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):