When Rachel contacted me Wednesday about getting together over the weekend, I told her I was free on Sunday. Friday rolled around and we hadn't quite figured out what we were going to do.
Then I remembered the banners.
Let me back up.
Several weeks earlier we had taken a trip to California Tortilla over our lunch break. They were handing out foam shark hats to anyone who bought a fish taco in celebration of Shark Week, which started that Sunday. Naturally we all trooped over to CalTort to get our shark hats. On the way, we noticed a banner above Pratt Street. According to the banner, there was going to be a street festival in Little Italy to celebrate the feast of St. Gabriel.
Side note: shark hats do strange things to people.
See what I mean?
Anyways. While texting Rachel I began to wonder when the festival was. I was in the mood to adventure a bit more, to finally relish my post-law school freedom even without leaving Baltimore. After a quick search on Google, I found out that the festival was going to be happening on Sunday. I proposed a trip to the festival. It was settled: I would meet Rachel after mass and we would head down to the festival then back up to my apartment since she wanted to see my new digs.
Mass ended and we met up along Charles Street. First we wandered around in opposite directions, trying to figure out where the other one was. But eventually we sorted that out (thank goodness for cell phones) and found each other.
When we first hit Little Italy we couldn't find the festival or any sign of it. Little Italy isn't that big so we knew it had to be somewhere nearby. I looked it up online and still couldn't find a specific location. We ended up spotting a knot of people walking in the same direction and decided to follow them. Knots of people are usually a good sign when you're looking for an event. Lo and behold, they led us straight to the festival!
After paying our $1 admission fee, we began scoping out lunch options. We were both hungry and the smell of basil, garlic, and marinara was not helping our hunger. Goodness it made me mess Italy. Walking around Little Italy definitely conjured up memories of wandering around Rome and passing the trattorias and pizzerias along the way. That smell will always be heaven to me.
We decided to wander the whole festival before making a decision. It wasn't very big so it didn't take us too long to wander. There was one table we made a stop at on our first pass: the wine table! For $3 they served you one of the four available wines. I must admit, those wines were super tasty. My favorite of the two I sampled was the lambrusco, which Rachel is drinking in this picture:
Wine in hand we kept ambling, catching up on life, whining about moving, and periodically pointing out booths that looked tasty. Once our wine was finished, we decided to get a second cup. The table next to the wine was selling meatballs and we wanted to get some of those as well. Sadly they were out of meatballs. We debated for a minute and then finally asked the vendor when they would get more. The vendor told us she didn't know and we ended up chatting with her for a little while.
Since we were both starving but didn't want to pass up the meatballs completely, we decided to share an appetizer of fried calamari from a booth across the street. We staked out a bench and sat down to eat and chat. After finishing our calamari we headed back towards the meatballs and the wine. Thankfully the meatballs were back in stock! We each snagged an order and staked out a different bench to sit and eat our meatballs at. We tried to get our first bench back but someone else had taken it. Nestled onto a bench, meatballs in hand, we chattered away and watched the festival goers.
After meatballs it was time for a little dessert. The weather took a turn for the worse and it started to rain on us as we headed off to find dessert. We opted to go to a Vaccaro's instead of getting something at the festival. Vaccaro's is a pastry shop nestled in Little Italy. They serve ah-mazing desserts. I almost sprang for a package of cookies to take home, since Italian cookies were one of my favorite treats in Italy. I opted not to--after all, I am trying to lose weight and save some money. Plus, Vaccaro's will always be there if the lure of the cookies proves too strong.
As it turned out, we weren't the only ones trying to go to Vaccaro's: the line was out the door! While they do have tables you can sit at, the line was comprised entirely of people trying to order something to go. We squished under the awning since neither of us had umbrellas and waited for the line to move. Eventually we made it up to the counter and ordered our gelato. Rachel got amaretto and I opted for straciatella, which is similar to chocolate chip here in America.
Gelato in hand we wandered around, trying to find a cab. Eventually we managed to hail one. And by that I mean Rachel shouted at a cab heading down the other side of the street. It worked though: he swung back around to pick us up. I showed Rachel around my new place (which I'm still totally in love with) and we swapped books. Rachel and I swap books around regularly. We're even tossing around the idea of starting a book club. Reading is one of those little pleasures that I stopped enjoying in law school. Swapping books with a friend is a lot of fun: it gives you both more options than you would normally have, plus you can discuss it with each other when you've both read it. I highly recommend finding a friend and swapping books with them!
Goodness last weekend was busy. This weekend's shaping up to be busy too. Saturday is a girls' sleepover at Rachel's new place, complete with a trip to the salon for manicures & pedicures and dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Sunday will include not only church, but also a possible bit of painting on pottery. Sometimes I think I need to slow down a bit. But then I think about how incredibly boring that would be.
Yeah I think I'll pass on the slowing down business.
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