Dear mom, today we explored Trastevere.

Trastevere is the neighborhood in Rome across the Tiber river. Danya, Avery, Ellie, and I wandered through the streets without any particular plan. We happened upon various outdoor fruit and vegetable markets, international markets, and really delicious pizza places. Just when were were thinking about sitting down to lunch we wound up at a park with fabulous views of Rome. I believe we were on the Janiculum Hill which is known for its amazing views of the city.
After taking a ton of photos and trying to cool off in the shade we wandered back down the hill into Trastevere and sat down at a restaurant. The experience in the restaurant was great because it was the first time we were eating outside of our touristy neighborhood. It seemed like the kind of place where the waiters knew all the patrons because they kept turning the music up loudly and people would get really excited and sing along. At first we all felt very out of our element, but it was obvious that everyone in the place was having a great time, so we did too. We also had an interesting cultural experience in the restaurant. When we were ordering our food we each ordered a different pasta dish. For some reason it seemed like it annoyed the waiter, and when I asked him why he said it was because his chef would be unhappy. We were all kind of shocked. The waiter was very friendly about the whole thing and happily brought us what we asked for, but then we started noticing that big groups of people were all ordering the same dish. It was very un-American. We ended up having a fine time and the waiter even gave us a discounted price, so we might go back once we are pros at eating like the Italians do.
Anyway, it was a lovely day which ended with our first thunder storm in Rome. It was really nice to have a break from the heat and also nice to just have some rain.