I was kind of bummed I wasn't staying in that hotel longer, because it was located right on the beach and was really nice.

We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed into Latina for dinner. Unfortunately the restaurant we were going to didn't open until 8:30 (welcome to Europe, the land of late dinners), so we walked over to a bar/cafe packed with locals to grab some drinks and soak in the atmosphere.

Because Latina is by no means a tourist destination, we got to see a different side of Italy. All of the locals were out on a Monday night having drinks and catching up with each other. The streets were packed with friends talking and Vespas zooming past. It was nice to just sit back and take it all in.

After we finished our drinks, we walked back to the restaurant and ordered some delicious food.

The waiter first brought out the most amazing homemade focaccia bread I have ever had. It was still warm, just out of the oven, chewy with a little crunch, and covered with the perfect amount of sea salt and rosemary.

Next came the suggested sampler of appetizers which was wonderful, but way more expensive than what was stated on the menu, which was a little disappointing.

My dad ordered the hamburger for his main course which was stuffed with fresh mozzarella, kind of like an Italian version of a Juicy Lucy. It was heavenly.

I went for pesto based pizza covered in mozzarella, olives, cherry tomatoes, and thin slices of a freshly grated local cheese on top. It was very filling, so I sadly couldn't finish the whole thing which was majorly disappointing.

The most exciting part of the night was when I asked for the rest of the pizza to go. The waiter who came to clear our plates didn't speak English, and I actually managed to use my Italian (which I am learning at St. Andrews) to ask to take the rest of the pizza home with us and he understood!!!!! WHOOOO!!! I almost jumped up and did a happy dance but I was too full to move. Typical.

We finished off dinner with some fresh strawberries, drove back to the hotel, and fell asleep.

I had a wonderfully crazy weekend in Italy and hope I can go back sometime soon!