Letter From Rome No. 3

Today I... had a sublime espresso standing at the bar at the justifiably famous Sant'Eustachio... ate at "mozzarella bar" Obiki, which has branches in a few cities around the world ... tried Italy's slightly bitter, mostly botanical answer to Coca-Cola, Chin8Neri ... visited the Capucin Crypt beneath a church, where monks built elaborately ornamental alcoves out of human bones, in the last is a simple plaque that reads: What you are, we once were. What we are, you will be... visited Gelato palace, Gioletti, for the heavenly combination of cassata siciliana and chocolate... bought some full-length saffron leather gloves at Sermoneta on Piazza di Spagna... haven't done any shopping other than those and an early 1980s Gucci bucket bag I picked up at a vintage shop on Via del Governo Vecchio shortly after I arrived. Most of what's here I could buy in New York, with the exception of a store I stopped in a few days ago that specializes in Bakelite radios and 1970s European fashion magazines...