Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your…melatonin.
These next few entries are being produced in Italy! We left Tuesday evening, 3/30/10. Arrived at Leonardo Da Vinci/Fumicino Airport at 8:15am Rome time. The cab ride to the hotel was really neat because we got to see the countryside & environs on our way into town. The folks at the hotel were kind enough to allow us to check in early. After settling in to the room we ventured out to enjoy the rest of out first day in Rome. We walked for hours & experienced the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon (more on that later), Piazza Colonna, Piazza Navona & a lovely walk back to the hotel. I looked through the itinerary & the list of restaurant recommendations from Ken when I suddenly crashed. It was close to 4pm & I simply could not stay conscious any longer. Steve wasn’t far behind me. It was a couple hours later when we finally awoke & got hungry. We hadn’t eaten all day…odd for us. The concierge suggested a small restaurant 4 blocks away that allowed jeans. Coffee was a necessity. We strolled down Via Veneto & found a café. The proprietor laughed at us for asking for coffee. He said, “You mean black water?” I’d heard that expression from Tom so I just laughed & admitted to being American. We joked around a bit before he agreed to make us some coffee. He said next time I need to order marrocchino…will do. After coffee we strolled to the restaurant San Marco on Via Sardegna. It’s a ‘local’ place so we were the only Americans there for most of the dine. A single American dude came in later. The place was lively with families & groups of people having a good time. We both ordered salads which turned out to be so good that Steve couldn’t stop raving about it. They were simple greens with tomato & mushrooms but they were so fresh. Balsamic vinegar & olive oil was the simple dressing. Superb. Probably the best green salad either of us ever ate. The bread was delicious too. For dinner I had buccatini d’amatriciana. Steve ordered a mushroom, prosciutto & cheese pizza. Both dinners were delicious. There was no room for dessert. A leisurely walk back to the hotel, some BBC news, a melatonin tablet a close encounter with a pillow ended the day. Ken suggested the melatonin to aid jet lag. What a fabulous idea.
Day Two in Rome: April Fool’s Day! Rabbit rabbit everyone! Did you see Google’s home page? What a bunch of hooligans…
Thank goodness for the melatonin. Sleep came easily. Neither of us budged all night. It turns out a whole tablet was too much for me. Steve had to ‘kick the bed’ to get me up at 7am. We had breakfast in the top floor terrace dining room. A delightful buffet of American & Italian offerings awaited us. Here’s a partial list:
Croissants, fruit bread, hot cross buns, several more types of bread, raspberry torte, dry cereals, yogurt, mini pancakes & waffles, omelet, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, lox, cream cheese, melons, kiwi fruit, pineapple, blood oranges, stewed prunes & apricots, mixed vegetables (that was odd but oh well), fries (odd as well), 3 kinds of cheese wedges, a tray of condiments-corn, black & green olives, cornichons, cioppilini, giardiniera-fruit juices, still & sparkling water, Coke, Coke ‘light’, Sprite, several types of fruit juices, ‘American’ coffee, Champagne. It was so over the top! After breakfast it was a dash through the shower because we had a looooong day ahead. I had a hard time getting started because of the overdose of melatonin but finally we were on the street around 10:30am. We took the metro from Piazza Barberini to Termini then on to Colosseo. You come out of the station & right there is the Colosseum. Oh my, that’s a moment I shall never forget. I felt the same way when I turned to corner to find the Pantheon right before my eyes. After all of those years of coming home from school only to be met by my dear mother & her after-school schooling I really appreciated her efforts to make sure we all knew our history-all the way back to the ancient Greeks & Romans. Seriously, to see those structures ‘in real life’ was thrilling! Anyhow, hours later we went to Palatine Hill for a couple more hours, then down to the Forum & up to Capitoline Hill. After a quick lunch below the Vittorio Emanuele Monument we went back up the hill to the Capitoline Museum. Several hours & many hundreds of busts, statues & paintings later, we decided we’d had enough. The walk up Via Veneto was so taxing (not really) we decided to stop for coffee & gelato. Yes, we got guff for ordering ‘American’ coffee again. I had chocolate chip & chocolate orange & Steve had chocolate chip & lemon cream. Heaven in a dish. Good god that stuff is yummy! Back to the hotel, download a couple hundred pix, label them, Steve did some work, I worked on this entry. We weren’t hungry for a whole dinner so we scarfed down a bag of trail mix (TJ’s of course), the rest of my cheetos (Beck will never believe that they lasted that long, but it’s true) & I gobbled some chocolates from my pillow. Well, I ate Steve’s, too. Couldn’t help it. It’s 11pm but I’m going to look at email to see what y’all are up to back at the ranch. After that it’s ½ of a melatonin & a good snooze. Chat again in a day or so.
Day Three in Rome: April 2nd
Well, ½ a melatonin tablet was still too much. What is wrong with me? Oh well, I eventually awoke enough to crawl upstairs for another delicious breakfast. Then it was off to the Galleria Borghese at our appointed time. Thanks to Barbara we added that to our ‘must see’ list. It was spectacular. The ceilings & doors are all painted &/or embellished…every room is different. Fabulous sculptures, busts, beautiful paintings & furnishings were crammed in everywhere. There were several by Bernini that were absolutely breathtaking. Seeing them nearly brought tears to me eyes. I'd never before seen such beauty find its way out of a rock. What was so interesting is that some of the windows were opened & fresh air poured in making it seem as if you were in someone’s home without regard to the potential damage to the artwork. It was delightful. Unfortunately no cameras are allowed in the galleries so memories will have to suffice.
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Vatican Museum with a quick jaunt to St. Peter’s Square. Since this was our last day in Rome on this leg of the journey, we didn’t spend time in line to get into the Basilica. We’ll do that on Saturday 4/10/10 when we return to Rome. The Vatican Museum was unbelievable! It was like going into a hoarder’s house, though a hoarder with very good taste & lots of money! We scurried through the main exhibit halls to get to the Sistine Chapel first since that was the highlight of the visit. Maybe you can imagine the wonder of seeing this magnificent place for the first time. Maybe you’ve felt it, too. No photograph can capture the grandeur or splendor of the room. You can look at books of the Chapel all your life thinking yeh, yeh that’s really beautiful but when you lay your own eyes on it, you simply can’t believe it. There are many, many decorated ceilings in Italy, it’s true, but seeing this one is something really special. This is another memory of a lifetime. I have been wondering if the people who live in Italy’s magnificent cities have a ho-hum attitude about the richness around them. Probably to some extent. But they’re lucky indeed. I feel lucky to live so near D.C. & we’re just a baby in comparison…although we have some awesome treasures of our own. I digress. After taking in the Sistine Chapel for who knows how long (time sort of stood still), we went back around & through the rest of the museum. The other exhibit I had my heart set on was the Etruscan section. Too bad for me, it was closed. Ah well, next time.
We had a quick snack & diet Pepsi then headed back to the hotel to get dressed for a dinner at Al Ceppo, a restaurant recommended by Ken. We were the only Americans in the place. We were put in the back room as if we were meant for the children’s room. I had hoped our rudimentary French would help us with the menu but that didn’t happen! The first waiter had to turn us over to the only other person in the place who could speak any English at all. He was very patient & read parts of the menu we couldn’t decipher. We were welcomed with an amuse bouche of monk fish in a tomato & red pepper sauce. Yummm. For the appetizer we ordered olive ascolane which is green olives stuffed with spicy ground meat then breaded & fried. Oh my, what a treat! Ken suggested that dish specifically. The breadbasket was filled with black olive & Italian bread. Additional homemade bread was served warm. Now THAT was delicious. For dinner I had grilled tilapia in a light lemony sauce with baby greens. Steve had a grilled beef filet with potatoes. Dessert was chocolate gelato for me, chestnut for Steve. His had tiny bits of meringue on top. We asked for espresso with our dessert. The waiter asked us if we wanted it WITH dessert? We said, yes with dessert. I think that was the wrong answer…he looked at us with such disdain. Oops! Oh & when we said we weren’t having wine with dinner I think he thought we must have just landed from another planet. We were obviously so in over our heads! Gulp! Dinner was absolutely marvelous though. A real Italian meal to be sure. By the time we return to Italy I’ll have learned A LOT more of the language. I’ll bet they were happy to see us leave!
Bedtime came, ¼ of a melatonin went down the hatch, I read for a bit & then off to DreamLand thinking of the journey to Florence the next morning. That was yesterday. I’ll tell you about Florence tomorrow night as I have to get some sleep soon. Tomorrow morning we’re off to the Duomo & Giotto’s tower then a quick jaunt up to Fiesole, a little town in the hills north of Florence, for the remainder of our Florentine visit. Oh, I have to talk about this hotel too. And post pix. This place is a charmer! Ok…pix & then sleep. ‘Night.
