Angels and Demons

Our third full day in Italy is the day we chose to see the Vatican. We bought our tickets via the internets before we left home and had a 9:00am reservation. The Vatican doesn't open any sooner than that so we were hoping to beat at least some of the crowds. As our taxi pulled up to the entrance, we were SO happy that we had purchased tickets before hand. The line for those who didn't was really long already (even thought the taxi driver was actually surprised at how short it was compared to what he usually sees). Because we had our printed reservation in hand, we simply walked right up to the gates and went in. We then went through "security." I say that in quotations because our experience with Italian security is that there really isn't any. We passed through a detector but even though it beeped the guards, who didn't stop the conversation they were having, waved us on.

We made our way to the area where we were supposed to exchange our printed reservation for actual tickets. The lines were long here, but luckily I had written down instructions that you could also go to an upstairs area to get tickets. We made our way to the next level where there was no line at all. A little research had saved us about an hour in line, at least, already this morning. We ducked into the little souvenier shop as I had a very important task at hand. I wanted to bring my grandmother a rosery from the Vatican. She is very Catholic (Irish Catholic) and I knew this would be something she would cherish. We found the perfect set. Mission accomplished.

Next stop....the Vatican Museum. So much to see here. It is, to say the very least, overwhelming. I can't even begin to describe it.

 Paintings, sculpture, artifacts and the building itself was unbelievable....

The next stop was the Sistine Chapel. Hoards of people fit into this place all at once. It's everything you think it would be. Dan, being the renagade that he is, decided to snap a photo with his iPhone even though it is explicitly forbiden. Glad he did.

We found the "secret door" where you can exit the chapel without having to then walk all the way back through the museum before going to St. Peter's (saving about a 20 minute walk). Thanks to Rick Steves for that one.

We walked into the basilica and were totally stunned at the size and grandure of the whole thing. YOu really do have to see it to believe it.

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It has been 45 years since my last confession.

When we walked out of the building, we heard a bit of the Pope's address (from Germany I think) and then they were so kind as to ring the church bells for us.

And there it is. The Vatican. Back to our room to nap during the storm that was blowing in. I must say, napping in Rome during a rain storm is absolutely decadent.

Passegiatta in my Jimmy Choo's

Tuesday would turn out to be my favorite day in Rome so far but I didn't think it would be when it began.  Getting to bed at 3-4am was gonna make things a bit more difficult I imagined.  We had an 11am appointment at The Borgese Gallery and Gardens and that did leave a lot of time for sleeping or slowly waking up after a few too many Gin & Limon's.  The morning begins:

Kris:  What time is it?

Dan:  um.....hold on........11:30 am 

Kris:  OK

Kris and Dan:  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Our actual day began a few hours later with a third buzzing on our door.  Housekeeping really wants to clean our room badly and are not happy with our grunting responses when they try to come in.  We are now forced to get up and get our day going as they will wait no longer.

(at least that is how I remember it....could be totally wrong about that)

This afternoons plans call for a walk to the Spanish Steps to get us started.  Ok, time to guess:

1.  We walked straight there without getting lost 

2,  We get lost, it takes twice as long to get there and our feet are killing us.

What's your guess......................................?

HA HA.......WRONG!!!!!!!  We got there on-time without taking even 1 wrong turn.  I am really getting this Rome thing. 

We arrive at the top of the Spanish Steps and it sure is a beautiful site to see.  Massive marble steps that are great for stepping on or sitting on.  Why do they call them The Spanish Steps, I have no idea.  I think they were build for the Spanish or by the Spanish or have something to do with the  Spain and its people.  All I know is that they are huge, and you are supposed to sit on them and eat Gelato.  We sat on them and took pictures and enjoyed the throngs of people doing the same.  No Gelato for us yet as our stomaches were not quite ready for something that sweet.

Off for some shopping.  We cut down a little street and head toward the main drag, Via del Corso, on our way to Piazza de Popolo.  Again we arrive without getting lost and the Piazza is lovely.  Much different than Piazza Navona as there are just a couple restaurants and almost no vendors.  It seems a little more Italian and a little less touristy.  We find a seat on the steps of the main fountain and just relax.  People watching is excellent here as there are lots of young italians getting ready for their evening stroll and enough tourists getting snookered by the 10 middle eastern men giving out free Roses that turn out not be free as soon as they force them into your hands.  We read about this ahead of time and were very forceful in our NO's!!!!!!!

As the sun went down behind a large building we followed the throngs of young italian boys and girls on the Passeggiata (the art of taking a walk in the evening)  back down Via del Corso.  Joining us were throngs of tourists, italian lovers, those wanting to be italian lovers and men in capri pants.  More on that one later.  Via del Corso is the main shopping area in Rome.  It is kind of a cross between Rodeo Drive and Venice Beach.  Really the best kind of people watching.  We had a wonderful stroll dancing in and out of shops and churches and just watching life go by.

As the shopping district came and went, we decided to go back to The Pantheon again as it was so amazing the first time around.  It did not disappoint the second time.  We actually got inside and got to enjoy it for 15 minutes before it closed.  It is truly a spectacular place.  We will be heading back there for dinner tonight.

Piazza Navona for dinner here we come.  No getting lost this day.  I know exactly where it is...just a couple blocks that way.    Um right....it turns out I haven't figured anything out.  I probably failed to mention that we didn't get lost earlier as we only had to turn once a block from our hotel and then walk 20 blocks straight to get to the Spanish Steps.  I had gotten cocky and Rome made me pay for it again by getting lost again.  Finally we arrive after many twists and turn and actually find the restaurant Cul De Sac on a small side street.  Cul De Sac came highly recommended by our friends Dean and Ally and since we hadn't found any restaurant we had looked for yet we were very excited to find this one.  After a short 10 minute wait we were seated and had a fantastic meal.  Amazing how this place was so crowded and the place next door was empty.  It was all about the food.  The meatballs melted in your mouth, the pasta was divine and the wine went down like a lead weight.  Pretty sure we were the problem on that  one.  Kris will blog more about food in another post so I wont go into much detail, but I will say I have had something different to eat at every dinner and am really enjoying the great pasta...especially at Cul De Sac.

No more walking, no more getting lost.  We catch a taxi and head home in what I am quite sure is not the quickest or fastest way as we saw half of Rome in our 1 mile trip back to our hotel.  To bed early tonight as we cannot miss our 9am Vatican appt in the morning.

This is a day I want to repeat over and over.  Despite it's slow start, only having to walk 7hrs instead of 12 made it much more enjoyable and the sites were fabulous.

Dinner in Trestevere

Our second night was a trip to the Trestevere neighborhood which is on the Vatican side of the Tiber river. It has a more "local" vibe and in fact, there are people that live there that brag that they have never been to the "other side of the Tiber." While it was, in fact, a more quaint part of town, it still had its fair share of touristy shops and guys peddling little trinkets in the streets. We had a couple of places to eat in mind when we wandered over there, but alas, we couldn't find them (this is becoming a major theme for our trip). 

So we wandered about and finally landed at a cute little place with mostly outdoor seating called Osteria Romana. The view from our little table (tables are all little here, by the way) was of the Church of Santa Maria. Stunning. Do notice the laundry hanging in the upper right hand corner. About half way through our meal, the woman living there reached out of her window and brought in the dried clothing. Priceless.

We started with a caraf of the house white wine, which was good but not great. After we ordered we asked for the house red, but our waiter kind of shook his head and hurried off (in a very nice way). When he returned, he brought us a 1/2 bottle of a chianti that he said was much better at a similar price. He was dead on. SUPER fantastic wine and we had a couple of bottles (or maybe it was 3...).  Dan is seen here making the tough decision of what to eat. There were a lot of great choices.

And the food parade began. Dan and I both agreed that the star of the show was the lasagna. It wasn't  much to look at but, oh my....We also had a quatro fromagi pizza that was really good as well.

Some how, some way....we managed to save room for desert. I won't post all of the photos here as I want to do a post or two specifically about food. Let's just say, it was worth saving room for. We finished our dinner while conversing with a table of older Irish gentlemen. What an absolute treat!

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur as we found a little joint on the other side of the plaza that had cocktails for about 5 Euros. We talked a bit of football with the guys serving the drinks and then we began our walk home. A stop along the banks of the Tiber was a great way to wind up the night. Nothing like a good long talk with your loved one in a romantic setting. We then picked up a cab and headed home.

The food was as wonderful as the wine

Today was our first full day in Italy and we headed straight for the Coloseum. Actually, we had to buy our Roma pass first which would allow us to bypass the nasty lines at the Coloseum and many other places. We were going to go to a Tourist Information booth to buy them which was a little bit out of our way, but then Dan remembered that often times you can buy them in tobacco shops etc. He  remembered this tid bit of info, just as we were passing buy a shop so we ducked in and sure enough! Smart thinkin', Danny.

We made our way to the site that Rome is perhaps the most famous for. There were hoards of tour groups being dropped off by big buses. We did, indeed save a LOT of time being able to go through the special "Roma Pass" line that had about 5 people in it. We then went through "security" which was really just two Italian men in uniform having a conversation with each other while people walked by. Easiest security check I've ever been through.

Inside we were treated to all the sights you would expect here. It's just like it looks on TV. Big, old, and amazingly still well in tact after all of these years. The best part of it, for me, was that it was so accessable. There were marble pillars and sculptures and other things that were just right there for you to touch. Not much was behind baracades or glass or anything. Artifacts are usually things you see in a museum setting. But these were right there, just waiting for you to approach and interact with. It was really a treat.

Next we made our way to the Forum. This was something I was particularly looking forward to. It was really hot, but luckily there are these really neat public fountains where you can fill your water bottle. More on that in another post. It was a bit crowded and we actually skipped seeing some of the stuff because of the masses of people. One of the cool things we stumbled upon was an area that was fenced off for studends who were doing an archelogical dig. They all had various tools and were meticulously brushing away dirt from the stones that lye beneath. How they were able to tell old stones and dirt from the new stuff, I'm not sure, but they looked like they knew what they were doing.

Once through the Forum, we decided that we were pretty hungry so we found a little place to grap a couple of slices of pizza that were delicious. After the pizza, it was time for some gelato. There was a Whiskey Cream flavor that Dan and I each tried. DELISH! We then made our way back to the hotel for a little nap before heading out for dinner. We passed through some pretty amazing nieghborhoods including this one:

By this point we are getting pretty good at navigating the streets without getting run over  by taxis or Vespas. I wanted to take photos of everything and I think Dan was getting a bit tired of waiting for me.

Sorry, Danny. I just can't help myself sometimes. There were so many interesting stores to look at and people to watch. The beauty here is really never ending.

And so that was our day. I'll do a seperate post on our dinner. For now, it's time to sign off and say buona sera!

My Thoughts on our first 24hrs in Rome

Door to Door it took Kris and I 20hrs to get here.  Luckily 15 of those hours were spent in either the British Airways first class lounges in San Franciso and Londo or the First Class Cabin of the Boing 747 we took most of the way.   I have to say it was quite a luxurious way to travel.  The new first class pods on the plane were fantastic.  We began with a couple glasses of champaigne before we took off.  It was nice to relax and meet some other traveling couples right off the bat.  After we got to our cruising altitude, we enjoyed a delicous 4 course dinner with white table cloths and wine to go with each course.  After stuffing ourselves and each watching one of he 100 or so movies available to us on our own flatscreen, the stewardesses made our beds and off to sleep we went.  By the time we woke up, there was only and hour left in our flight.  We were served a nice breakfast and a few minutes later, we were in London.  After a couple hours in the BA Lounge and some more delicisous food we took the relatively short 2hr flight to Rome and we were here.

We planned all along to train in from the airport, but we could not get the automated train tickets to print.  Luckily a shuttle just happened to be leaving and for the same price, we got dropped off right at our hotel for the same price.  Good timing.

Ok...enough on the travel thoughts.  We arrive at our hotel around 7pm, unpack and then hit the town.  We have done all the prep, we have our maps and we know what and where we are going....or so we thought.

Lesson #1 - Rome is not laid out like a modern city.  City planning was at it's infancy when this city was designed.  There are so many little streets going all different directions that is very easy to get lost and end up going the opposite direction than you want.  Our 10 minute walk to the Trevi Fountain took probably an hour.  At one point, we had no idea where we were.

Lesson #2 - The streets and allys are so narrow and the buildings so tall that you cant really tell where you are.  You could be a block away from where you want to go and have no idea where it is.  We finally ask directions from a shopkeeper and after a few more attempts we find our first destination...The Trevi Fountain.  It did not disappoint.  Seeing it at night, all lit up, is a must and was a great way to start our Rome experience.  Unfortunately we had to share it with a hoard of people, making it a bit difficult to even get good pictures.  We got a few, but I couldn't help think how much better it would be if there were just a few.....hundred fewer tourists there.

The Pantheon is next.  We have our map, plan it out thouroughly and are sure we can get there without much trouble.  After all, it is only about 6 blocks away and it is a huge building that you just cant miss.  Wrong again.   Lessons 1 and 2 smack us in the face again and after another 45 minutes we finally find it.  It was so worth the efforts... WOW is all I can really say.  It was incredibly impressive....everything about it is just SO BIG and SO OLD.  It really took my breath away.  It sits on a little piazza with cute restaurants and a lovely fountain.  You could here live music playing and it wasn't nearly as crowded as Trevi Fountain.  It was just a perfect setting lit up at night in all its glory.  It was our highlight of the night.

Off to Piazza Navonato people watch and get some dinner.  Two blocks away...piece of cake.  HAHAHAHAHA....right.  Lessone 1 and 2 kick our ass again but we finally found it.   After 20hrs of getting here and another 3 wandering around gettng lost, I don't think we had the energy to really enjoy it.  We did find a nice quiet restaurant down a little ally and enjoyed a lovely dinner around 10:30 at night.  I had spaghetti carbonara and Kris had black pepper and parmesean pasta.  Of course a caraf of wine and some bread rounded out the meal perfectly.  It was nearing midnight and we were exhausted.

Lesson #3 - When all else fails, catch a cab.  It was a 10 euro ride back to our hotel and it was well worth it.

A really great first night in Rome.  We are so looking forward to getting a good night sleep so we can get lost again tomorrow.

Throwing our coin in to ensure a return to Rome
So ok, that wasn't my first 24hrs in rome, but it was the first 24hrs of the trip.  You will have to check back for our Coleseum/Forum trip on morning 1.  I am sure there were more lessons to be learned and fun to be had. 

Arrivederci

It's like waking up on Christmas morning. As our dear Aussie friend Ally would say, "No more sleeps." It's time to get this show on the road.

Well, not quite. Today is the day we leave but our flight isn't until about 5pm. There are still some things left to do like return borrowed CDs to the library, send out some cards to folks, finish packing, clean the house up a little and so on and so forth.

Last night I finally finished our master guide book. I took information from various places and compiled it all into one place and arranged it all based on our daily itineraries. Admittedly, this is much more for me than for Dan. I like to have a bunch of information readily available, whether I'll need it or not, so that my brain is free to let go of any worry and focus on the experience before me. Here are a couple of examples from the book:

My thought is that this book can also serve as a place to capture notes about places we ate or things we saw in the moment. There are some blank pages here and there throughout, including a bunch in the back. Information, information, information....that's what gives me piece of mind to then be able to let go and enjoy the moment.

Now I just have to make sure the book makes it into the backpack.

A wine faire in Florence? OK!

As luck would have it, there is going to be a wine faire on Friday and Saturday while we are in Florence called Winetown. A BIG shout out to Karen, author of An American in Italy, who is so awesome that she actually sent me an email to let me  know that this was happening while we would be there. I can feel the warmth of the Italian spirit already.

Winetown takes place in various piazzas throughout the city in the areas of Tornabuoni, Oltrarno, and Proconsolo. There will also be an abundance of musical performances throughout the city which is really exciting. You buy a glass for 15 Euro and it comes with a wine card good for 5 tastings (and of course you can always buy more points for the card for more tastings). Here is a list of the various locations:

Zone A - "Beyond the Tuscany" - Palazzo Guicciardini, Pitti Palace, Palazzo Corsini, Suarez, Chiostro Grande dell'Ammannati

Zone B - "The classics of Tuscany" - Davanzati Palace, Palazzo Bartolini Salimbeni, Chiostro del Magistero, Palazzo Antinori

Zone C - "La terra che amiamo - I Biodinamici" - Loggia del Grano, Sala d'Arme di Plazzo Vecchio, Museo del Bargello, Palazzo Pazzi Quaratesi, Palazzo Nonfinito, Chiostro delle Oblate, Giardino ex Museo "Firenze Com'era"

This is such a bonus for us. What a wonderful way to start our visit in Florence.