Friday Sept 16, 2011
Our Backroads tour group returned by bus to the Florence train station and we said our goodbyes. Gus and Karina were going to explore Florence before taking a later train to Rome. They would be flying home at "0 dark thirty" on Friday morning and thus staying near the airport in Rome. Nace and I had reserved train tickets from Florence to Rome and hung out at the train station until or departure. We were both hungry and headed to the food court expecting the worst, especially after seven days of being spoiled by the riches of Tuscan cuisine. Nace found a seat and I got in line for the pizza place in the food court. For six euros we each two huge slices of excellent pizza and a salad of mixed greens, radicchio, romaine, olives, corn and buffalo mozzarella that would shame any American fast food joint.
When our train appeared on the departure screen we boarded and enjoyed a restful ride to Rome. Our seats faced a young couple from China, touring the entire country by train.
We arrived ahead of schedule in Rome and caught a cab to Hotel Oxford, where we would stay for the next two nights.
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| Rob and Laura Petrie would be proud! |
We checked in and hit the streets for a walk to Trevi Fountain.
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| Roman centurions taking a smoke break |
The peaceful serenity of the Tuscan countryside had now turned into manic big city madness, but kind of fun as long as you kept your valuables under close scrutiny. Along the way we were parched and stopped at a street vendor, who I will heretofore refer to as a genius, selling bottles of frozen water for 4 euros.
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| Note ice in bottle, smile on face |
This was the first really cold drink we had since we left the states 8 days ago.
As we were accustomed to taking meals at regular intervals, we decided to return to the vicinity of our hotel and check out the restaurant recommended by our concierge. Of course, there is no such thing as an objective recommendation and despite my request for a local, inexpensive establishment, we took one look at the streetside menu and kept walking. There are enoteca and trattoria bursting out of every building with an opening to the sidewalk and within a few steps we found a nice place with decent prices. The owner was also the server and he plied us with panne, vino rosso della casa, homemade gnocchi in a Gorgonzola sauce and langostino alla grilla. Molto delizioso!
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| Owner and his daughter |
Saturday Sept 17, 2011
On our last full day in Rome, we had breakfast provided by the Hotel and awaited pickup by the tour company shuttle for our "3+2 including lunch". Tour 3 was a morning tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's basilica. Tour 2 was an afternoon tour of the Roman ruins and Colosseum. The tour pick-up shuttle dropped us at the "office" a hole in the wall in a crowded piazza that is best described as pandemonium; imagine thousands of nervous tourists dealing with non-communicative Italians and no bathrooms in site. Left to our own devices we figured out that we needed to go to the office, pre-pay for our tour vouchers and then determine which was the correct tour coach. After a few incorrect stabs at this, we were finally aboard the English speaking tour for the morning. Lots of sitting and wondering what was going on, sprinkled with comedic animated conversations between the coach drivers and tour operators. Finally our tour guide arrives and we are on our way.
She is an absolutely delightful Italian specimen replete with Italian accent in deliberate English immediately putting everyone at ease. We arrive a few blocks from the Vatican and have to hoof it the rest of the way.
Once inside the Vatican walls we gather for group orientation and are given our radios and earpiece so we can hear her conversation as we shuffle through the incredible mass of humanity all trying to occupy the exact same space. The benefit of paying an ungodly fee for the tour is you get to bypass the lines of people without prior reservations trying to get into these sites. We followed our beautiful guide, Rita, as she waved her collapsible golf club shaft topped by an orange scarf. All you have to do is keep your eye on that orange scarf and you will not get lost.
After gaining entry into the museum, it was time for a potty break so I got to hold the shaft topped with scarf, charged with keeping our little tour group's attention until she herded the group back to the starting point.
The museum is chock full of ancient artifacts, sculpture, tapestry, frescos, much of which you cannot fully appreciate because you are trying to keep your balance as there is no possible way to take anything close to a full stride.
As we staggered through a hall way of Flemish tapestry we were instructed to note the ceiling which absolutely appeared to be three dimensional but was actually perspective painting on a smooth surfaced barrel ceiling. As you can see, this was so well done it even fooled my camera.
The Sistine Chapel requires its own special reverence so scarfs were procured to cover bare shoulders and I got to pull my shorts down around my backside to achieve the proper coverage of my knees. All I could think of was the "pant's on the ground" song and how I looked just like the countless idiots with their underwear, or worse, exposed to the world. This attempt at reverence seemed a bit superfluous since we were packed together so tightly that I swear you could be naked and nobody would notice.
Our guide gave a particularly detailed description of the frescoes before entry to the chapel as we were discouraged from talking once inside. Sadly most of the other 1.5 million inhabitants of this space did not get the message so the guards clapped and yelled in a vain attempt to quiet the scofflaws. Sort of defeated the whole concept of reverence. The frescoes are amazing in detail and Rita's descriptions helped us to identify the depictions and the clever hidden secrets of Michelangelo. Photographs are also not allowed due to the delicate nature of this ancient frescoes.
We proceeded to the Basilica, which is now and forever the largest church in the world.
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| The Pieta (1498–1499) is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti housed in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City |
We exit the Basilica and tour St. Peter's square and stare at the window of the Pope's bedroom in the Papal residence on the right side of the square.
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| Papal Residence-Pope's bedroom is second from right, top row |
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| Swiss Guards |
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Our lunch finally arrived and we consumed food that would make junior high school cafeteria fare taste like it was prepared by a CIA graduate.
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Dr. Fernando-Director Health & Communicable Disease Division of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations |
Back on another shuttle to the "office" to transfer to our afternoon tour of the ancient ruins of Rome. More sitting, but thankfully we were out of the worst of the afternoon sun. Finally, our afternoon guide, Alexandra, appeared and we were on our way to the Forum. After Rita, Alexandra was a bit of a let down, both in sight and sound. Her English was decidedly more Italian and I felt sorry for the aged and hearing impaired members of our group. I did pick up a new command for Jazz, however, as she repeatedly barked out andiamo! (Let's Go!)
A funny thing happened on our way to the Forum. We ran into Jim and Elise, one of the couples we spent the week with on our cycling tour or Tuscany.
Finally, we reached the Coliseum, the highlight of our afternoon tour.
By now we have had enough of the heat, dust and sun so we abandoned the tour and opt to forego the shuttle ride back to the "office".
We were both pretty beat but I enticed Nace to continue our walkabout over the river to Trastevere, the west bank of the Tiber river.
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| Circus Maximus |
Just over the river we encounter a group of young folks hanging out and enjoying a granita.
Even better, this little streetside stand was selling granita's as an adult beverage. Just what the doctor ordered!
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| Note high correlation between icy drink and smile! |
We encountered what appeared to be a nice eatery, doors wide open and people sitting around eating. This is often misinterpreted as a restaurant being open. This is a common misunderstanding and we were shown the time on our watches, 5:45 pm, too early for an Italian eatery to be serving dinner. We retreated a few blocks where we had just passed a church, which turned out to be a Basilica and the pealing bells indicated that Mass was about to start. So we went inside and experienced our first Mass in Italian.
Spirits fully restored, we resumed our search for food and asked a local lady walking her dog for a recommendation. Without hesitation she pointed us in the right direction.
We enjoyed our last Italian meal and casa di vina rossa. After dinner we strolled the Trastevere just long enough to find a final gelato and get disoriented.
We also encountered this bicycle, apparently still functional with an incredibly untrue front wheel.
After a few blocks walking in the wrong direction we were able to find our way back to a taxi stand, noted earlier when we crossed the river. The driver returned us to our hotel and once again we were unconscious as heads hit pillows.
Sunday Sept 18, 2011
Our wake up call at 4:15 am came way too soon. A previously arranged shuttle took us to the Rome airport but dropped us at the wrong terminal. We did not find this out until we got to the front of a long line for the ticket counter and had to haul our luggage for another ten minutes to the next building.
An otherwise perfect vacation was already tainted by our airline woes on the front end of our travels. They had one last chance to let us down and they did. Nace's ticket, using FF miles, has never been a problem but my full fare ticket somehow dropped out of the system at every airport? Thus we had a full thirty minutes to entertain the people behind us in line as we consolidated our luggage and stuffed our dirty laundry into our two checked bags, eliminating the $100 tariff for a third checked bag.
Our last cappuccino at the gate was not quite up to the standards of the cafes in Tuscany but appreciated nonetheless since we left the hotel well before the kitchen was open.
As evidenced by this blog, we lived to tell about it and are adjusting to reality. Still a bit dazed by the stubbornness of our internal clocks staying on Rome time and suffering withdrawal symptoms secondary to lack of extraordinary cured meats and cheeses, superior wines and delicious Tuscan cuisine.
No telling when we will be returning to Italy but we are certain that it will not be soon enough!
Arrivederci !
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