I was first awake again, probably something to do with the fact I'm always awake at home by 5am so I can get into the office early, so for me sleeping to 7 is a significant sleep in.
Ah, the excitement and trepidation of finding a coffee early in the morning in a brand new city. Will the coffee be as good as all my last ones, will I have trouble getting my order across in a foreign language ? Out the door I head on my journey of caffeine discovery.
We are on the second floor, so first decision of the morning, the small sardine lift, or the 17th century stair case ? Hardly a decision really, down the stairs I go.
First survey of the street and there are two cafes down each street from the corner, both equidistant from me, so I can't use distance as the only factor in deciding my new local. There is also a "left field" option that's slightly further away, so I decide to have a quick look in each one.
First one I check out, large, lots of people, doing lots of coffee and nice looking pastries (that last observation is really silly, they all have nice looking pastries).
Second option, smaller, less people, but people in it are all crowded around the bar, and they don't look like tourists, all having a conversation in Italian and reading Italian newspapers.
The left field option, looks ok, but seem to be more focused on Gelato than coffee. Nothing wrong with gelato, but not my choice for the morning. Coffee Gelato is a possible exception...
Decision made, and probably obvious, the second one it is. Here is a picture of the pastries making their siren call out to you as you stand at the counter waiting to place your order.
Glancing behind me, Italy is more relaxed about smoking than Australia, they still have all the cigarettes on display. Haven't seen any advertising, but they are not hiding the product yet.
I place my order, it's made promptly and soon I'm on my way back to the apartment. It's almost as if the 17th century architect predicted I would be carrying takeaway coffee in the future and placed this handy nook right next to the door so I could unlock it without having to put them on the ground.
The finished product was worth the wait, served slightly hotter and in a smaller cup than my local in Roma. Just as good though.
I also ordered a hot chocolate for Emma. One of the richest, darkest hot chocolates I've ever tasted. I may have to sample a mocha one morning....
Significantly cheaper than my local in Roma, 2 coffees and a hot chocolate, €5.60
