Rustic

Stupified from my first trans-Atlantic flight, we made our way to our B&B and then went back out in search for a meal. In the very narrow street behind us, we discovered calzones and pizzas in Rome are not the same as back home, but tasty nonetheless.

During our meal a wizened old man rode up on his bicycle and made his way into the restaurants on the street. He adjusted the chain on his bicycle in order to power the whetstone wheel, wet the stone with his bottled water, started the wheel in motion by pedaling and then began to sharpen the knives. It was at that moment that I fell in love with Roma.

Temptation

We were riding the Tube, a novelty for us - "Mind the gap!" - and I glanced around at the people around me. I spotted a Londoner holding a bag proclaiming "Ben's Cookies". I continued my perusal of my fellow passengers and next I spotted a box stamped with "Ben's Cookies". I'm not one to ignore signals from the universe and I was clearly receiving one. My travel companion also received the same signal and we agreed that we would not depart from London without finding this treasure.

Wandering around London the next day in a mode we like to call "off the map*" AKA "I'm not sure where we are, but let's keep wandering. Oh! Look at this lovely Church/statue/bridge/etc." We sat in a park outside the church we had stumbled upon and located the nearest metro station via the phone GPS. Then we walked through a little mall to get to the Tube discovering our holy grail along our way. There it was, Ben's Cookies.

Oh what a difficult choice to make! I base my travel food choices on two criteria:
1.  What do the locals eat?
and/or
2.  What have I not had before?
The Ginger Dark Chocolate Chunk called out to me. And it was superb.

*"Off the map" was a phrase used by two very lovely British women that dined next to us in Rome. We started talking to them during our dinner and had a fabulous time chatting and laughing with them for two hours.