Italy Field Report 4 – Day 4

NOTE: this is a temporary blog because I am blocked out of my regular blog (http://vacationscountdown.blogspot.ca/). These posts will be transferred there when the issue is resolved. 

I have to start with an apology for lying to you yesterday.  I said we did not visit the Basilica in Trastevere yesterday… but we did.  Too much wine with lunch perhaps so I forgot as soon as I left? LOL HA! Cathedral-Fatigue must be kicking in already!!

Another great vacation day, even if we did get SOAKED TO THE SKIN this afternoon during a thunderstorm. Sure we had our jackets and umbrellas, but my shoes got so soaked I doubt they will be dry by tomorrow!!

Instead of taking the metro in the morning, we like taking the bus because we can see out and enjoy the city. This morning, the weather was so great (=nice and cool in the shade), so we got off the bus at Porta Pia and walked to the old part of town. When we passed Piazza Barberini we got side tracked by a visit to the ossuary in the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Concezione…  it was amazing!!!  but no pictures allowed so you will have to Google to see why.

From there we continued hoofing it, passing the Trevi Fountain again and eventually ending up in the Piazza della Rotonda again (Pantheon) where we decided to stop for a mid-morning snack. Excellent timing because barely 5 minutes after we sat down, it began to rain.

We waited until we thought the rain had stopped before carrying on, but the respite lasted only about 20 minutes and then the downpour started. We ended up ducking into “just anywhere” to have lunch with the intention to wait it out again. My husband liked his meal, mine left a lot to be desire plus the wine was not great either. spleh.

I think by about 2PM or so the coast became clear and we eventually made it to our goal: St Peter’s.

It was just as impressive (and CROWDED) as last time; we had a great time (what’s not to love?) Thankfully the sun cleared up after that visit and we continued on our foot journey – onwards to Piazza Popolo and the Tridente, stopping for supper around 6:30.

 

This picture makes me laugh! Check out the suspicious waiter and the guy pulling up his pants after his meal!! LOL

Still filled with a little energy after supper, we decided to see how far to home our feet would carry us, and just jump on a bus once we got fed up. We made it all the way to Porta Pia again…  not bad!

On the way, we walked by the Palazzo Barberini where I was able to take my requisite cat-shots! So cute.

So that’s it for today, an early night because we have to get up early tomorrow morning to catch the train for our day trip to Arezzo.

Good night!

Italy Field Report 3 – Day 3

NOTE: this is a temporary blog because I am blocked out of my regular blog (http://vacationscountdown.blogspot.ca/). These posts will be transferred there when the issue is resolved. 

As predicted, another great day!

It was supposed to rain but didn’t (not while we were out and about anyway – now that we are back at the hotel, the thunder is pretty bad) so that was a nice turn of events! Although, it would have been nicer to have known FOR SURE so that we could have skipped lugging the umbrellas and jackets around all day!! LOL

We started the day with an excursion to Ostia Antica; Rome’s Pompeii. It was nice, glad I did it, a nice way to kill a few hours but I think I am done with Roman (and Greek) ruins for life. I hit my quota.

We were thankful for the overcast-its-almost-gonna-rain-but-didn't-rain weather, because there was a wind in the air that kept the temps down. Would have been murder without the cloud cover because it’s all wide open spaces with ZERO shade.

  

After that, we spend a little time walking around the grassy basin that once was the Circus Maximus, then crossed the Tiber to have lunch in Travestere.  Good meal, shitty service and therefore too pricy for the overall experience…  but it did feel good to take a load off! (I had a Caprese salad and eggplant parmesan)

Much to our surprise, it was around 3PM when we got out of there! We spent the next few hours exploring Travestere but skipped the inside of the Basilica di Santa Maria; been there done that.

After that, we just wandered aimlessly around town, hung out briefly in Saint Peter’s Square but since it’s on the agenda for tomorrow we didn’t linger.  We eventually decided to see if we could get a table with a view in Pizza Navona and sit, have a drink and watch the world go by. Luck was on our side, it was about 6PM when arrived and we got an excellent table at one of the many cafés and kicked into full chillax-mode. It was so ideal, we decided to stay and have supper there too; after our huge lunch we just had enough room for a small plate of pasta – not a bite more! (I had Tagliatelli with mushrooms)

This picture makes me laugh because it looks like the guy at the table behind me and I are sitting together! ha!

On the way home, we stopped at Piazza Della Repubblica to get some night shots:

And we also got a shot of the controversial JP2 statue outside Termini Station.  I don’t really see what all the fuss is about; I like it!

As far as my Laptop goes, blogging with it is not bad, but the picture organizing is not going as smoothly as I thought. It’s all so small and I find I am quite useless without a mouse!! Not convinced that this was worth the investment, but I have it now so I will keep practicing!!

That’s it for today, Goodnight!

Italy Field Report 2 – Day 2

What a FULL day!!  If they can all be this good, the I declare the entire vacation a success even though this is only Day 2.

As predicted, breakfast was dessert; sticky buns and sugary bread things so all I had was a slice of stale toast. Just as well anyway because I always overeat on vacation so I’ll save a few calories by default this way!

We started the day in Piazza Popolo, then meandered all over the city. It was a HOT one! You can already see in the picture here how hazy it was, and this was a little before 10AM.

We walked up and down the Spanish Steps…

Threw coins in Trevi Fountain…

Spend some time at the Pantheon…

And took a walk through Piazza Navona all before lunch!

So with a next-to-nothing breakfast and a marathon morning tour of city, we took our time recovering during lunch. (Shared plate of cured meats & a mushroom pizza… and of course, some Barolo!!)

After lunch, we decided to knock off one the “must do” activities from my list, and that was to visit the Basilica di San Clemente to take the  archaeological time travel down down down through the centuries to see the first century house buried under the modern city. Meh, it was just OK.

On the way there we passed the Coliseum, and it’s a good thing that this is our third visit to Rome because a LARGE section or it was covered by scaffolding. In our case, the disappointment factor was nil, but I do feel for all the tourists in Rome here on their “Once in a Lifetime” visit!! Too bad for them :(

 

For the rest of the afternoon we walked and walked and walked all over town, wandering aimlessly, poking into churches here and there, stopping for coffee, and finally ended the day at Campo De’ Fiori around 7PM for dinner. (Still full from lunch, it was grilled fish and water!)

I can’t get over how crowded Rome is! I don’t recall thinking this the last time; my husband says it’s no different than previous visits, but I find myself dodging people left and right everywhere I go!

So, that’s it for today! It’s after 11PM again and I need my beauty sleep!

Ciao!

Italy Field Report 1 – Day 1

With Love From Rome.

Feels funny being back, I feel like I was just here yesterday!! 

We got off to a little bumpy start: Our cab driver got pulled over and earned a 161$ ticket on the way from Home to the airport. I went a little overboard with the pre-vacation resto splurge and ate almost to the point of illness (don’t feel sorry for me, I don’t deserve it). Our plane to Rome was late leaving London, our luggage took FOREVER to get to us, (fleeting thoughts of the bags not making the connection) the train into the city was late…  but we’re still in one piece!

The hotel is just like we remember it from 2006, we’re satisfied… although it’s important to note we have not slept yet! The room is smaller than the last time, but still: nothing really to complain about… except for the Wifi. It’s spotty at best so I don’t know how this whole blogging set up is going to work!

When I blogged from my Ipod, even without Wifi at the hotel, I could still upload my posts whenever I happen to find a connection throughout the course of my day. From the laptop is trickier because I am not carrying it around with me so I am a slave to the “Now you see it now you don’t” connection at the hotel.  I think I will bring it down to breakfast with me tomorrow morning if I can’t get it working tonight and see how that goes.

But back to Rome: Since we arrived at the hotel a little after 7PM, we did not have much of a full day – but we still went out for supper! We remembered a resto we loved in 2006 in the Piazza Barberini and decided to go there again because it was close to the metro (5 stops from the hotel) or a short bus ride away. Even though we felt strong enough to eat out at 8PM, who knows when we would hit the wall!!

It was to die for!!  hopefully a sign of things to come! They gave us a cozy little corner table and we did not pass up the chance to have some Barolo to wash it all down… the PERFECT start to what will be a great vacation I am sure.

Now, it’s passed 11PM so I must force myself to sleep so that I can hit the ground running tomorrow! I hold out little hope for a great breakfast, in Italy the hotel breakfasts always resemble dessert more than breakfast to me. I am just psyched to start the tourist- adventure!!!