Watch out, middle aged lady on the dance floor!

My first day in Rome was bananas! After my little trip to the market I walked around my neighborhood, crossed the river to Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori then the Pantheon. I went into the Pantheon last year, but now the scaffolding is gone. It's one of my favorite buildings in Rome.

I was fading fast, since I did not sleep on the plane. The freaking Darth Vader next to me kept me up with her heavy breathing and leaning over onto my seat. She complained the seats were too small the entire trip.

Max, a friend from LA is here visiting her friend. She's a producer who went to Rome over Christmas and fell in love with the city. She called me and asked what I was doing. I was going to take a nap before dinner. She told me under no circumstances take a nap. I will have the worst jet lag. She is staying near me so she picked me up and we walked all the way to TADs. TADs is like the Roman Barneys or Fred Segal. Molto $$$ but very nice.

We had drinks and the best apple tart, on the patio. The waiter bought me some little appetizers with my Mojito. I was confused, I didn't order any. He said it's for the alcohol. uhm okay.  I like this practice.

It took forever to walk back to the appt. I must have walked 5 miles yesterday. Ettore came over to pick me up for dinner. He had to show me how to turn on the TV. I hit the on button, the power comes on then nothing. He takes the remote and presses a random channel, the TV comes on. He says just press a button. Sorry in America, the on/off button turns the TV on/off. You do not have to press another button. Yesterday he helped me change the Italian prompts on my cell phone to English. I seem to be having some issues with basic technology.

We met his friend, Matteo at a local restaurant, very good food, very long dinner. There are so many people out, walking around. We walk to Piazza di Santa Maria and the square is packed! I feel like I'm back in NYC during one of those amazing spring or fall nights. We are about to say goodnight and Matteo gets a call. We could go to a club with his friend. At this point I'm still awake so why not? I can't remember the name of the place. It was outside the center. We didn't have to wait on line and ladies got in free. I tried to pay for Ettore and he was offended.

The club was huge, 3 floors. 3rd floor was techno. Since I wasn't on E. this was not my favorite floor. I can tolerate techno for maybe 10 minutes. Me no likey. 2nd floor was old-school pop, hip-hop and r&b, the first floor same genres but current. I danced non-stop for hours. Who said straight men can't dance? I just loved the vibe. The Dls were excellent. People were there just to dance and maybe make out. There was a drag show at one point. One of the songs was in Italian the other was Madonna, of course. Around 2:30 a.m. (the club stays open til 5) my middle aged self reminded me that I was not at Limelight circa 1985 and I should go to bed.