Thursday - April 25, 2013
Ahh...Rome. There's so much to look forward to when visiting Rome - the food, the culture, the history, the food...can you tell I'm stuck on food? In particular, gelato. Mmmm...gelato (wiping drool off my face). When we planned this trip, the first thing we did was to book the cruise (which I will get into later) and then structure our itinerary around the cruise. I had originally requested to stay a week in Rome before the cruise, but because our tickets (free through United's Mileage Plus program - what? You thought I could afford business class tickets on my government salary? You on crack??!!) allowed for another stop, we sat down and discussed where we wanted this additional stop to take place. There's so many places we haven't been yet, so we threw out some ideas. I
really wanted to go to London, but out of the three of us, I was the only person enthusiastic about that - so that didn't fly. My dad harped a lot on Istanbul. I'm not sure why - in fact, he's mentioned it multiple times since that we should do Istanbul next. Hmmm...maybe he watches too much History Channel? That, or he's still hung up on
Taken 2. Regardless, Paris was thrown out there at some point and I think my mom was the one who made the decision that we should do Paris. And dude - it's Paris, a place I'd never been to before so I sure wasn't complaining. I mean, who complains about going to Paris? Of the two places, I have to admit that I was more excited about Rome than Paris. We were in Rome for one measly day on our last European cruise and there was so much to see, but so little time. We did drive bys of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the Spanish Steps, the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the Pyramid of Cestius, the Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. We didn't even get to see Piazza Navona or Castel Sant'Angelo - but considering we were only in port for about 8 hours and the drive to and from Civitavecchia is about 45 minutes, we did a decent racehorse tour of the city. But despite all that we
did get to see, there was still a lot that I really wanted to explore, thus my request to return to Rome. Two of the the things I really,
really wanted to see: the Vatican Necropolis and the Colosseum's Hypogeum. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
So on Thursday the 25th, we wake up around 8am, when we still bustle about trying to clean up the apartment and make sure that everything's been packed. Once again, my dad goes out for breakfast and this time, he gets creative and brings me back a pain au chocolat (bliss!) for my last Parisian breakfast (sob!). Once we eat our pastries and drink our coffees, we wait for our ride that was to arrive at 9:30 am for our 12:15 pm flight to Brussels, where we have a two hour layover before another short flight to Rome (that's the problem with free tickets, you get rerouted to random places trying to get to your destination). In the meantime, we busted out the laptop and watched the Lakers once again get stomped on by the Spurs.
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| all packed up (sob!) Oooh, my pretty purse! |
Once it hit around 9:20 am, I start fidgeting because I don't want to be late and I didn't know how the shuttle driver was going to let us know he arrived, so I bugged my parents until they decided to placate me and start moving our luggage down. Down, down, down. Oy. That in itself was a major pain. The apartment building does have an elevator, which is a big deal since these buildings are so freaking old. I mean, look at the stairs - it's so worn down! Literally, you see where the wood has been worn down by centuries of use. Weird...Anyhoo, the elevator is located on the first FRENCH floor, which in America, is the SECOND floor. So we had to drag our gigantor suitcases up a flight of old narrow stairs first, THEN squeeze everything into the tiniest elevator I've ever seen. Just getting them up when we checked in was a feat in itself. We were about to pass out from the physical strain. Having to get it down again, oy vey. So what my dad and I did was stuff my mom into the tiny elevator with all our luggage, then the two of us ran down the stairs from the 3rd floor (well, 4th in America) to the 1st (2nd here) to pull all the luggage out of the elevator then drag all 3 gigantor suitcases down another flight of old ass stairs before dragging them out onto the street. Whew!
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| old ass stairs. See how thin some areas of the wood have been worn? |
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| front door to our apartment building |
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| yes, waiting for the (late) shuttle is so exciting |
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dad doesn't like having to wait for anyone
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| I don't look happy. Because I'm freaking out over the late shuttle. Stupid late Frenchies! |
Once we get downstairs, we wait. And wait. And wait some more. By this time, I'm freaking out since the car is about 10 minutes late. I pull out my cell, pull up Skype, and call Shuttle Inter complaining. I mean, if they're going to tell me they forgot about us, then I was just going to go and hail a taxi since I haven't paid them yet - but fortunately, the lady on the phone reassured me that our driver was coming, he was just stuck in traffic and would be with us shortly. And it was true - he was literally there a few minutes later. While on his cell being chewed out by his boss about being late. Oops. Oh well - he was nice anyway, and loaded our luggage onto the back of his van, manfully refraining from groaning over the weight.
As we're heading out (this place is a warren of random one way streets) this stupid foreign truck is blocking our way out and when our driver honks his horn and yells at the guy, the foreigner who didn't speak French pretty much gave our driver the finger and refused to move. No bueno. And we're in a pretty big ass van. Stuck on a narrow street, with cars on either side of us. But dude, our driver's got skills - granted, he needed to make a 17 point turn because the car was so big, but he did it. I would've just crawled under the car and cried, so that's probably why I'm not a driver. Unfortunately, the next street we hit had some douche in his van who also refused to move because he was unloading for his restaurant. Seriously, don't they have traffic cops who can ticket these lawless bastards? Because they're not even double parked - they're just parked in the middle of the freakin' street UNLOADING crap with their doors wide open. I wanted to kick his tires. Or at the very least have my dad fart on their car. So our driver also yells at the guy - but this time we can't back out because there's a huge line of cars behind us. And dude, the French are actually polite (to each other, not necessarily to us) - there's no honking or yelling or cursing or hocking a loogie at the stupid guy whose car is blocking THE ENTIRE ROAD. After a few minutes of waiting, retard finally finishes unloading and drives off. Our driver zips around him and as we pass him, he honks at him and gives him the glare of death.
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stupid foreign guy who blocked the road (the first guy, not the 2nd)
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So, after this stunning display of the ass driving of the French, we were on our way to CDG. Which is an incredibly dull and dreary airport. We have a short flight on a tiny plane to Brussels. My mama loses her new watch on the plane which the gate agent could not retrieve since everyone had left the plane. Then we hop onto another tiny plane and go to Rome. Yay! Seriously, both flights were under an hour. The first flight had a snack plate - I was in economy while my parents were in business (uh, they were a row ahead of me - they had the same seats - but were offered beverages upon being seated while I wasn't. Ohhh) and they gave me some chocolate or something. They gave my mom (yes, my mom) a plate of cheese, which horrified her, but was good for me since I got to eat the whole plate of cheese. hehehe. On the flight from Brussels they actually gave me a calzone. It tasted microwaved. And not too authentic - but dude, it was Brussels Airline, I'm not too sure they've cornered the market in calzone expertise. But it wasn't
bad, anything with baked carbs, cheese and tomato sauce can't be too bad. Then we arrive in Rome.
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| hehehe, my mama got my dad asleep on the plane. |
Our driver from Rome Shuttle Limousine was waiting in the arrival hall for us with a sign. I read reviews about them on Tripadvisor and they seemed to be trustworthy - which was good since they had the best prices. Only 40€ for the three of us from Fiumicino to Rome's city center. For us to take the Leonardo Express from Fiumicino to Termini station would have cost 14€ per person - AND we would have to drag our suitcases everywhere AND we would have to catch a taxi from Termini to our apartment by the Pantheon. Blech. No bueno. Also, the fixed rate for taxis from Fiumicino to Rome is set at 48€, so really, we got a very good deal. The drive to the city took a little over a half hour, and our driver dropped us and our luggage off in front of 31 Via Del Pie De Marmo, the apartment we rented for our stay in Rome. Once we got there, I realized I didn't know how to get into the apartment, particularly since I didn't even know the apartment number. So I freaked out - I busted out my skype and called Maurizio, the manager. My mama, smarter than me, took our VRBO printout and went into the little pizza store next door and asked the proprietor how to reach the landlord (I have no idea where she got the balls to do that) and he directed us to Maurizio, who had a wine shop next to his pizza place. So yes, Maurizio owns a wine shop TWO DOORS DOWN from the apartment building. I wished he had told me this in his email (I ended up finding him to be a really nice and accommodating guy - but completely absentminded) to save me all the stress and aggravation I went through when I was standing on the Roman sidewalk clutching our luggage - but whatever. He grabbed ahold of my gigantor suitcase and hauled it up the steep stairway to his apartment.
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| super steep ass stairs. Oy vey. |
He lead us into the flat, which was HUGE compared to the tiny place we stayed at in Paris. It was also hella cheaper, only 120€ per night compared to the 180€ per night we paid for in Paris. But while it was much larger, the furnishings weren't as nice, and there weren't as many amenities. For one thing, Maurizio forgot to give me my blanket - so for the first night, I had towels over my flat sheet. The next day my mama went to the wine shop to complain and he was completely befuddled - apparently the blankets and extra linens are stored under the bed - he just forgot about them. We were each given a large bath towel, hand towel, and face towel - and while fine, they weren't as big and plush as the ones provided to us in Paris. There also wasn't a washer/dryer in the unit, no kettle or coffeemaker, and the place just wasn't as posh as we'd gotten used to in the last few days. If the flat on Rue de Buci was 4.5 stars (which is what I'd rate it as - it was small, but seriously, everything used in that place was of excellent quality and the entire place had been upgraded very nicely), then the place on Via Del Pie De Marmo would be 3 stars. It was clean, it was comfortable, but nothing to write home about. The sofa bed was fine - it wasn't uncomfortable, but not as nice as the one in Paris. The blanket was fine, but it wasn't the down duvet I had in Paris either. So while there was nothing
wrong with the place, I was kind of let down after Paris. But that's just because I'm a spoiled brat, so ignore me.
All that being said - we did enjoy our stay there. The wifi worked very well (fast enough we could watch NBA games), there was plenty of hot water, the place was clean, and the location was fantastic. We walked to the Colosseum in 20 minutes. We got to the Trevi Fountain in about 7-8 minutes and the Spanish Steps were about 15 minutes away. It was about a 35-40 minute walk from the Vatican, and there were numerous restaurants, supermarkets, and gelato shops near us. Via Del Pie De Marmo wasn't really bustling, but there were certainly lots of options nearby and it was a nice safe area. Overall, a great location to be based out of when visiting Rome.
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| the living room - and my sofa bed |
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| looking out from the bedroom to the living area |
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| bedroom |
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| itsy bitsy kitchen |
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| itsy bitsy sink in mini kitchen |
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| looking out the window to the left |
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| looking out the window to our right |
Once we settled in and unpacked for the next three days, we had to prioritize - and the most important was to buy some groceries. Meaning water. Lots of water. And also toilet paper. Like I said, Maurizio is a nice guy, but completely absentminded. Considering there's three of us and we were staying for 3 nights - we need more than one measly roll of toilet paper. And paper towels - that's important too. Unfortunately, we are just cursed since April 25th is an Italian holiday - their independence day. I'm happy they're liberated an all, but not so happy that we had a hard time finding a shop open on that day. In fact, we noticed all the shuttered stores on the way into the city and our driver told us it's because we arrived on a holiday. Huh. We (and by we, I mean me) should really look into these types of things ahead of time - say...before we actually book. Since it was a holiday, the Carrefour around the corner from our place was closed (sob!), but fortunately, when we walked a few blocks away (at this point just trying to find food) - we found a Despar that was still open. Score!
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| weird Italian cart/basket hybrid Hmm... |
We load up on groceries and walk back to our apartment. We had passed a pizza/pasta joint earlier and had decided to have dinner there. Uh, that is until we walked by again and saw they were closed. Seriously?! It's a conspiracy! But we were tired, and hungry, and my mama said she had some more udon she could bust out from her magic suitcase. So we had udon. Again. In Rome. I know, the humanity. The shame. And unfortunately, it was not delicious. Because this was a different brand of udon from what we had in Paris and it was...eh. Edible. But that was about it. None of us were very happy with our dinner. We were tired, but we also didn't want to just sit around the apartment our first night in Rome, so we opted to go out and walk around after dinner. We figured if we found a place that looked tasty, we could sit down and have a snack. We set out and we literally reach the Pantheon in about 3-4 minutes. We actually approached from the rear.
Anyhoo, at this point I didn't feel like any pizza or pasta or the like. Even though the udon was less than delicious, all I wanted at this point was dessert. And what do you get for dessert in Italy? Gelato of course! We wandered back to the Pantheon and found a few gelato shops. I ended up going into the one that had the most people inside and got three flavors. Pistachio, hazelnut and caramel. Mmmm...this totally made my day and I thought more than made up for my sad, sad dinner. How can gelato not be delicious? (although I have to say, the gelato we had in Sicily - in Taormina - at Gelatomania was the
best gelato I've ever had.)
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| is it wrong that just the sight of gelato makes me happy? |
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| so many delicious varieties. If I lived in Italy, I'd weigh 300 pounds |
Anyway, after I inhaled my gelato (my mama stole some too - she got the little waffle cookie they stuck on top and she scooped some out) we walked back to our apartment and after the long day we had - we crashed. Ahhh...
A final thought: I didn't expect to miss Paris so much when I left. Like I said, for me, it hadn't even been the main attraction. Whereas I booked the tours for Rome almost a year before, I didn't start booking for Paris until the month before we left. The entire first day in Rome I felt kind of...disappointed? A bit listless? Which is entirely ridiculous as Rome is a wonderful city on its own that I had been so excited about returning to. Perhaps it's because we arrived on a holiday when so many shops were closed and the streets seemed kind of lifeless. Or all the graffiti sprayed everywhere that was particularly jarring especially after coming from Paris where the streets were clean and the buildings well tended and the flora and fauna immaculate. Or it could just be I liked the flat in Paris a lot better and was disappointed in the apartment we rented in Rome. Whatever it was, I was in a weird kind of funk the first day. I'm glad to say that by the second day (you know, when touring the Colosseum) I got into Rome, though I never really shook off the vague sense of disappointment in our apartment there.
Up next - our day at the Colosseum
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