Booking our hotel in Rome

We booked our hotel in January...a full 8 months before our stay.  We made our selection based on a recommendation from a family member who had stayed there last year.  We will be staying at the Hotel Sonia, which is right across from the Opera House and about 6 blocks from the main train station.  It is the #108 rated hotel out of 1280 in Rome on Trip Advisor. 

Double Room

Standard Bath

Breakfast Included

We did not book using any online source.  I emailed started on the hotel website and then confirmed prices and discounts via email with the hotel staff.  They responded to email very timely and I have all our details in writing that I can copy and bring with us.

I was poking around today and couldn't believe the prices I was seeing on all the on-line booking sites.  We are paying $116 Euros per night...$106 with cash.  This comes out to about $140 US.  The booking sites now are quoting about $250 US per night.

I am sure glad we booked early and directly with the hotel.  I strongly recommend you do the same.

Getting Lost in the Research

Our trip is just three and a half months away.

WOW.

It still feels so far away, but the reality is that it is just around the corner. Time to start digging in to some of the details of the planning. Our flights, hotel and apartments have been booked for months. We've spent the last many months reading, watching travel shows and documentaries on the History Channel and National Geographic, talking to friends and doing everything else we can do to educate ourselves enough to make good decisions on how to spend our time. Now let's get down to the nitty gritty.

A re-cap of some of the "education" we've been doing.

Movies we've watched:

• Roman Holiday - 1953 Starring Ms. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. A classic. I bought this one.
• Under the Tuscan Sun - 2003 Starring Diane Lane - Beautiful scenery, filmed around Cortona. Total chick flick, but gives you a nice feel for the beauty in the region.
• Midnight in Paris - 2011 Academy Award winning film by Woody Allen starring Owen Wilson. This movie is like crack to me. Bought this one, too. As I will be searching out Hemingway's Paris, this was a no-brainer for me. Well done, even if you aren't a big Woody Allen fan.
• PBS' The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance -  Not terribly exciting, but very informative.
• The History Channel's Engineering an Empire - Details about the engineering feats of ancient Rome. Very interesting if you like this sort of thing. I do.
• The Da Vinci Code - Of course. 2006 starring Tom Hanks and Katherine Zeta Jones. An exciting story, some history, and some Parisian scenery. You can actually take a Da Vinci Code walking tour of Paris.
• Angels and Demons - 2009 starring Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor. This one takes place in Rome. Loved it.
• The Borgia - and The Borgias - These are both series that started about a year apart. Both are fun to watch and give you a good idea of some of the stories (which I'm sure are theatrically embellished) around the Borgia family and how it ruled, or tried to, in Rome and all over Italy circa 1492. Warning, these are not child friendly AT ALL (sex and violence).

Books we've read (or books I've read):

Some of these books I've read over the years and not just in our research for this particular trip but I thought it might be helpful to include them here.

• The Birth of Venus - by Sarah Dunant: Very loosely based on the happenings in Florence around the same time as the Borgias were ruling in Rome. A bit of chick lit but well written and when I finished it I felt like I learned something and was entertained in the proces = Win.
• The Paris Wife - by Paula Mclain: I'm a sucker for Hemingway's Paris. This is the tail of Hemingway's time in Paris as told from the point of view of his first wife, Hadley Richardson. LOVED IT.
• Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. - by Jeremy Mercer: Again, crack for me. The memoir of a Canadian journalist who lived with other writers in the bookstore in the late 1990s.
• A Movable Feast - by Ernest Hemingway himself: Posthumously published, Ernest tells of his time in Paris in the 1920s when he hung out with Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salvadore Dahli, Pablo Picaso and other creative lightweights. This is beyond crack.
• The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo - by Irving Stone: OK, so I haven't read this, but I aspire to. I'm told it's a must if you are going to spend time in Florence, but it's a long one. 784 pages. Didn't they make a movie? Why yes, they did.

There is so much left to do, and so little time. I'll update these lists as we add to them.

How Not to Get Ripped Off Eating in Italy

I found a link to this great article on a blog I read often called Rome Reveled.

It is a rather lengthy post on how to make sure you pick the right restaurants to eat in as well as how not to pay too much for your food and drink.  Click Here to check it out.  I found it very helpful and hope you do as well.

On the same blog there is an excellent article on what to eat when in Rome.  Click Here to read it.

Gnocchi Day in Rome

Apparently Thursdays are Gnocchi Day in Rome.  Many restaurants will add a gnocchi special to their menu.

Therefore I am posting it here as a reminder.

DELISH!!!!!

Documenting your travels

One of the many thoughts that runs through my mind about our upcoming trip is how best to capture the journey so that we can look back on it for years to come. I do, whole-heartedly believe that the most import piece is to be present in every moment so that the trip lives in my memory first and foremost.

However, I do derive much pleasure from collecting keepsakes, taking photos, and journaling. And so, it is inevitable that these activities will play a part in my overall experience.

I came across a blog whose author took a trip to Paris recently. She took some wonderful photos and videos, blogged about it, and put together a hard-copy journal with all kinds of fantastic tid-bits. Her process gave me inspiration and I thought I would share it here. The name of the blog is "Dispatch from LA", and here is a link to her Paris related posts. Enjoy!

Books, Booze and Chocolate

Ok, I have fallen in love with the An American in Rome Blog.  I want to share so many of her posts.   She is originally from California.  A few years ago she bought a one way ticket to Rome and has been there ever since.  She writes from the perspective of a local with the excitement of a tourist.  It is a wonderful combination.

Here is a post I just ran across (as I read every post in her blog) that I just had to document.  Edible chocolate shot glasses at a bar in Trastevere.  A MUST DO!!

Books, Booze and Chocolate

Our Apartment in Paris

While we are staying in a hotel in Rome, we have decided to stay in apartments in Florence and Paris.  Our Paris apartment is located in the St. Germain neighborhood on the left bank.  We found it on VRBO and chose it due to its central location as well as the the fact that 26 of the 27 reviewers gave it five stars (the other one was 4 stars).  Here is the description from VRBO:

Located in few hundred feet from St Germain des Pres,exactly 45 rue de sevres, cross the street from the subway station Sevres Babylone you are in a Quarter Latin, busy at day and quiet at night. This is a spacious all new remodeled studio, 30 meters square, 1100 cubic feet,, Everything is brand new from the floor, wall, ceiling, painting, power, furniture, kitchen, appliance, bathroom, shower, tv,bed, matress the kitchen with fridge, cooking place, microwave, and all you need. 2 adults bed size and a convertible sofa for 1or 2 more person, will allow 2 to 4 people to stay. The place also have a new ac,, The studio is on a second floor with elevator, located on a private court, 2 safety code to go in the building.batroom,toilettes, shower are insuite,,also a smoke detector,, This is one of the best areas in Paris, you are on a front of the famous Bon Marche store who is the older retail store in Paris. One off the most safe area in Paris because we are surrounded by ambassy and gouverment office,,,

Close to St Sulpice Church, Montparnasse Tower, Rodin museum, St Germain Des Pres. Many restaurants and store around. The Luxembourg Parc, the Seine river few minutes away.

In addition to the reviews and location, the queen size bed, elevator, free internet and long distance calls were all things that helped sway us to select this apartment.  Click Here to be taken to the VRBO Listing.

We will write a review after our trip.

Directions from Orly Airport...for our documentation purposes:

Orly Train to RER B Anthony Station
RER B train towards downtown Paris
Exit Port Royal Station
West on Bd du Montparnasse
Right on Bd Raspail
Left on Rue de Sevres
Apartment 1 block down