Leaving Rome, Nov. 19th: 3 hours on the tarmac

All good things must come to an end and so we had to leave Rome.  Vibe left on Tuesday and now it is our turn.  The building across from the apartment has undergone quite a change: it now has a new coat of beige plaster, despite all the rainy days and the weekend when they didn't work.  Will they eventually paint it yellow with brown trim to match the side of the building?  They painted the eaves beige.  Is that an undercoat?  Will we ever know?  I suppose we could ask Andrea to send us a photo when they are finished.

We also had our last bottle of wine last night: a frascati rather than a novello which was our specialty this trip because it comes out in November.  The frascati went fine with all the leftovers that we hadn't manage to eat while Vibe was here (she took us out to dinner several times).    I also never managed to get to EATALY or to anything else in Testaccio.  That will have to wait for the next trip!

Air, water and soap for each sink.

Andrea called a cab for us at 8 in the morning and it took about 45 minutes to get to the airport, which left us plenty of time before our flight, which was scheduled for 11:35 am.  The American and Israeli airlines are off in a terminal by themselves so we left Penny (who was taking Lufthansa) at Terminal 3 and we took a shuttle out to Terminal 5 (I'm not sure what happened to Terminal 4).  That meant that our shopping options were limited and they had no bancarelle at all!  But the bathrooms had nice sinks where the soap, water and dryer were all together for each sink.  They even had a low sink for children!  Of course two of the five sinks were out of order...

Unlike the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, Rome's airport is small and so we weren't waiting in interminable lines for 3 hours.  Instead we were waiting on the tarmac for 3 hours because the fuel wasn't loaded on the plane right and it took them that long to fix it.  Like our flight to Rome, our flight to Philadelphia was 3 hours late and we left at 2:30pm instead of 11:35am.   Also as on our trip to Rome, we were sitting over the wing and couldn't see much, although we did get a peak at the alps before we got up so high that we only saw clouds.

We landed in Philadelphia at 6:41 pm (instead of 3:45) so I had missed my 5:29pm flight to Pittsburgh but US Airways had rescheduled all the connecting  passengers and had a table full of new boarding passes waiting when we disembarked.  That was just as well since now I was on Fernando's 8:29pm flight to Pittsburgh, and it was just as well that his flight was running late (now 9:10, eventually 9:25) since it took us a whole hour to get through immigration and customs and again through security.  After which we treated ourselves to a Wendy's hamburger (and Penny was having dinner with Laina already at the Fair Lawn diner!).

We eventually reached Pittsburgh (30 degrees), got our car and drove home, arriving just after midnight.  But not without one final mishap.  They didn't load Fernando's suitcase on our Pittsburgh flight.  It had my luggage tag for the 5:29 flight and we had asked the guy in Philadelphia if the tag shouldn't be changed.  "No, don't worry.  It will get there."  Well, it didn't get there on our flight but was put on the 10 pm flight.  So now they are supposed to send it by delivery this morning.  We will let you know if it doesn't arrive!!

Tues Nov 18....beautiful day at a leisurly pace

Yes, we are tired, but this morning we were up at 7:30 am to received Juan and Mandy's call.  And Vibe had to leave to fly back to Copenhagen so she was up soon after.  Present shopping was first on the agenda with a trip down Via Nationale stopping at many stores.  It's a good shopping street and the Italians do have lovely fashion.  Those Chaparro/Cichello grandchildren are very fortunate.  Why didn't we have grandparents like that?  (Cathy says we did!)
Then back to the apartment to drop off the loot before walking up to Republica to catch the metro to yet another shopping area.  But first at stop at Flaminio and the Piazza del Popolo which was beautiful with the blue skies and clouds.

 We stopped at Santa Maria del Pololo to admire Carivaggio's Crucifixion of St. Peter, and his Conversion.  Very beautiful when one inserted two euros in the illumination box so they were visible.




Than across the Tiber which was so much higher today after all the rain.  We would have needed snorkles to walk the path we walked yesterday.  Shopping on that side was disappointing, so we caught another bus, making good use of our transit pass, back to the centro storico to wander the narrow, picturesque streets.  We had lunch at a pizza place where we think we were ripped off.  The pizza was good, greasy, and very expensive.
However, all was redeemed when we found the very best gelato in the world...at Frigidarium.  Passion fruit and fondente (dark chocolate) and Bacio with so many hazelnuts!!!
Soon we found ourselves back at the Pantheon for the third time, but that is one of Fernando's favorite sights because of its terrific architecture so that was just fine.  Then at Largo Argentina we caught our favorite 40 bus back to the apartment.  Tonight we are very happily eating leftovers.  We have checked into our flights, asked Andrea to book a car for us, and pretty much packed.
Ten days is a good length for a trip.  We saw a lot, of course not all we planned, but now we are tired.  And, who knows, we may return someday to see the rest of Italy.

Rome: November 17, Saint Peter's and More Rain

After walking up Via Nazionale to the #40 bus stop and waiting there for ten minutes, seeing all the buses packed full like sardines, we decided instead to take the Metro to Saint Peter's Basilica from Repubblica.  While the metro was crowded and we had to stand, we at least were able to fit ourselves into the cars.  We got off at Ottaviano (with everybody else, it seemed) and I had to forego browsing the bancarelle along Via Ottaviano so that we could get to St. Peter's before it started raining.

We thought that the line into Saint Peter's on Saturday evening was horrendous and due to the fact it was Saturday night.  Yesterday it was even worse, stretching at least for a quarter of a mile -- well, at least for a couple of city blocks.  But I love looking at all the Italian fashions in the line!  Vibe and Fernando held our place in line while Penny and I went on our search for the medals of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II in the religious shops.  Still no luck finding the joint commemoration medal and so I decided to just get one of each for Patty Horomanski.  And we got the Holy Water!  Although Vibe said it was just as good from the tap...

Nail job, anyone?

Saint Peter's was immense and magnificent with lots and lots of statues, including Michelangelo's Pieta.  Too bad we didn't know who the rest of the statues were but we took lots of photos of them anyway.  Vibe wanted to climb to the top of the dome but she had no other takers (551 steps are way beyond our limit) so she'll have to wait for another occasion.

After Saint Peter's we walked over to Trastevere beside the Tiber River, a low riverside walkway that is below water today (we've had lots of rain).  We came up the stairs at Ponte Sisto, walked along the Via del Moro and decided to eat at L'Antico Moro.

Vibe and Fernando had pizza and Penny and I had pasta.  We had a friendly waiter but he brought Penny the wrong pasta and Fernando the wrong pizza so we were there longer than usual waiting for our food.

The weather was threatening throughout the day and I have a great video of a downpour after we left the restaurant.  Fortunately each of us had our own umbrella today. 

We wandered over to Santa Maria Trastevere where we happened upon a funeral which gave us time to sit and contemplate mortality. After the funeral we were able to view the gorgeous mosaics above the altar, and the cosmatesque floors. Cathy hem and hawed but finally bought an advent calendar of Santa Maria in Trastevere, which she will display each Christmas until she dies.

Then we made a beeline for San Francesco a Ripa, stumbling across Antica Caciara, the old-fashioned cheese shop that was featured in a video on youtube.  We didn't have the proprietor wait on us but the other clerk was just as helpful and friendly.  I bought some ceci-like beans, a mix of grains and lentils for a soup, some cheese and a burrata (the cream and mozzarella-filled mozzarella).  We saw the Bernini statue in San Francesco but we were all getting tired of churches and Vibe didn't want to go on to see Santa Cecilia.

We wandered back over the Tiber, across the Tiber Island, ending up by the synagogue in the Jewish ghetto.  Fernando and Penny had some kosher gelato but it wasn't very good.  After a bit more wandering through small streets in the general direction of Largo Argentina, we realized we were back at the Tiber River, having gone full circle.  So we took out the phones again to find our way over to the Largo Argentina, where we took the #40 bus back home, jammed in with a lot of other people with fogged up windows.  But we made it.

After resting for an hour or so, Vibe was hot for another restaurant.  We perused the map online and decided to walk down to the Antica Boheme at the end of Via Napoli.  The restaurant was mainly in the basement but we had a very charming waiter, who anticipated what each of us was ordering.

Vibe ordered minestrone and osso bucco (she said that the one she makes is better), Penny ordered meat ravioli and carciofi alla romana (artichoke), I had spinach and ricotta ravioli and a carciofi, but Fernando had a fruit salad followed by a creme brulee.  This evening we didn't top it off with limoncello but with machiatos, except for Vibe who had a latte.

We are getting very fat on this trip...

Rome: November 16: A Day of Culture (and Rain)

Last night we were too tired to post, having eaten dinner at the Roman hour.

Yesterday morning Vibe wanted to visit Santa Maria Maggiore which we had already seen so she took off at 9 and Cathy and Fernando, being such good Catholics, accompanied her.  Poor Penny stayed home and did the dishes.  Cathy was able to pick up a plastic figurine of a baker for her Christmas pesebre, as well as fill out some "intentions" for Pat Horomanski, in case we don't make it back to St. Peter's.

Since we were close to another ancient church, Santa Prassede, we decided to go looking for it.  If we hadn't known where it was we would have walked right past it since it looks like any other old building on the street, the front entrance being very small and discreet.  Inside it is quite a large church, extending left into the interior of the city block.  It has some nice ancient mosaics in one of the side rooms and Vibe noticed a poster advertising an organ concert at 7 in the evening, conveniently after the organ concert we had planned to attend at 5 at Santa Maria degli Angeli.

Quirinale Piazza with Castor & Pollux

But we had to get back to pick up Penny and head over to the Presidential Palace on the Quirinale Hill (the highest one in Rome), which is only open to the public on Sundays.  The President was going to show us his digs, the ones he got from the Pope.  Pope Gregory the 8th had built it in 1583 as a summer residence.  When the papal states were overthrown in 1870 it became the residence of the Italian king, and when the monarchy was abolished it 1946, it became the residence of the President.  The entrance still refers to the pope and Fernando thinks they should get rid of that sign...

As are so many things in Rome, the palace is over-the-top baroque, which is not very appealing to us.  But we can't expect them to have had our sensibilities, can we?

The line for the Quirinale palace
with an Italian in Petroleum Green

The main reason Penny was visiting the palace was that they had a free-for-seniors concert at 11:50 am in the Pauline Chapel, featuring a piano and violin playing Poulenc and Beethoven.  Actually there were two young ladies named Francesca that did the playing.  In any case, we felt like real Italians, since there weren't many tourists there, except for this one gentleman in the line with a suitcase and backpack.  Yes, there was a line but it moved quickly and although we had to visit the palace first, we made quick work of it and arrived at the concert in plenty of time.

Then, since it was close to the palace, we went to the Hans Memling exhibit across the piazza.  Hans Memling was a Flemish painter who did a lot of commissions for Italian bankers and merchants living in Flanders during the 15th century.  It was an interesting, well-documented exhibit.  When we came out of the exhibit it was still not raining so we decided to walk down into the Centro Storico to have lunch and see some churches, instead of going back to the apartment.

Eating our Paninis

We stopped at an "organic" sandwich shop and had paninis on fresh pizza bianca.  They slice the long pizzas lengthwise, then slice a horizontal opening where they lay the prosciutto and other toppings.  I had prosciutto with puntarelle, which are in season now.  I had seen these bitter greens in the markets but didn't buy them since I didn't know what to do with them.  They were slightly bitter but not overwhelmingly so, not like the Italian chicory I planted in the garden one year!

As we were finishing our paninis, the big drops started falling and from then on, our walk wasn't as pleasant.  We stopped by the Trevi Fountain, which is being restored, and threw our little coins into the temporary fountain.  There were lots of tourists and a bunch of little shops, including a Pinocchio shop with lots of wood items for children.

Tossing Coins into the Trevi Fountain

Penny and Vibe with Pinnocchio

Vibe had left her umbrella in the apartment so we only had 3 small umbrellas for the 4 of us.  The cloud-covered sky made the interiors of the churches so dark that one could barely make out the paintings on the ceiling.  This was a big disappointment at Santa Maria sopra Minerva because the ceiling is supposed to be a brilliant blue with stars.  Everything was a murky gray with spotlights shining down in your eyes instead of up to illuminate the art.

Since it was raining so hard I decided to skip Saint Ignatius and only go to El Jesu, also Jesuit and which holds the tomb of St. Ignatius.  Again it was too dark to read the signs and the boxes where you donate a euro to illuminate the scene were turned to the wall and didn't work.  We looked like a bunch of wet cats and dogs and were not appreciating any of these churches so decided to find a bus home.

Fortunately finding a bus this time was very easy, we sploshed quickly over to the Largo Argentina and caught the #40 express that arrived at the same time.  No seats to speak of, of course, and we were lucky we could squeeze in.  Then the problem was to find our stop when we couldn't see out of the fogged up windows.  Italian buses, unlike other buses in the civilized world, do not announce or otherwise indicate the stops.  Since the #40 makes few stops, we ended up several blocks beyond the apartment but it was a lot better than walking.

Since we hadn't had gelato for a few days, Penny and I decided to stop at the VW Bus gelato place on our block and regain our strength.  Vibe and Fernando declined but perhaps wish they hadn't since it was a long time until dinner.  By now it was about 4:30 but black as night.  These winter days really have many fewer hours of light.

All that music, culture and religion had tired us out so we all took a nap after a spot of tea.  Then off again to get to the organ concert at Santa Prassede at 7 pm.  The organist was a young man from Poland who apparently felt blessed to be able to play the church organ.  There were very few people there - to be expected at a free classical concert, I suppose, even in Europe -- but it was quite enjoyable and he even played 4 encore pieces at the end.   It was hard to get him to stop!

Afterwards we showed Penny the small room of ancient mosaics that she had missed that morning and then we went looking for dinner, at an appropriately Roman hour.  We wandered down Via Urbana and up Via del Boschetto -- I forgot to mention that it had stopped raining when we were in the organ concert -- perhaps because he played one of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, although I can never remember which one.  The streets are in the Monti district so it is very hilly and paved with the large square black cobblestones typical of Rome.  Eventually we ended up at Taverna dei Monti, a Rick Steves recommendation near Via Nazionale.

We started out with Primi: I tried bucatini alla matriciana (a Roman specialty with tomato sauce), Vibe had spaghetti alle vongole (with clams), and Penny and Fernando had minestrone.  Then for the secondi Penny and Vibe had abbachio (roast baby lamb with potatoes), I had eggplant parmigiana and Fernando had tripe, which he said was very good.  We were all stuffed after two courses and swore we would never do it again!  Fortunately the proprietor brought us some limoncello and biscotti to renew our appetites!  No gelato for desert this evening!!

Rome: Saturday, Nov. 15: Sant'Angelo and The Vatican Museum

This morning we woke up at the reasonable hour of 7 and received a phone call from Juan and Mandy (it was 9 pm for them in San Diego).  We had panettone and caffe latte for breakfast and then hopped on the #40 bus for the Vatican.  Although "hopped on" isn't quite the right term since we walked up and down trying to find the right bus stop and trying to decide whether to take the #64 (which had more stops but was packed) or the #40 Express.  We finally walked a bit further and caught the 40 express, eventually getting a place to sit down and arriving fairly quickly at the Vatican.

Castel Sant'Angelo

First we visited Castel Sant'Angelo which was originally the Emperor Hadrian's tomb but was then repurposed as a stronghold/fortress for the popes in the 15th-16th centuries, when the Holy Roman Emperors were sacking Rome.  We did a lot of hiking up and down stairs but got some beautiful views of the Tiber and the Rome cityscape.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take the Pope's escape route back to the Vatican, the one that Tom Hanks used in the movie Angels and Demons.  Instead we had to walk around in circles finding our way out.

View from Castel Sant'Angelo

Group of Happy Hikers

Lunch at Salento Salato

Fortunately we were able to regain our strength with a stop at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  The names of most restaurants are not very prominent but they are mainly advertised as a trattoria, pizzeria, gelateria, bar, ristorante.  However I do remember that this restaurant was named after the "heel" region of the boot of Italy: Salento Salato.  The "tout" outside, who drew us in, had a Romanian mother, an Italian father and a French grandmother, and the waitress was from Lima, Peru.  The restaurant was very very small but we could chose 3 items from the daily menu plus water, soda or beer.  Guess what we drank?  They had orecchiete with eggplant and olives, with brocolli rabe (and anchovies), or with tuna and olives.  They also had roast veal, eggplant lasagna, and salad.  It was surprisingly good even if they served it on paper plates.

Naturally we were almost falling asleep after we ate and we had to find our way to the Vatican Museum by 2 pm.  So round and round we went for half an hour and finally ended up at the entrance, which is way on the other side of Vatican City.  Oh my gosh.  The Vatican Museum is immense and one has to walk up and down stairs for no apparent reason.  Today we have easily walked an equivalent of the 521 stairs to the top of St. Peter's dome.

Spiral Staircase at Vatican Museum

We tried to see the Raphael rooms and the Sistine Chapel first, and so did everyone else.  We have come to the conclusion that if you really want to see the paintings it is easier to look at them in a book or online.  The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is so high that it is hard to see, even with Penny's binoculars.  The restored paintings are much brighter but there are still a lot of very dark paintings.  They also have a collection of contemporary art but those were very dark as well, both in color and subject matter.

Sunset at St. Peter's

We had planned to visit St. Peter's Basilica after the Vatican but it was already turning dark and the line to get into the Basilica (mass was at 5 pm) was much longer than we were willing to wait.  So we are going to save St. Peter's for another day (crossing our fingers that we'll return).

We caught the #64 bus home without too much trouble and we all got seats since it was at the beginning of the route.  The buses have been very full with standing room only for sardines so we felt blessed.  We were also blessed in that it only started raining as we reached the apartment.  That means no gelato for us tonight.  We will have to content ourselves with another bottle of novello.

Rome: Friday, November 14, a day of perfect weather...

After a beer in a local bar and another bottle of Novello with dinner, we are struggling to compose a post in a coherent manner.


This morning we decided to buy a 7-day bus/metro pass forgetting that the buses were on strike...  We managed to get a #70 bus down to the Nuovo Mercato Esquilino where we picked up some clementines and bread and took a bunch of photos, especially of the squirming shrimp.  It is the immigrant market with few Italians but lots of Indians (or were they Pakistani?).

Chinese Mobile Phone Covers

It was when we tried to catch a bus home when a man reminded us about the strike.  It really wasn't too far to walk and we enjoyed going past all the Chinese stores with mobile phone covers.  We showed Penny the larger SMA supermarket and we picked up a bottle of Novello wine, some ravioli, some coffee and butane lighter for the oven.  AND we visited the church, Santa Maria Maggiore, where we looked for Bernini's tomb unsuccessfully, but they had the best toilettes we've found so far in Rome, with toilet seats.

At the foot of Via Napoli we ran into a small open air market where Cathy picked up a scarf for 3 euros, red so that Fernando can find her.  Then we stopped by a Carrefour Express supermarket (we can't resist supermarkets) where we picked some mozzarella and another bottle of Novello.  Time to get home before we buy more than we can eat.

We stopped to pick up lunch -- pizza by the slice -- at the pizzeria downstairs.  Big Mistake.  Not quite what we expect from pizza:  too much bread and not enough cheese or flavor.  We have done our duty locally and won't have to repeat it.  Fernando improved his slice with a piece of headcheese.


Since Vibe was scheduled to arrive at the airport at 1 pm, it gave us time for a nap, much needed at our age.   She arrived via the Leonardo Express, which she thought was too expensive.  And she had no trouble with the strike whatsoever.

Vibe wanted to be a pilgrim so we visited a whole bunch of churches: Santa Maria degli Angeli (the old Diocletian Roman baths -- really monumental in size and initially restored by Michelangelo).  This was probably our favorite because of its enormity.  They also have a magnificent pipe organ and maybe we can catch a recital on Saturday or Sunday (although they say to watch for pickpockets).

Then we walked over to nearby Santa Maria della Vittoria where Bernini has his statue of Santa Theresa in Ecstasy.  The statue is nice but hard to see and the rest of the church is over the top baroque.  It would be horribly hard to dust.
Then we crossed over to San Bernardo della Terme which is made from one of the round towers of the Roman baths.  Finally we visited the little San Carlino church by Borromini, very plain compared to Bernini's baroque. 

Then we headed up the Via Sistina toward the Spanish Steps, stopping by the Tritone Fountain by Bernini, which celebrated one of the restored aqueducts.  Each time we visited a fountain we were risking our lives crossing the encircling streets to reach it.  Afterwards we had to stop by and get some Mephisto shoes for Fernando, but then his credit card didn't work.  Luckily he had a second one.

Penny took some twilight photos of Rome and also numerous shots of an Italian family for whom she offered to take a group photos.  After wandering through the streets, we found our way back to Via Nazionale where we stumbled into a wine bar and had a beer.  Fernando and I had Italian beers.  Penny had an Irish beer with no fizz and Vibe had something equally innocuous.   Then we came back and cooked more ravioli for dinner.  Peter would love our diet here in Rome.

Rome, Thurs, Nov. 13

Nov 13 Thurs Rome

Here's what we did today

Woke up and were surprised it was already 8:30 am

La Signora Alluinni (in her night dress as were we) and her maid, Rosa, came by to change the sheets and towels

Took the 64 bus to Largo Argentina and then saw the Tiber River for the first time as we  walked across the Ponte Sisto to the Villa Farnesina, another Renaissance villa filled with incredible frescos, some by Raphael.  

Back across the Mazzini Bridge and through the interesting small streets looking for lunch.  Stopped at El Bric, a charming small restaurant for the daily pasta and risotto and red wine (and we didn't immediately fall asleep).

Then to the Palazzo della Cancelleria to see Leonardo Da Vinci: Le Grand Macchine.  But on the way we had to stop by the open air market at Campo de Fiori to admire all the goods.  The Da Vinci exhibit was high on Fernando's list, but, unfortunately, he was disappointed.  The exhibit wasn't executed with Leonardo's genius.

The Piazza Navona was next where Cathy was almost hit by a police car driving in reverse after a fleeing suspect.  In the center of the piazza is Bernini's Four River's Fountain with Borromini's Santa Agnes in Agone Church overlooking the whole.  Really quite fantastic.  The interior is the church is all baroque with some beautiful marble reliefs.

Fernando has a cold so we stopped at a farmacia to get some medicine and it was getting dark already.  Quick rush to the Pantheon, which is quite amazing even more so when you realize it wasn't destroyed through two millennia.  I've seen NY apartments that look in worse shape.

Now we had to get home and it was rush hour.  You have never seen such crowded buses (Fdo says they have them the same in Colombia).  We got on the second one and travelled like anchovies home. Wait!  We need ingredients for our dinner of salad.  Off to the little supermarket, but first a stop for our daily gelato at the Gelateria Artigianale. ..chocolate with rum, pistacio and chocolate fondente, pistacio and zabaione.  Tame flavors and just right as an appetizer.  For dinner a wonderful salad and another bottle of novello!!

Buona notte!

Borghese Gallery and Quartiere Coppede

The Borghese Gallery and the Quartiere Coppede are only about 7/10s of a mile apart so it might make sense to visit them on the same day.

Or we could take bus #92

Nov. 11, 2014 Rome

Fernando and Cathy at the colosseo.

9:30 start because we didn't wake up until Penny heard the noise from the garbage collection from the back room. Good breakfast in the apt. Fernardo was the first one ready to go on our exploration of ancient Rome. After buying Roma passes, we continued down Via Nationale and found our way to the Colosseum. We were tickled pink to be able to skip the long, long line and walk right in with our Roma passes!!! The Colosseum is amazing. Fernando says the civil engineering is unbelievable. Cathy and Penny tried to listen to the Rick Steves audio tour and were moderately successful. Cathy says, "And I thought American football was violent." People and animals slaughter in great numbers for the entertainment of the masses.

Fernando and chocolate/pistachio gelato

After taking a million photos we went looking for lunch, and Cathy had the brilliant idea of taking the bus (free with the Roma pass) out of the immediate tourist throngs, and Fernando spotted a great corner sandwich/pizza place and we enjoyed eggplant/spinach/mozzarella panini and a porchetta sandwich. Guess who had which?  And then there was Gelateria Flor with wonderful flavors.  We are keeping our promise to ourselves of eating a gelato every day.  To keep up our health (and weight).

Cathy trying to drink out of a "nasoni".

How can these ruins have survived so long? Another million photos and we took the bus to San Giovanni in Laterno, the first Christian church in Rome although not much remains of that, just the huge renovation by Barromini in the 16th century. And we stopped to see the Scala Sancta (Sacred Stairs) and we restrained Fernando who wanted to climb them on his knees. An exploration on the way to the Metro (also free with Roma Pass) resulted in dinner for tonight when we found a frozen food store and picked up shrimp and asparagus prepared for our pasta, as well a lettuce from the mercato. We are now almost finished with our bottle of Novello, and we haven't even started cooking. Stay tuned for tomorrow and the Borghese Gallery.

Rome: We have arrived!

I'm sitting here at our apartment in Rome (yes, we made it!) and it is 6:14 am.  I thought it had just started raining but I looked outside and it was the street cleaner.  So yes, they clean the streets in Rome, which is a lucky thing with all the people milling about.  And we do have wifi which is how I'm able to post this in such a timely fashion.

Our flight from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia was on time and uneventful, but our flight from Philadelphia to Rome was something to write home about.  We left on time and were about an hour into our flight -- they were serving dinner and I was watching "Chef" on my personal movie screen -- when the Captain announced that one of our passengers had a "medical emergency" and, after conferring with their medical team in Arizona (the remnants of America West), they decided the best thing to do was to turn around and head back to Philadelphia.  This must be a joke, right?

No.  The Captain further explained that because our jet hadn't used up much of its fuel, it would be unusually heavy for landing and that we would require an extra long runway at the west field, but that there would be a fire crew and emergency equipment on hand since the hard braking would be particularly hard on the tires.  After that, the plane's tire and landing gear would have to be inspected to make sure they had not suffered any damage.  However, he said, the weather in Philadelphia was clear and absolutely beautiful.

So stewardesses packed up their dinner carts (we hadn't yet been served) and we started the hour and a half flight back to Philly, putting down the landing gear early to create drag and burn more fuel (at the end we were really creeping along).  Fernando and I were thinking: oh oh, this is a repeat of our flight to Paris when Delta canceled our nonstop flight and all the passengers had to make a mad scramble to get alternate flights, the soonest being the following day.

Fortunately the plane landed perfectly (I personally think that US Airways pilots are the very best), the plane passed inspection, the passenger must have been  carried off (we didn't see him/her -- Fernando thinks he/she was first class), and by 11 pm we were on our way again.  The upside to this episode is that we actually talked to the other passengers while we were waiting inspection (the couple behind us were Mexicans from Austin) and that, when we were finally served dinner, at midnight, it tasted awfully good.

We arrived in Rome 4 hours late and as our seats were over the wing, we couldn't see any of the countryside during landing.  But the sky was blue, except for some curious low level cumulus clouds on the eastern horizon, and the weather balmy, except that the Italians still had jackets on.  We found the ATM and our driver and headed into Rome.

Most of the streets in Rome are unmarked so I'm wondering how easy it will be wandering through them.  Even the driver had to think when I asked him what was the name of one of the major street we were taking.  But I was able to pick out some of the monuments (the forum) and buildings (Saint Peter Outside the Walls, the Vittoriano) as we drove past them.  Although it was November, there were still tourists with T-shirts and cameras walking around the city center.

Andrea was at the apartment when we got there and carried our bags up the stairs to the tiny elevator.  We went up the elevator with the bags while he ran up the circular stairs to the 2nd floor (the third floor to us).  The apartment is quite spacious, in a U-shape around the interior staircase.  The door to their (Andrea and his mother) apartment is opposite ours.  At one end of the U is the double-bed bedroom, then the living room, the dining room, then the entrance foyer and on the other half of the U: a hallway from which open the small kitchen, a laundry room with toilet, the bathroom, and at the other end of the U the bedroom with twin beds.  The second bedroom is rather dark because the shutters to the interior courtyard are closed and I can't figure out how to open them (I'll have to ask Andrea) but it is very close to the bathroom.  Fernando is already complaining how far away the bathroom is from the double bedroom.

After taking a shower, we headed out to the SMA grocery store down by Santa Maria Maggiore that I had previously located on my Google map excursions.  First we stopped at the UPIM department store next door (it's like Kohl's) and picked up some pencils for Isabel.  Then we went grocery shopping, trying to buy everything Italian (grapes, clementines, cipollino onions, garlic, tomatoes, veal, olives), as well as those Colombian stables: coffee and bananas.  Fernando even picked up some head cheese and I got some pane di Lariano and pecorino romano.  And of course vino: a novello rosso, Fior di Novembre 2014, which wasn't bad - slightly prickly on the tongue.  Then we wandered home and cooked dinner.

We were pooped (I had slept only about 1 hour on the flight) but we didn't want to go to bed too early.  So we went out for a nightcap: pistaccio and nocciolo gelato.  I can see us doing that every night, just so we can try all the different gelaterias and gusti.

Wifi in Rome

So now we are down to the line and figuring out how we are going to stay connected on the street.  We do have wireless Internet in the apartment so we can do our Skype phone calls at night when it is 8 pm in Rome, 2 pm in New York and Pennsylvania, and 11 am in California.  (You can tell that I use this blog for thinking out loud and for remembering what I thought.)  Oh wait.  Isn't that when we are supposed to be out eating dinner??

The Fiumicino airport in Rome (it is in the town of Fiumicino and has the intials FCO although it is called the Leonardo da Vinci airport) has free wifi so we can phone when we arrive at 8:55am, although that might be a bit early for everybody back home.  We'll send off an email.  And also alert our AirBnB host of our arrival.  Oh oh.  I'm reading some posts on free wifi in Italy which say you have to put in an Italian cell phone number to use some free wifi...  Surely at the airport they don't expect all travelers to have an Italian phone number.

Un'Americana a Roma has a posting on Free Wi-Fi Hotspots in Rome which mentions the province of Rome’s free wifi network with over 300 access points throughout the city.  Unfortunately for this one you need to have an Italian cell phone number.  (Maybe we should get a SIM card for Fernando's travel cell phone.  Do you think it is still functional?  The last time we used it was 7 years ago!)

The wifi service at Fiumicino is provided by Boingo, which provides quite a few other hotspots in Rome and offers free wifi at its locations in the Americas for $4.98/month but outside of the Americas you have to pay an additional $0.12 or $0.18 per minute, so that's not as good a deal.  I think it is mainly a service to institutions.

Another idea is pocket wifi where you rent a device that provides a wireless hotspot around you for $7 a day for 150MB or $12.95 a day for unlimited Internet.  That's from TEP Wireless, a London company that says you can pick up and drop off the device at the airport.  The battery life is only 5 hours so we'd have to remember to charge it each night.

The Romeing Blog has an article on Free wif-fi in Rome, at the end of which she mentions WiTourist, which also offers pocket wifi service.  There is a location at the Fiumicino Airport, Carafelli Brothers, where you can pick up and drop off the device, which is 4€/day (about $5) for 1 gigabyte of data.

What would we use the wifi hotspot for?  To look at our Google map and get directions and information on the next bus or metro to our destination (we can save a static Google map but no directions).  To use our handy XE Currency converter (oh wait, it still works in airplane mode).  To make a dinner reservation or check out the restaurants around us.  To send WhatsApp text messages to each other in case one of us gets lost...

Bancarelle

Does anybody need a scarf in Rome?  Or maybe a hat?  Some souvenirs or baby clothes?  We'll have to check out the bancarelle, those little covered stalls outside the metro, train and bus stations.  Porta Portense in Trastevere on Sunday mornings has the largest conglomeration of stands.  You remember -- the place where you have to be extra careful of pickpockets. 

Some people swear by bancarelle.  For instance, Ron in Rome has a whole post on them:

"Living in Rome can be expensive – real expensive. Thank goodness for the bancarelle (“stalls”). The bancarelle offer a huge variety of goods – from kitchen supplies to winter coats to electronics to men’s ties! Your shopping options are endless. And because the vendors rotate their locations daily, you get different stalls in your neighborhood each day."

Ron says most of the bancarelle are located near metro stops or on major street corners in parts of town that many tourists do not get to.   He lives near the Ottaviano and Cipro metro stations (north of the Vatican) and his wife HAS to walk by the bancarelle on her way home. Sort of like checking out Marshalls and TJMaxx for good deals on items that are too good to pass up.

Prices generally range from 50 cents to 50 euros and most items are under 10 euros but he says to forget about the 1 euro bins.  These bancarelle allow middle class Italians to be "fashionable" without breaking the bank.  They are also legal, being regulated by the City of Rome.  Not so the goods that are laid out on the street - those are illegal and you could get fined for buying from them.

The New York Times InTransit blog says much the same thing about the bancarelle:

"The purpose of most bancarelle is to allow ordinary Italians to keep up with the unforgiving pace of fashion from one season to the next, but clothes aren’t the only bargain: from oriental-style couch covers to shiny kitchenware, the options are nearly endless. Located near popular metro stops, the markets rotate daily, so the whole city can share in the bargains"

You can check out Marina's bloggarrific, a woman from Singapore who buys extra large sizes at the bancarelle and then remakes them into something she can wear.  And Run Brit Chick Run gets second hand baby and kids clothes at bancarelle.  I only wish we were visiting Rome in December when the Christmas bancarelle fill Piazza Navona.

Hans Memling

Anybody interested in Flemish art?

There's an exhibition on Hans Memling (1430-1494) in the Scuderie del Quintinale now through January.  He reminds me of Bruegel (1525-1569), but that just might be the complexity of the above painting rather than the subject matter.  Apparently Memling was popular in Italy and even influenced Raffaello.  The Scuderie is close to the apartment at Via XXIV Maggio 16, Roma but the entrance is 12 euros so we might have to content ourselves with this online website of Hans Memling.

Rome's Electric MiniBuses, Trams and Coppedè

I just ran across Peter Bardwell on the "mini" electric buses that run around the Centro Storico:  "Not enormously quick, occasionally busy and with, sometimes, rather a wait between them - they're nonetheless a joy to use, and easy to board and leave!" At the time he posted the information, two of the lines had stopped operating because of battery problems.  Hopefully they have been restarted and they are probably meant for little old tourists with knee problems like us!  Below are the electric routes from the ATAC website.

ATAC has an iPhone app but it won't do us much good if we don't have an Internet connection on the street.

Bardwell has some interesting articles on riding ATAC, including A Day on Tram 3 which runs out to the Quartiere Coppedè which I had run across before and found interesting but thought might be too hard to get to.  Gino Coppedè (Firenze 1866 - Roma 1927) was an Italian architect who began building this neighborhood in the Art Nouveau style in 1917.  Everything2 says:

"While continental Art Nouveau features open eroticism, Coppedè worked in a version called Liberty Style which tends to suppress it. Liberty Style is named for its most important commercial patron, Arthur Liberty, who ran a decorative-arts store in London; the style not only conforms to Liberty's own tastes, but also to late Victorian middle-class standards. Liberty Style has strong affinities to English Arts and Crafts Style and the sense of moral uprightness that style tried to reflect."

And goes on to say:

"Instead of focusing on sexuality, Coppodè finds his inspiration in a more intellectualized revival of historical styles, which he mixes joyfully and chaotically. The 31,000 square meters of the quarter (with some 40 structures) are alive with Florentine towers and Venetian palazzi decorated with external mosaics and frescoes, Baroque Roman palazzi with real and imitation papal stemmata, a sundial, and even a building devoted to a musical decorative scheme whose exterior ironwork and carvings imitate musical notation. It is literally fantastic, with structures of vastly different period styles sitting next to one another cheek-by-jowl. It is also wonderful."

Coppedè was contemporaneous with Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) and there is an Italian TripAdvisor collection of photographs called Il Gaudí de noaltri (The  Gaudí of the rest of us or Our own Gaudí), and his style is similarly eclectic.  Design and Art Magazine offers some of the best photos of the buildings.

 

So if we want to take a tram ride, it seems like this would be the perfect destination!  Spotted by Locals recommends taking a tram ride when you are too tuckered out to walk anymore.  It will show you the real Rome.  Tram lines 3 and 19 stop at Piazza Buenos Aires where you can enter the main entrance to the quarter marked by the big Arch on Via Tagliamento, on the corner with Via Dora.