shopping.rome

window shopping to be exact!! 
i didn’t buy anything this trip. seriously i got nothing at all from this shopping mecca city that loads with luxury brands and leather!!!! 

white chocolate bar anyone???  i first spot this logo somewhere at the piazza di spagna area (on our second return), i took the photo because these are the brand names and objects of desire!!! later at home when i am editing the photo, it looks more and more like a delicious white chocolate bar to me.... may be it is just me letting my imagination running wild...

i remember the first night,when we were strolling along the major shopping streets at piazza di spagna area, i was like "look at the heel with ruffles", "look at that LV bag"...

ooh-ing and aah-ing around like a shopaholic lady who have not been shopping for awhile (not that i have the money to shop like that).  since it was at late night and all shops are closed, so it's really a window shopping purely to satisfy the lust of the eyes....we return one afternoon when the shops are all open and plenty of people satisfying the shopping craze carrying shopping bags of gucci, prada, valentino and many more...

there are plenty of eastern european and asian tourists around and suddenly me and my historian heard a guy saying "BA-BU-LI is just there...". we looked at each other and smile, wondering what the guy is talking about... seconds later we know...

they are talking about this shop burberry, and of course all of us know "bur-ber-ry" that famous with the british style trench coat... but hello.... burberry is not "BA-BU-LI"....

but….but… I had an almost alexia experience in rome, also along the via corso and piazza di spagna area. i have no short of bags but oversize alexia is what I desire.  in fact i have wanted one for quite some time.  the desire is even more evidence after i watched the movie ‘letter to Juliette’ setting in different cities in italy (verona, tuscany, etc) where the actress is carrying an ‘almost alexia’ shoulder bag and that really give me the zeal of wanting one for myself. but, the catch is i am not willing to pay for the mulberry price, so i have been looking for a almost similar version as long as it is made of genuine leather. the bag is classic and so it would stand the fashion storm and will remain classic and durable for ages…  i saw this bag at one of the leather shops after many tries, hopping in and out the various 'not brand name' leather and handbag shops in and around the shopping mecca of spanish steps area.  this bag is exactly what i wanted, no fake logo, not an imitation, genuine leather but just at the fraction of the mulberry price.  the shop just doesn’t carry the color that i want.  they have it in black (too boring), in dark chocolate (too masculine), they just don’t have it in the neutral brown (classic). what a bummer :(… it is another almost alexia experience the second time, the first time was in madrid where i also didn’t get it because of the color.  so i return home without any acquisition. 

we also had an interesting conversation one night with two italian men in the same restaurant dining at the next table.  the man with the decent english fluency is very proud of his country and kept telling us how great the roman empire was.  i made a comment about the fact roman empire was very powerful before in the past but no longer in the present... there was quite a moment of silence after i made that statement and i thought our conversation was over... and suddenly this man said to me, it may be true that roman empire is not as strong as before but certainly italy is still conquering the world!! i was thinking what he meant by his statement and he just threw out "valentino, tod's, hogan, prada, gucci, salvatore ferragamo, miu miu, dolce gabana, armani..." and well.. he got the point there... these brands are still the most sought after objects in the world... from that sense he is absolutely right that we should never under estimate the italian power....

set aside the story, as for me, i will keep on searching till i find my 'almost alexia'....