Goodbye Rome

Today was a day of waiting. We had to be out of the apartment by 9:30, as another group was coming in around lunchtime. We somehow acquired a rather large amount of trash--we've been taking it out every morning, but today we had FOUR little bags of trash. (Lots of stuff cleaned out of the fridge--we drank the last of the milk and juice, ate the fruit, and threw out the yogurt.)

We took the Metro to Termini and checked our bags at the Left Luggage area. (Digression: when I read The HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series in high school, I couldn't figure out what a "left luggage" station was--was there a "right luggage" station somewhere?)

Now, we had eight hours to kill before our train arrived. We didn't want to get too sweaty, as there would be no showers tonight, so we opted to mostly stick around the air-conditioned parts of the station. We started by window-shopping at the mall in the basement of the station. All kinds of stores--Foot Locker, Levi Strauss, little clothing stores, etc. We went to the bookstore, and eventually found the English-language books on the third floor (naturally, the one floor where the AC didn't reach). I was entertained for a while on the first floor, flipping through an Italian version of a book that I knew in English (Terry Pratchett's "Colour of Magic"). We ended up buying a history of Rome with overlays, a copy of a new Hitchiker's book by the author of Artemis Fowl, and a deck of Rome playing cards, since we had checked our regular cards in our luggage.

For a mid-morning break, we got some drinks at McDonald's, and played a couple rounds of Hearts with our new Rome cards:



We picked up lunch at Drugstore Conad, which was really a supermarket/drugstore combo. John and Matt had hot sandwiches on focaccia (salami, I think), Beth and I had pre-made cold sandwiches (salami, cheese and lettuce for her; roasted chicken (?), tomato, and lettuce for me), chips, and sodas.

After lunch, I convinced the family that we should venture outside the air-conditioned confines of the station for a brief excursion. We walked to the Baths of Diocletian, which are 1) free, and 2) only a block from the station. These are the old Roman baths, that used to cover 10 acres and bath 3,000 Romans at a time. A large part of the ruins was turned into a church (Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli), begun by Michelangelo and remodeled by another architect, which is what we saw today.





Inside the church, running diagonally across the nave and transept, is a meridian line that used to keep the official time for Rome.






A couple more church photos:




After we got back to the station, we found a quieter place to sit (near the TI office by track 24):



Our train finally arrived, and left half an hour behind schedule. This time we have two adjoining compartments, so we opened up the little door in between for some family togetherness:



Trenitalia (the Italian train company) need some better English translators on its staff:



For dinner, we splurged and ate in the dining car. The first course was pasta:



and for the second, we had a choice of chicken (John & Beth):



or veal (Matt and me):



Dessert was either fruit, carrotcake, or peach cake (which all four of us chose):



The scenery was lovely during dinner. The sun set as a red ball, just visible over the horizon, and we passed fields of sunflowers and cute little houses. The train windows were very dirty, so I don't have any photos worthy of sharing.

Back in our compartment, we found that the seats had been folded up into beds:



Here's the little sink that's inside a cabinet:


This train is much better than the other sleeper train we took to Venice, although we were really too exhausted to care during that trip. On the previous train, the kids complained that their room smelled, we were several doors down the hall from them, there was no toilet paper, and everyone got the same coffee and packaged croissant for breakfast. This time, our compartments open up into each other, there seems to be plenty of TP, and the conductor asked us if we wanted coffee, tea, cocoa, or milk in the morning. But, the AC doesn't seem to be very strong in our car--other cars feel cooler, and the people in the top bunks (John and Beth this time) were complaining about the heat. It seems to finally have cooled off a bit, although the AC does tend to turn off when we're stopped at stations.

As I type this, we are sitting in the Bologna train station, still half an hour behind schedule. It's a little cooler now than it was earlier, but still a bit toastier than we like for sleeping.

Rome, Day 4

John and I started off the morning by trying out the Metro. We took it one stop from Cavour to Termini, then tried to buy train tickets to Naples for tomorrow. We first tried the self-service ticket machines that we had used in Venice and Florence, but I couldn't figure out how to make reservations with a Eurail pass, so we got in the world's slowest line to buy tickets from an agent. We spent an entire hour in that line, but were successful. (Regular-price tickets from the machine were 44 Euros per person, each direction, while the reservations with the pass were only 10 Euros per person, each direction, so it was worth the wait.) We were envying those people in line that had fans, as it was sweltering in the terminal.

We decided to walk back to the apartment, stopping along the way at the larger supermarket we came across with Beth a few days ago.

After lunch, we relaxed for a while longer, then headed out for a Sunday stroll. We walked past the Quirinale:



Our first tourist stop of the day was Trevi Fountain, which was lovely, and jammed with other tourists:





We passed through Piazza del Spagna, and stopped by the largest McDonald's we've ever seen. It's impossible to show in a single photo how big the place, was, but there are tables to the right, to the left, and behind in this photo:



The second obligatary tourist stop of the day was the Spanish Steps. We weren't interested in climbing them, but they were nice to look at:



As we left the Spanish Steps, we walked down a street full of expensive stores. Gucci, Jimmy Choo, and Cartier were just some of the names we saw. We didn't even stop to look at these stores, but continued on to Via del Corso, with stores more in our price range. We were finally successful in finding Beth a pair of shorts that she liked at the Levi Strauss store. I know, buying American clothes in Europe is not the most cost-effective way of doing things, but since we hadn't had any success elsewhere, we went ahead and paid for them.

Last stop on the way to the apartment was Il Gelatone, our new favorite gelato shop. I had mango, Beth had grapefruit and melon (cantaloupe), Matt had fig, and John had chocolate and cherry. Yum! If you ever want to find it, it's on Via Dei Serpenti:





After a visit to the internet point, we went out for dinner at a restaurant recommended on Katie Parla's blog. Pizzeria alle Carrette was as good as described. We sat outside in the "garden," where we were serenaded by an accordian player. The chairs were uncomfortable, there were several smokers seated near us, but the pizza was excellent and very reasonably priced.

We started with a mixed antipasto plate:



For dinner, Beth had the pizza rosse "alle carrette," with taleggio cheese, bacon, and tomatoes:



John had the pizze rosse "Francescana," with sausage, mushrooms, and mozzarella and Matt had the pizze rosse "Pazza," with peppers, mushrooms, sausage, olives, and mozzarella (sorry, I don't know what happened to those photos).

I had the pizza bianche con prosciutto e carciofi (ham and artichokes):

Rome, Day 3 (a.k.a. The Vatican Death March)

We had a relaxed morning today, catching up on sleep and laundry. John and I both looked at the map of Rome and thought that it would take us about half an hour to walk to the Vatican, so we set out an hour before our 1:00 pm ticket reservation. At 12:25, I looked at my watch and realized that we were only halfway there, so we switched from "brisk stroll" to "forced march" pace, and made it to the museum right on time. We didn't have time to stop for coffee, or even to refill our water bottles!

First stop was the cafeteria, as Matt needed his coffee and we all needed to sit and rest our feet. After our drinks (the Vatican only sells Pepsi, so I didn't get the Coke Light I was hoping for), we started our tour of the museums.

We began with a trip through the Pinocoteca (Painting Gallery). Here is a photo of a couple of frescoes from Melozzo da Forli's Musician Angels:




This is another museum where there's simply too much to take in in one visit. Here are some random photos of artwork, ceilings, and floors:

Belvedere Apollo (2nd century AD):


Molossi Dog (3rd century BC):


Floor detail:


Coffin made for Constantine's family


Random room:


Ceiling detail:


Ceiling detail:


Raphael Rooms ceiling detail (Room of the Immaculate Conception


Raphael Rooms vertical panorama:


The Sistine Chapel was absolutely amazing, and we spent some time there sitting on a bench admiring the ceiling. The guard kept calling out in a loud voice: "Silence!" and "No photo no video." It was wall-to-wall people.

We finally left the chapel and bought some overpriced gelato across the street. It cost us 18 Euros, and wasn't particularly good gelato, but boy did it taste good! We figured out the flaw in our frozen water-bottle plan today: on indoor days, the ice doesn't melt, leaving us with nothing to drink until we find a water fountain.

Here we are headed back to the basilica:



Saint Peter's Basilica:








By the time we got to the basilica, they had already closed off the front part (including the dome) for the 5:00 mass. We stuck around long enough to listen to some organ & choir music, then started the long hike home. I finally got my daily Coke Light on the way back. We contemplated having pizza for dinner, but none of the pizza places were open yet (6:10), so we went back to the grocery store.

For tonight's dinner, we had pappardelle with ragu (John had pesto on his), and chicken drumsticks baked with powdered garlic and salt (the only spices I found in the kitchen). Delicious!

After the miles and miles of walking, I was too tired to contemplate going down the 68 stairs from the apartment to the Internet point down the street, which is why you're probably reading two days' blogs at once.

Rome, Day 2

After breakfast, we headed out to the Pantheon. On the way there, we passed by the Victor Emmanuel Monument



and Trajan's Column,



and stopped at a coffee shop so the guys could get their morning fix.



The Pantheon was stunning, even with scaffolding:








Next, we went to the Capitoline Museums. Here is a copy of the A.D. 176 statue of Marcus Aurelius that's outside on the square:



Here is the ORIGINAL statue



We got a great view of the Forum from the Tabularium:



And here's a family portrait at the exit to the museum:



For lunch, we wandered back toward the Pantheon, and stopped at Osteria Pizzeria "Agrippa." Decent food, but they charged 3 Euros per soda, and wouldn't provide tap water (they tried to sell us bottled water, but we declined). I had "Strozzapreti con carciofi, guancale e pecorino" (pasta with artichokes, bacon, and pecorino):



John had a pizza diavolo



Beth had a pizza marinara:



and Matt had a pizza capricciosa



After lunch, we stopped by yesterday's gelato place on Via Dei Serpenti. Yesterday, Beth had mango, Matt had peach, I had pear, and John had chocolate. All were delicious, but everyone agreed my pear was the best. Today, Beth and Matt both had pear, I had cherry, and John had chocolate and raspberry. I managed to spill cherry gelato all over my white shirt, but fortunately it came out in the wash.

A quick trip to the grocery store, some time spent at the internet point, then it was time for dinner. Tonight we had the same pasta as yesterday (they looked like rigatoni, but I think the name actually started with a T), salsiccia macinata (a tasty sausage), and breadsticks, with watermelon for dessert.

After dishes and showers, I decided it was time to drag everyone (including me!) away from their electronic entertainment for a while, so we taught the kids to play hearts. They picked it up quickly, and are looking forward to playing again tomorrow night.