Rome, Italy January 25th-27th 2008

Chuck and Bonnie came to visit us in London for 11 days in January. They knew we were going to take a weekend trip somewhere in Europe for the second weekend they were here, but we surprised them with the location. So early on Friday morning, we drove to Stansted Airport, about an hour by car from our flat, and flew on Ryanair to...wait for it....Rome!!! SURPRISE!!

Bonnie is an outstanding diary-keeper and sent us about 15 pages-worth of memories. For you, dear reader, the pictures will have to do.

Ciao.

Link to pictures --> http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=hj0zhyv.bh48jc2f&x=0&y=-uf7n8l&localeid=en_US

This entry offers a special treat for you, reader.  For the first and only time at Wilsons Wander, you will have the pleasure of reading the words of a guest writer!   The following text was copied from (a copy of) Bonnie Abbey’s journal entry from Rome.  It is highly likely that any spelling or grammar mistakes are the fault of the transcriber.

Friday

I didn’t sleep well in anticipation of our trip, I think.  The car was prompt and we were at the airport by 7:10 for our 8:40 flight to …ROME!  Chuck and I had guessed correctly and yesterday had emailed Paulette asking her restaurant recommendations.  We were surprised but excited to finally find out our destination.  We checked in and headed for the gate.

At the fate I had a problem with my contact solution because the container was too big.  We were not checking luggage so we had only a carry on bag – it was the first time I’ve ever used the quart-sized bag of 3oz or less of liquid.  My contact cleaner was 4oz and they would not allow it.  So the official suggested I run to Boots, a drugstore, to buy an acceptable sized bottle and poured in my Renu solution.

We boarded RyanAir and headed to Rome.  Our plane flew over the Apls, a beautiful sight and landed on time.  Rome is 1 hr ahead in time zones.

The Abbeys in front of our hotel. Erin highlights the signage.

Eric negotiated with a taxi driver and we headed to our hotel.  The weather was sunny and mid-50s.  After checking in we dropped our off stuff and began walking around.  Our hotel is near all of the antiquities so everything is an easy walk.  We stopped for a coffee and sandwich, then walked toward the Coliseum. 

We stopped at a church which we toured.  It was gorgeous – beautiful sculptures and carvings.  We kind of got an overview of what we want to see tomorrow.

In one of the piazzas we stopped for a glass of wine.  Our dinner reservations at Nino’s was at 8:00.  Our hotel clerk made the reservation for us at one of the restaurants Paulette had recommended.  Eric was a great tour guide really giving us an overview of everything. 

Wishing at Trevi

After visiting the Fountain of Trevi, making our wishes by throwing coins, and seeing the Pantheon we headed to Nino’s.  This restaurant was a bit formal for us but we stayed.  It was a white table-cloth place.  We ordered a bottle of red wine, had black olives as an appetizer and bread was great, especially with olive oil we ordered separately.  Chuck had spaghetti Bolognese; Erin had chicken with spinach and mozzarella; Eric had cannelloni; and I had tortellini with cream. 

After dinner, we decided dessert would be at the “book” recommended best gelateria in the world.  We found it; Erin and Eric partook of the gelato, but Chuck and I had to walk off dinner all the way back to the hotel.

Such good sports

Erin took our picture in bed; our “sofa-bed” is actually a trundle of sorts. We’re so tired it doesn’t matter!

Saturday

We awoke at about 7:30 to a lot of noise outside the hotel. It seems, being at the back, we are where garbage is collected. Also there is construction going on and they, too, work on Saturdays.  Finally, we gave up and 9:00.  Breakfast was included in our room rate, so we decided to check it out about 9:45.  They had cereal, toast, yogurt, sweets, and juices.  Erin didn’t come down because she had a headache.  Chuck and I had juice and toast.

Eric had figured out how to take the subway, the Metro, which crisscrosses Rome, so we tool it to the stop for the Vatican Museum.  It was sunny and warn in the upper 50s.  At the stop we followed the signs to the Museum.  For a 13 euro charge we entered the Vatican Museum.  There were several galleries including the Sistine Chapel.  We really enjoyed the Egyptian exhibits and all of the sculptures.   Eric rented an audio phone and “read” us the facts on all of the exhibits. 

After the Sistine Chapel, which was phenomenal, we walked over to a restaurant where we had a pizza lunch.  To “save money” we ordered tap water, but when it was delivered it had lots of “floaties,” so we ended up ordering bottled “still” water.  The pizzas were excellent; the bruschetta only so-so. 

St. Peter's

We headed to St. Peter’s Square and the Basilica after lunch.  The Basilica of St. Peter’s was just unbelievable!  We thoroughly explored it.  After we took a lot of photos and were on our way out,  we regrouped to decide where to go next. We decided we wanted to see the Pantheon so we began walking. 

Drinks in Piazza Navarro

We took a few photos along the way, saw the Trevi Fountain during the day, and ended up at the Pantheon.  The Pantheon was having Mass, so we couldn’t go in.  We decided to find a piazza where we could have wine and then go back to the Pantheon after the Mass.  In the Piazza Navarro we found a restaurant and met Fabrizio who had lived in the States but came back to where he was born – here.  We had a bottle of Chianti and watched some performers in the piazza. 

Pantheon

After our wine we headed back to the Pantheon and explored the inside.  When we had seen enough,  we started looking for a place to have dinner.  Erin had her heart set on pesto, so we looked at a lot of menus, not finding it.  We wanted a small café, so we were exploring a lot of back alleys. Finally, a man was drumming up business for Life, a modern-looking restaurant in an alleyway.  We didn’t see pesto on the list, but he said he would check with the chef.   We decided to stay; Erin had pesto and we had a great meal.  We had fun with our waiter, too.  He screwed up with the wine choice, but we ended up getting a second bottle anyway, so it worked out.

After diner, we took a leisurely walk back to our hotel, walking off the wine and the food.  Chuck tried a ham and cheese calzone which was authentic; I had a spaghetti alla carbonara, again and Eric had a spinach and spaghetti dish. We all had a taste of tiramisu for dessert, and we had a complimentary lemoni shot at the end the meal.  What fun.

Bedtime….

Sunday

 When we had gotten back to our room,  the service had remade our bed as a double, not a trundle and single.  We seemed to sleep a lot better and because we did, we got a little later start than we’d planned.

I forgot to mention earlier that I had brought the English curling iron, but the plugs are different here so I couldn’t use it.  It never occurred to me to ask at the hotel desk for a converter, so I just didn’t use it.  Oh well. 

Another thing I forgot to mention was that outside one of the antiquities we were visiting Eric had already read us the blurb about it and he had gone off looking at something, when I asked Erin about something Eric had read.  Erin said, “you’re asking the wrong person…if you want to know the latest on Paris Hilton, I’m the one to ask.”

So today, we packed up, checked out, and left our bags at the hotel until we cam back to go to the airport. It was colder today, low 50’s, but still sunny – what a perfect weekend!

The Forum

We walked about 15 minutes to the Roman Forum and Il Paletine.  Experiencing the ruins was just incredible!  So much has been excavated that it is just amazing that modern Rome is all around it.  The Coliseum is right next to the Forum, the site of a bustling marketplace and political buildings, 3000 years ago. It was hard to imagine how all of this could still be standing.  Why was it preserved and built over?  Chuck said the way we are not “savers,” there would be no remains if it were up to us. But fortunately, there are those who save the past for the future – and we are grateful! We explored the ruins for nearly two hours and walked all around the outside too. 

We walked over to a large expansive grassy area that Eric identified for us as the Circus Maximus, created by Julius Caesar.  Caesar held chariot races here in a stadium that could hold 300,000 fans.  A small section of seating area has been somewhat excavated.  Now it is an area where people walk dogs, jog, or ride down the steep grassy sides.

One “fun” fact I’ve forgotten to mention is the type of items for sale around the tourist attractions.  By every one there were men selling tripods, yes, tripods of every size.  We’d never seen this before.  Of course there were the typical souvenirs, but also belts, scarves, purses, and a lot of books.  There were souvenir shops everywhere and the farther from the attraction, the cheaper things were there.

We wanted to have lunch before heading to the Ciampino airport, so we found a café down an alleyway.  We had a couple pizzas and were on our way.  Before reaching our hotel we stopped for a last gelato.  Mmm, good.

At the hotel Eric asked the clerk to call a taxi for us and on appeared immediately.  He negotiated the flat fare.  This cab driver was a maniac compared to the one we had arriving.  We got the airport in about 20 minutes. We then had about a two hour wait.

Checking in went smoothly – no shoe check – but we departed about 10 minutes late.  It’s funny – RyanAir’s slogan is “The On Time Airline” and both flights were late taking off.  The airline personnel were nice, but seemed inefficient at times.  Because the crew tries to “sell” stuff on these flights (food, drinks, lottery tickets, bus passes, duty free items) we remembered to water and snacks.

The flight was great.  The driver who had picked us up on Friday morning (we named him “Lester”) was coming back to Stansted Airport to bring us back to their apartment.  Unlike the cab driver in Rome, Lester (who also smelled bad and looked like he hadn’t had a hair wash in weeks) took forever getting us back to the apartment.  It took over and hour, and the guy never stopped talking!  Eric was the one stuck in the front seat with him both trips – he’s a saint!

When we finally got back, Eric headed to the grocery store.  He and Erin threw together a dinner of some Indian favorites, breaded prawns and leftover Indian appetizers, a salad, and cheese/crackers.  We planned our departure for the next day, packed as much as we could and said goodbye.  We planned to leave at 5:45 AM so we told Erin and Eric they didn’t/shouldn’t need to get up.