Time flies when you are having fun and we are having a blast!
We topped off our Rome trip with a visit back to the Vatican city bright and early so we can get into St. Peter's Basilica and climb the dome sans line up.
The climb up to the top of the dome was a sweaty, claustrophobic, narrow and steep 325 steps. And that is AFTER you take an elevator up first.
We were rewarded by a spectacular view of the city. Now I know why Rome is called "The Eternal City."
We climbed down the steps, much much easier than going up of course. Went into the Basilica.
Another OMG moment, no pun intended.
This church is massive and filled with so much history, treasury, beauty and I think also tombs of previous popes. St. Peter is buried underneath the Basilica. Last time we tried to go to Rome and couldn't (no thanks to British Airways / Heathrow shut-down drama), we booked a toor of the Scavi (excavations) which would have allowed us to go explore the underbelly of St. Peter's.
I didn't book the tour on this trip, though I wish I had.
I also wanted to go into the Vatican Archives (this is one of my dream moments) but I have to be a Researcher or Academic or Archeologist or something and petition for entry for years and years.
Greggy told me to just enjoy what we are seeing. Ok.
We went into the St. Peter's treasury museo. It was okay, not really as interesting as the Vatican Museum but interesting enough.
There was a moment on our way to the souvenir shop when Greg and I were separated for a bit. I am not sure how this Vatican security dude saw me but he said "this way" and proceeded to escort me to one of the displays.
I totally thought I was going to be in trouble and brought into security (I wasn't taking illegal pictures this time, I swear!) Little did I know he was going to try and pick me up.
"Inglese or Italiano?"
"Inglese."
"Where are you from?"
"Canada."
"Where are you originally from?"
"Guess."
"You are Filipino."
"Yes, you're right."
"Ang ganda mo."
WHAT???
That translates to "You are pretty."
I laughed and said thanks. He walked away, but not before Greggy spotted that he was chatting me up. He must have figured that the big, scary, wrestler looking guy was with me because he didn't bother me for the rest of the time we were there.
I didn't think they were allowed to be all crazy like that? Aren't they supposed to be all religified and shit?
He must be a Vatican pig.
Tomorrow: Back to Toronto.
Sigh.
I do look forward to seeing Peppy and T.
Friday, June 8, 2012
19 Days of Freedom: Days 8, 9 - Firenze and Trenitalia
Florence was amazing.
Firenze molto buono.
Florence is so amazing that I love it more than Roma. Here's how Wednesday and Thursday went:
8:00 AM - Took the #8 Largo Argentina tram from Viale di Trastevere and then the 40 Express bus to Termini to catch our 10:15 Frecciargento train to Florence Santa Maria Novella Station.
8:45 AM - Arrived at Termini, had a small breakfast.
9:15 AM - Checked the Departures Board for our train to confirm the platform. Couldn't find it yet. We thought maybe it was too early.... so we decided to kill some time and browsed the Inglese section at Borri Books. Bought a book called "Queen Elizabeth I" - still a bit obsessed about that period.
9:45 AM - Train platform not yet posted. Ok, so maybe still too early.
10:00 AM - Getting a little nervous as train platform still not posted! Decided to ask Eurostar information booth dude. I said "Good morning!" and he started to sing "Good morning.... good morning... la la la la la". Hmm. I showed him our ticket, and he said "Yiesssss, train 9416 to Firenze SMN... it's on your right."
"Grazie mille!" was my response.
10:03 AM - Wait... what? Which right? His right or mine???? I still don't see the platform number posted. Getting a bit freaked out. Decided to go ask Eurostar dude again.
10:10 AM - Gah!!! Lineup hell!!!!
10:15 AM - My mind is racing. I know that my ticket allowed changes (just didn't know how many changes). Thankful that I didn't purchase the MINI fares because the tickets would have been totally worthless if we missed the train. My brain is going into overdrive Plan B mode. I should go up to the Customer Service kiosk to find out what's going on.... Apparently train schedules are not very reliable, why why why....
Wait! I said to Greggy - that British voice on the PA is announcing the Florence SMN train on platform 10. What the hell? Why didn't they post it?
"Greggy let's go I think it's platform 10".
I looked at the Departures board again, platform 10 is going to Venezo! While I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go to Venice, I was pretty sure the tickets I got were for Florence.
I went up to a Trenitalia CSR chick. She didn't seem interested in helping us. But I got assertive (bitchy) and asked her if the Florence train is on platform 10.
"Yiess eeet eez."
"But it says Venezo?"
"Yiess, Venezo eez theee lassst stup."
"Ok, grazie."
10:20 AM - Got to platform 10, showed our ticket to the conductor, and he said "Yiesssss theese eez your carozza."
Breathed a sigh of relief.
After we found our seats, I figured out that what we should have done is use the Train number (in our case, 9416) instead of the destination name as there are stops along the way to our destination (duh!).
I learned. I am now an expert in the art of traveling by train.
10:25 AM - So excited!!! I've always wanted to take a train trip, but never had opportunity until now. My first experience turned out to be a great one.
The Frecciargento and Frecciarossa trains are the fastest train out of all available trains. You can take the slower trains for less price, but I wanted my first time to be in the fastest train in first class. It was quite reasonable, EUR 274 for return tickets for 2 adults. So just under $350 CAD. Not bad at all.
I took a lot of pictures, walked in between cars, checked out the WCs (bathrooms), went to the Food car, had some wine, etc. Feeling very Italian and posh.
There was a Filipino family of 4 traveling on same train and seated right in front of us.... I smiled at the adult male as he reminded me of my dad.
By the way, there are TONS of Filipinos in Italy! I don't understand why and didn't expect it at all. I remember seeing (and hearing) Filipinos all over the place. There was even a chick working in the Musei Vaticano cafeteria, speaking perfect Italian. So weird.
I just Googled "Filipinos in Italy" and holy cow! Filipinos are the 4th largest immigrants in Italy. I didn't know that at all! I just learned something totally new today and I'm just gobsmacked!
Ok, back to my Firenze story.
So got off the train, bought a Firenze map and looked for our posh hotel L'Orologio. It's a clock-themed hotel and is a 7 minute walk from the train station, which is the number one reason why I booked it in the first place. Convenient. Luxurious.
Checked in, room not yet ready but no sweat. Left our luggage with Reception and wandered around.
I am totally flabbergasted by everything I've seen so far in Rome, but boy oh boy the Duomo is really breathtaking.
Florence is well-known for being the hometown of the Medicis: aristocrats, royals, patrons of art (Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Tiziano, Caravaggio, Boticelli, etc.). I must do more research on them because they are a fascinating bunch. I am not entirely sure where their wealth comes from, but my basic research tells me that they were pioneers of "medicine", which is obviously derived from their name "di Medici".
Florence has a different feel from Rome. It's a more cleaned-up, luxurious version of Roma, graced with spectacular architecture, marble statues galore, high-end shops, the Ponte Vecchio and Tuscan sun.
Found a place near the Duomo and had lunch. We ordered the mixed meat for our antipasti, followed by Eggplant parmigiana and Macaroni (it's not what you think) in pomodoro and spicy sausage sauce.
Delish!!! Brava!
The best meat we've had so far is called "Finnochio cuore" and I think that means the meat was cured using fennel. It was too good. We pondered buying one vaccuum sealed and bringing it home with us, but I don't think Canada Customs will like that too much. I must find it in Toronto.
Meanwhile, our food was perfect. We were full, but not like we want to kill ourselves full.
Went back to hotel and got our room key.
HOLY COW!!!!!!!
The receptionist must have taken a liking to us because what we got was a 2-story, 1 bedroom with office loft, 900 sq ft suite complete with all marble bathroom and a 100 sq ft balcony with views of the Duomo!
Happy happy dance dance whirl whirl glee glee!
This shows you that your best chance of getting an upgrade is to be as nice to the hotel staff as possible. The duplex cost double than my confirmed rate for a double superior room and I swear either we are really lucky or the receptionist was charmed by us... probably a bit of both.
Walked around quite a bit. We covered:
- The Acaddemia (didn't go in. David by Michaelangelo is in there but lineup galore and I don't do lineups).
- Ufizzi
- Gucci Museo (loved it)
- Plaza de la Republicca
- Ponte Vecchio
Greggy was starting to get tired and cranky but I still wanted to walk around.... I told him I'll walk him back to the hotel and then I'll go wander around by myself... but when we got back to the duplex I was also tired and took the opportunity to rest before dinner.
After a bit of rest and some wine plus prosecco out on the rooftop patio, we headed out in search of Di Garga restaurant but found Buco Mario first. No reservations but we got a table. Had the best frito fiore zucco con funghi (fried zucchini flowers and mushrooms). For mains Greggy got the salmon and I ordered the Steak Florentine.
The steak was HUGE.
It was good, but couldn't finish it. It was the size of my thigh.
Feeling full, but not overly full, we went back to our hotel where I took the best shower ever in the all-marble all the time lovely bathroom.
Slept.
Woke up at 6:00 AM the next day and had the gratis breakfast first, then schlepped around a bit more. Crossed the Ponte Vecchio over to the other side and went into Palazzo Piti museo.
I can't even imagine life back then. This palace used to be the palace of the Medici family and it is massive, the size of Titanic, with apartments trimmed in gold, marble, etc laced with all the Renaissance art that you can imagine.
What would it be like? I am so obsessed with that period.
Time to catch the 1:40 PM train back to Roma. A bit sad to be leaving so soon. I wish I planned for 2 days instead.
But no complaints, I will likely be back. Firenze will be my stop when I come back to Italy to see Sicily, Amalfi, Naples, Venice and Lake Cuomo region.
Arriverderci Firenze!!!
Firenze molto buono.
Florence is so amazing that I love it more than Roma. Here's how Wednesday and Thursday went:
8:00 AM - Took the #8 Largo Argentina tram from Viale di Trastevere and then the 40 Express bus to Termini to catch our 10:15 Frecciargento train to Florence Santa Maria Novella Station.
8:45 AM - Arrived at Termini, had a small breakfast.
9:15 AM - Checked the Departures Board for our train to confirm the platform. Couldn't find it yet. We thought maybe it was too early.... so we decided to kill some time and browsed the Inglese section at Borri Books. Bought a book called "Queen Elizabeth I" - still a bit obsessed about that period.
9:45 AM - Train platform not yet posted. Ok, so maybe still too early.
10:00 AM - Getting a little nervous as train platform still not posted! Decided to ask Eurostar information booth dude. I said "Good morning!" and he started to sing "Good morning.... good morning... la la la la la". Hmm. I showed him our ticket, and he said "Yiesssss, train 9416 to Firenze SMN... it's on your right."
"Grazie mille!" was my response.
10:03 AM - Wait... what? Which right? His right or mine???? I still don't see the platform number posted. Getting a bit freaked out. Decided to go ask Eurostar dude again.
10:10 AM - Gah!!! Lineup hell!!!!
10:15 AM - My mind is racing. I know that my ticket allowed changes (just didn't know how many changes). Thankful that I didn't purchase the MINI fares because the tickets would have been totally worthless if we missed the train. My brain is going into overdrive Plan B mode. I should go up to the Customer Service kiosk to find out what's going on.... Apparently train schedules are not very reliable, why why why....
Wait! I said to Greggy - that British voice on the PA is announcing the Florence SMN train on platform 10. What the hell? Why didn't they post it?
"Greggy let's go I think it's platform 10".
I looked at the Departures board again, platform 10 is going to Venezo! While I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go to Venice, I was pretty sure the tickets I got were for Florence.
I went up to a Trenitalia CSR chick. She didn't seem interested in helping us. But I got assertive (bitchy) and asked her if the Florence train is on platform 10.
"Yiess eeet eez."
"But it says Venezo?"
"Yiess, Venezo eez theee lassst stup."
"Ok, grazie."
10:20 AM - Got to platform 10, showed our ticket to the conductor, and he said "Yiesssss theese eez your carozza."
Breathed a sigh of relief.
After we found our seats, I figured out that what we should have done is use the Train number (in our case, 9416) instead of the destination name as there are stops along the way to our destination (duh!).
I learned. I am now an expert in the art of traveling by train.
10:25 AM - So excited!!! I've always wanted to take a train trip, but never had opportunity until now. My first experience turned out to be a great one.
The Frecciargento and Frecciarossa trains are the fastest train out of all available trains. You can take the slower trains for less price, but I wanted my first time to be in the fastest train in first class. It was quite reasonable, EUR 274 for return tickets for 2 adults. So just under $350 CAD. Not bad at all.
I took a lot of pictures, walked in between cars, checked out the WCs (bathrooms), went to the Food car, had some wine, etc. Feeling very Italian and posh.
There was a Filipino family of 4 traveling on same train and seated right in front of us.... I smiled at the adult male as he reminded me of my dad.
By the way, there are TONS of Filipinos in Italy! I don't understand why and didn't expect it at all. I remember seeing (and hearing) Filipinos all over the place. There was even a chick working in the Musei Vaticano cafeteria, speaking perfect Italian. So weird.
I just Googled "Filipinos in Italy" and holy cow! Filipinos are the 4th largest immigrants in Italy. I didn't know that at all! I just learned something totally new today and I'm just gobsmacked!
Ok, back to my Firenze story.
So got off the train, bought a Firenze map and looked for our posh hotel L'Orologio. It's a clock-themed hotel and is a 7 minute walk from the train station, which is the number one reason why I booked it in the first place. Convenient. Luxurious.
Checked in, room not yet ready but no sweat. Left our luggage with Reception and wandered around.
I am totally flabbergasted by everything I've seen so far in Rome, but boy oh boy the Duomo is really breathtaking.
Florence is well-known for being the hometown of the Medicis: aristocrats, royals, patrons of art (Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Tiziano, Caravaggio, Boticelli, etc.). I must do more research on them because they are a fascinating bunch. I am not entirely sure where their wealth comes from, but my basic research tells me that they were pioneers of "medicine", which is obviously derived from their name "di Medici".
Florence has a different feel from Rome. It's a more cleaned-up, luxurious version of Roma, graced with spectacular architecture, marble statues galore, high-end shops, the Ponte Vecchio and Tuscan sun.
Found a place near the Duomo and had lunch. We ordered the mixed meat for our antipasti, followed by Eggplant parmigiana and Macaroni (it's not what you think) in pomodoro and spicy sausage sauce.
Delish!!! Brava!
The best meat we've had so far is called "Finnochio cuore" and I think that means the meat was cured using fennel. It was too good. We pondered buying one vaccuum sealed and bringing it home with us, but I don't think Canada Customs will like that too much. I must find it in Toronto.
Meanwhile, our food was perfect. We were full, but not like we want to kill ourselves full.
Went back to hotel and got our room key.
HOLY COW!!!!!!!
The receptionist must have taken a liking to us because what we got was a 2-story, 1 bedroom with office loft, 900 sq ft suite complete with all marble bathroom and a 100 sq ft balcony with views of the Duomo!
Happy happy dance dance whirl whirl glee glee!
This shows you that your best chance of getting an upgrade is to be as nice to the hotel staff as possible. The duplex cost double than my confirmed rate for a double superior room and I swear either we are really lucky or the receptionist was charmed by us... probably a bit of both.
Walked around quite a bit. We covered:
- The Acaddemia (didn't go in. David by Michaelangelo is in there but lineup galore and I don't do lineups).
- Ufizzi
- Gucci Museo (loved it)
- Plaza de la Republicca
- Ponte Vecchio
Greggy was starting to get tired and cranky but I still wanted to walk around.... I told him I'll walk him back to the hotel and then I'll go wander around by myself... but when we got back to the duplex I was also tired and took the opportunity to rest before dinner.
After a bit of rest and some wine plus prosecco out on the rooftop patio, we headed out in search of Di Garga restaurant but found Buco Mario first. No reservations but we got a table. Had the best frito fiore zucco con funghi (fried zucchini flowers and mushrooms). For mains Greggy got the salmon and I ordered the Steak Florentine.
The steak was HUGE.
It was good, but couldn't finish it. It was the size of my thigh.
Feeling full, but not overly full, we went back to our hotel where I took the best shower ever in the all-marble all the time lovely bathroom.
Slept.
Woke up at 6:00 AM the next day and had the gratis breakfast first, then schlepped around a bit more. Crossed the Ponte Vecchio over to the other side and went into Palazzo Piti museo.
I can't even imagine life back then. This palace used to be the palace of the Medici family and it is massive, the size of Titanic, with apartments trimmed in gold, marble, etc laced with all the Renaissance art that you can imagine.
What would it be like? I am so obsessed with that period.
Time to catch the 1:40 PM train back to Roma. A bit sad to be leaving so soon. I wish I planned for 2 days instead.
But no complaints, I will likely be back. Firenze will be my stop when I come back to Italy to see Sicily, Amalfi, Naples, Venice and Lake Cuomo region.
Arriverderci Firenze!!!
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
19 Days of Freedom: Day 7 - Testaccio, Colosseo and the Roman Subway System
Today we slept in until 8 am - slackers!!! But it's been a crazy few days of death walking and marathon sight seeing, so I felt super justified.
Last night, Greggy and I picked a random place for a light dinner... two feet away from our apartment door entrance was a Chinese joint. I have no idea what the name of the place is (I have to find out), but all I remember is that the menu was entitled "Cinese Menu". You don't have to be a master linguist to know that that means "Chinese Menu."
It was a very surreal experience. The owners and the servers were visibly Chinese, and the weirdest thing is that they are only able to speak Italian and Mandarin (or Cantonese). So they interacted with us all night with their very authentic Italian accents. Here I am trying my best with my basic Italian to keep up.
Every time they gave us something I would say "Grazie" (pronounced "gra-tzee-ah") and they would come back with "Prego", always Prego. Prego feels like an abused word here. It technically means "You're welcome" but I hear it used often and not always in an situations were "You're welcome" is warranted.
Example, Greggy and I were in the elevator going up to the Spanish Steps. When we got to our floor, I waited to let the guy go out first, but then he also paused and smiled at me and said "Prego!" with a gesture to go first.
Of course I came back with a "Grazie!!!"
The other instance is when we were being ushered to our table at a restaurant, our server kept saying Prego. But with different meanings I think, based on their intonation.
Prego??? - "is that ok"
Prego? - "are you ready"
Prego - "ok"
Prego! - "go ahead"
Prego!!! - "you're welcome"
I digress. Back to the Chinese restaurant then... we ordered 4 dishes. We were afraid that it was going to be much too much, based on the portions we typically get from Congee Star back in Toronto. I assured Greggy that we can use the left overs for next day's breakfast, etc and that nothing would go to waste.
We need not worry after all because they were the SMALLEST PORTIONS EVER! It was quite literally a serving and a half each, tops. It was fine for last night since we had a big lunch, but I laughed because I thought about how my mom and T would be so shocked at how little the portions were. I can't help but smile now because I can totally see their shocked faces. I wish T would have come with us, but you know, things happen for a reason.
So today we walked to Testaccio, a working class neighborhood. This is the "real" Rome compared to the tourist kitsch over on the other side of the Tiber. We walked past apartments, shops, a small pyramid (commissioned by some crazy emperor to show off how Rome conquered Egypt back then).
After that, we got out our handy dandy Roma Pass (3 sights plus unlimited transportation for 3 days) and braved the subway system.
It was super easy to navigate! Not like New York, or any other big city subway systems. The Metro ("M") only has two lines and they both converge at Termini, which is like the Yonge and Bloor of Rome.
We took the M to the Colosseum and walked around there for a bit. Of course the first thing we saw were the giant massive lines to get in. But they must not be smart like I am because the Roma Pass let us bypass the lines like Rock Stars and we were in the actual Colosseum within 3 minutes of arriving.
Hordes of stupid tourists in line were gawking at us as we confidently strolled past all of them and straight to the entrance gate.
I wonder why people don't do their research before travelling? My favourite part of any travel escapades (other than getting to the destination) is the research part. I spend hours and hours trying to figure out how we can have the best, most authentic, most cost and time efficient experience. Why spend hours in lineups? Why eat at shitty expensive restaurants with "Menu Turista"? Why stay in a hotel when you can rent an apartment from a local and experience your destination like only a local would?
Doesn't make any sense. Oh well. Greggy said that I should plan vacations for people... he's happy with my service, being the beneficiary of all the research that I do. We always have great, authentic experiences.
After the Colosseum, we went to the Palatine Hill, where we saw the ruins of the Roman Forum, Arc of Constantine and various Palazzos (palaces).
The sun was on and I was getting a wee bit tired, so we decided to take the M again to the Spanish Steps.
The Spanish Steps was ok, there is nothing really remarkable about it other than it's pretty and it's a lot of steps. I do remember a scene from "The Talented Mr. Ripley" when Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett were walking down the steps... that was pretty cool.
Heading down on Via del Corso, we passed by all the luxury shops - Fendi, Gucci, Dolce and Gabanna, Burberry, etc., all fancy and nothing I can afford (or would waste money on). I am not a brand whore like others.
We stopped to have lunch at this place called "Ginger", and I swear they had the slowest service ever. But that's ok, because when in Rome....
By this time, the last 3 days were really catching up to me (meaning I am getting super tired and our feet were raw). So we decided to walk back to our apartment (after a couple of failed attempts at waiting for a bus that goes to Trastevere).
But before the apartment, we stopped at Billa, the grocery store near our square and conveniently located in the basement of the department store Oviesse. We picked up some wine, a whole roasted chicken, and chicken wings.
I don't think I mentioned this yet, but on our first day in Rome, we also went to Billa to stock up on groceries for the week. Remember this is after an 8 hour flight from Toronto and with almost no sleep at all. Anyway we stocked up, lugged our groceries to the apartment, only to discover we left the 2 roasted chickens and 10 pack of chicken wings we were going to have for dinner.
Prego!!!!
Tomorrow: Eurostar train in first class to Florence!
Last night, Greggy and I picked a random place for a light dinner... two feet away from our apartment door entrance was a Chinese joint. I have no idea what the name of the place is (I have to find out), but all I remember is that the menu was entitled "Cinese Menu". You don't have to be a master linguist to know that that means "Chinese Menu."
It was a very surreal experience. The owners and the servers were visibly Chinese, and the weirdest thing is that they are only able to speak Italian and Mandarin (or Cantonese). So they interacted with us all night with their very authentic Italian accents. Here I am trying my best with my basic Italian to keep up.
Every time they gave us something I would say "Grazie" (pronounced "gra-tzee-ah") and they would come back with "Prego", always Prego. Prego feels like an abused word here. It technically means "You're welcome" but I hear it used often and not always in an situations were "You're welcome" is warranted.
Example, Greggy and I were in the elevator going up to the Spanish Steps. When we got to our floor, I waited to let the guy go out first, but then he also paused and smiled at me and said "Prego!" with a gesture to go first.
Of course I came back with a "Grazie!!!"
The other instance is when we were being ushered to our table at a restaurant, our server kept saying Prego. But with different meanings I think, based on their intonation.
Prego??? - "is that ok"
Prego? - "are you ready"
Prego - "ok"
Prego! - "go ahead"
Prego!!! - "you're welcome"
I digress. Back to the Chinese restaurant then... we ordered 4 dishes. We were afraid that it was going to be much too much, based on the portions we typically get from Congee Star back in Toronto. I assured Greggy that we can use the left overs for next day's breakfast, etc and that nothing would go to waste.
We need not worry after all because they were the SMALLEST PORTIONS EVER! It was quite literally a serving and a half each, tops. It was fine for last night since we had a big lunch, but I laughed because I thought about how my mom and T would be so shocked at how little the portions were. I can't help but smile now because I can totally see their shocked faces. I wish T would have come with us, but you know, things happen for a reason.
So today we walked to Testaccio, a working class neighborhood. This is the "real" Rome compared to the tourist kitsch over on the other side of the Tiber. We walked past apartments, shops, a small pyramid (commissioned by some crazy emperor to show off how Rome conquered Egypt back then).
After that, we got out our handy dandy Roma Pass (3 sights plus unlimited transportation for 3 days) and braved the subway system.
It was super easy to navigate! Not like New York, or any other big city subway systems. The Metro ("M") only has two lines and they both converge at Termini, which is like the Yonge and Bloor of Rome.
We took the M to the Colosseum and walked around there for a bit. Of course the first thing we saw were the giant massive lines to get in. But they must not be smart like I am because the Roma Pass let us bypass the lines like Rock Stars and we were in the actual Colosseum within 3 minutes of arriving.
Hordes of stupid tourists in line were gawking at us as we confidently strolled past all of them and straight to the entrance gate.
I wonder why people don't do their research before travelling? My favourite part of any travel escapades (other than getting to the destination) is the research part. I spend hours and hours trying to figure out how we can have the best, most authentic, most cost and time efficient experience. Why spend hours in lineups? Why eat at shitty expensive restaurants with "Menu Turista"? Why stay in a hotel when you can rent an apartment from a local and experience your destination like only a local would?
Doesn't make any sense. Oh well. Greggy said that I should plan vacations for people... he's happy with my service, being the beneficiary of all the research that I do. We always have great, authentic experiences.
After the Colosseum, we went to the Palatine Hill, where we saw the ruins of the Roman Forum, Arc of Constantine and various Palazzos (palaces).
The sun was on and I was getting a wee bit tired, so we decided to take the M again to the Spanish Steps.
The Spanish Steps was ok, there is nothing really remarkable about it other than it's pretty and it's a lot of steps. I do remember a scene from "The Talented Mr. Ripley" when Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett were walking down the steps... that was pretty cool.
Heading down on Via del Corso, we passed by all the luxury shops - Fendi, Gucci, Dolce and Gabanna, Burberry, etc., all fancy and nothing I can afford (or would waste money on). I am not a brand whore like others.
We stopped to have lunch at this place called "Ginger", and I swear they had the slowest service ever. But that's ok, because when in Rome....
By this time, the last 3 days were really catching up to me (meaning I am getting super tired and our feet were raw). So we decided to walk back to our apartment (after a couple of failed attempts at waiting for a bus that goes to Trastevere).
But before the apartment, we stopped at Billa, the grocery store near our square and conveniently located in the basement of the department store Oviesse. We picked up some wine, a whole roasted chicken, and chicken wings.
I don't think I mentioned this yet, but on our first day in Rome, we also went to Billa to stock up on groceries for the week. Remember this is after an 8 hour flight from Toronto and with almost no sleep at all. Anyway we stocked up, lugged our groceries to the apartment, only to discover we left the 2 roasted chickens and 10 pack of chicken wings we were going to have for dinner.
Prego!!!!
Tomorrow: Eurostar train in first class to Florence!
Monday, June 4, 2012
19 Days of Freedom: Day 6 - Vatican City
Sweet mother of god we've been out since 7:30 this morning and we're exhausted.
I just got up from a short noisy nap... being right smack down in Piazza Santa Maria is a never ending sensory overload of church bells, tourist and locals, dogs, village band, birds and fountain trickling. I didn't put in my earplugs because I don't want to fall into a deep sleep else I will be unable to sleep tonight and I wouldn't want that. No sirree.
Greggy is dead in the bedroom and I had to wake him up because he won't sleep tonight if I let him more than have a few minutes rest. The other night - Saturday June 1? - it was a Roman holiday (Republic day) and Greggy was up until 2:30 or 3 am because the peeps outside won't stop partying.... babies and all.
So today we braved taking the tram and the bus from Trastevere to Vatican City. We took the No. 8 to Largo Argentina and stopped a few stops early - no thanks to a Fodor's post. Wandered our way towards what looks like a main intersection, stopped a woman with "Scusi, parla inglese?" and she said in a very Italian way "ohnleee a leeeeetle" and I said, "Bus to Piazza San Pietro?" to which she replied "Ah, si, take nombherrr seexty fourrr".
Thankful for the advise, we moved towards the bus stop and we paused for a moment... because there were tons of cats at this one excavation site! Cats and excavation site in the middle of a busy road. Only in Italia. So we talked to the cats a bit (missing our Peppy :o( and left them there to sleep and stare at others.
By the way Fodor's forum people, it's Bus 64 from Largo Argentina, instead of 40.
Feeling smug, we got off at Pza San Pietro and walked to the wonderful big huge St. Peter's Square. Took a few pics, beelined our way to the Musei Vaticani entrance, which is outside of the Vatican City wall.
Feeling more and more smug, we walked passed the thousands of people who lined up to buy tickets. Of course I had purchased skip the line tickets before leaving Toronto and just breezed right in through the Musei guards, security check and turnstile.
Inside, with THOUSANDS of other tourists, we bypassed all the art first and went straight to the Sistine Chapel, which was my strategy. The Chapela Sistena is at the end of the Musei Vaticani and my plan was to go to the Sistine first, then make our way back admiring all the crazy Pope collection of art dating back from 2000 BC to the Renaissance period to Modern Day.
The Sistine Chapel was dark and full of people, with Vaticani guards yelling "ssssshhhhhhhhhh" to everyone since technically it is a church. No cameras and no picture taking are allowed inside. But that didn't stop me from taking a really good shot of the Creation of Adam.
Then a Vatican guard came to tell me that I can't take pictures.
"Oh, okay... sorry!" I mumbled. Little did they know that I set my super cool Canon Elph camera to mute and no flash so I can take pictures as if I am 007.
It's a high resolution image so I'm sure I can now use the image to make Sistine Chapel swag.
Following the Chapel escapade, we took our time to view all of the Musei Vaticani treasures.... entire Museum used to be Pope's apartments and it's all marble and art and carpet and Room of Maps and statues galore mixed with sarcophagi and Egyptian relics mashed up with Van Goghs, Matisse and the like.
I wanted to visit Saint Peter's Basilica afterwards, but there were BIG HUGE line ups and Greggy and I decided that we can make our way back in a couple of days, first thing in the morning, sans line up. I also want to pick up some Vatican stamps (you can't use these outside the Vatican so it's for pure collection's sake) and mail myself a postcard from the Vatican from my self in the past.
You know I'm tired/exhausted when I make silly jokes like the one I just did.
But I am serious about getting the Vatican stamps.
Anyway, Greggy decided he was going to be in charge of our "shortcut back to St. Peter's Square" by going the opposite way of where we came from. I didn't agree with his plan but decided to go along with him because I am trying not to be the super boss of the trip.
Of course, we ended up scaling the entire wall of Vatican City... what could have taken us 20 minutes ended up being a 45 minute extravaganza of hills, walls and oncoming traffic. I held my tongue, saying "I told you so" will ruin the "I told you so" silent moment.... I was amused, not angry or annoyed, saw him sweat through the whole thing waiting for me to say something. But I'm Hannibal remember? He is the one who ate crow first... ha ha ha.
Fumbling our way back, we took the No. 64 again and decided to go to Termini station where we had to purchase our Rome-Florence-Rome first class train tickets for this Wednesday.
Termini Station is like New York's Grand Central station only with better food and some sweet talking gypsies. I was having a hard time with the ticket kiosk and one of the scammers said to us "where are you going? Florence? Let me help you, only if you want." Greg answered him "Yes we are" and I literally had to tell him "don't talk to the guy Greggy, will you just please block the screen so no one can look over my shoulder as I build our itinerary and punch in my credit card pin number??"
I saved Greggy's life again. He cannot travel without me. He would be all lost and kidnapped by Gypsies and will end up in Turkey instead of Florence.
So we got our tickets, ate lunch at Ciao, then bussed and trammed our way back to Trastevere.
Tomorrow: Colosseo, Spanish Steps, Santa Maria Popollo, and a stylish walk at Via Del Corso.
I just got up from a short noisy nap... being right smack down in Piazza Santa Maria is a never ending sensory overload of church bells, tourist and locals, dogs, village band, birds and fountain trickling. I didn't put in my earplugs because I don't want to fall into a deep sleep else I will be unable to sleep tonight and I wouldn't want that. No sirree.
Greggy is dead in the bedroom and I had to wake him up because he won't sleep tonight if I let him more than have a few minutes rest. The other night - Saturday June 1? - it was a Roman holiday (Republic day) and Greggy was up until 2:30 or 3 am because the peeps outside won't stop partying.... babies and all.
So today we braved taking the tram and the bus from Trastevere to Vatican City. We took the No. 8 to Largo Argentina and stopped a few stops early - no thanks to a Fodor's post. Wandered our way towards what looks like a main intersection, stopped a woman with "Scusi, parla inglese?" and she said in a very Italian way "ohnleee a leeeeetle" and I said, "Bus to Piazza San Pietro?" to which she replied "Ah, si, take nombherrr seexty fourrr".
Thankful for the advise, we moved towards the bus stop and we paused for a moment... because there were tons of cats at this one excavation site! Cats and excavation site in the middle of a busy road. Only in Italia. So we talked to the cats a bit (missing our Peppy :o( and left them there to sleep and stare at others.
By the way Fodor's forum people, it's Bus 64 from Largo Argentina, instead of 40.
Feeling smug, we got off at Pza San Pietro and walked to the wonderful big huge St. Peter's Square. Took a few pics, beelined our way to the Musei Vaticani entrance, which is outside of the Vatican City wall.
Feeling more and more smug, we walked passed the thousands of people who lined up to buy tickets. Of course I had purchased skip the line tickets before leaving Toronto and just breezed right in through the Musei guards, security check and turnstile.
Inside, with THOUSANDS of other tourists, we bypassed all the art first and went straight to the Sistine Chapel, which was my strategy. The Chapela Sistena is at the end of the Musei Vaticani and my plan was to go to the Sistine first, then make our way back admiring all the crazy Pope collection of art dating back from 2000 BC to the Renaissance period to Modern Day.
The Sistine Chapel was dark and full of people, with Vaticani guards yelling "ssssshhhhhhhhhh" to everyone since technically it is a church. No cameras and no picture taking are allowed inside. But that didn't stop me from taking a really good shot of the Creation of Adam.
Then a Vatican guard came to tell me that I can't take pictures.
"Oh, okay... sorry!" I mumbled. Little did they know that I set my super cool Canon Elph camera to mute and no flash so I can take pictures as if I am 007.
It's a high resolution image so I'm sure I can now use the image to make Sistine Chapel swag.
Following the Chapel escapade, we took our time to view all of the Musei Vaticani treasures.... entire Museum used to be Pope's apartments and it's all marble and art and carpet and Room of Maps and statues galore mixed with sarcophagi and Egyptian relics mashed up with Van Goghs, Matisse and the like.
I wanted to visit Saint Peter's Basilica afterwards, but there were BIG HUGE line ups and Greggy and I decided that we can make our way back in a couple of days, first thing in the morning, sans line up. I also want to pick up some Vatican stamps (you can't use these outside the Vatican so it's for pure collection's sake) and mail myself a postcard from the Vatican from my self in the past.
You know I'm tired/exhausted when I make silly jokes like the one I just did.
But I am serious about getting the Vatican stamps.
Anyway, Greggy decided he was going to be in charge of our "shortcut back to St. Peter's Square" by going the opposite way of where we came from. I didn't agree with his plan but decided to go along with him because I am trying not to be the super boss of the trip.
Of course, we ended up scaling the entire wall of Vatican City... what could have taken us 20 minutes ended up being a 45 minute extravaganza of hills, walls and oncoming traffic. I held my tongue, saying "I told you so" will ruin the "I told you so" silent moment.... I was amused, not angry or annoyed, saw him sweat through the whole thing waiting for me to say something. But I'm Hannibal remember? He is the one who ate crow first... ha ha ha.
Fumbling our way back, we took the No. 64 again and decided to go to Termini station where we had to purchase our Rome-Florence-Rome first class train tickets for this Wednesday.
Termini Station is like New York's Grand Central station only with better food and some sweet talking gypsies. I was having a hard time with the ticket kiosk and one of the scammers said to us "where are you going? Florence? Let me help you, only if you want." Greg answered him "Yes we are" and I literally had to tell him "don't talk to the guy Greggy, will you just please block the screen so no one can look over my shoulder as I build our itinerary and punch in my credit card pin number??"
I saved Greggy's life again. He cannot travel without me. He would be all lost and kidnapped by Gypsies and will end up in Turkey instead of Florence.
So we got our tickets, ate lunch at Ciao, then bussed and trammed our way back to Trastevere.
Tomorrow: Colosseo, Spanish Steps, Santa Maria Popollo, and a stylish walk at Via Del Corso.
19 Days of Freedom - Days 2 to 5 from Trastevere, Rome
I am writing this post from our vacation apartment in Piazza Santa Maria, Trastevere.
Sunday, June 2
The church bell just rang twice, with two small baby bells following. It means it's 2:30 PM now. Greggy is sitting by the big window overlooking the square, with a glass of wine, watching the tourists and locals go on about their day.
See, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.... we were up very early this morning and found our way to Porta Portese market, the largest flea market in Europe. It's only held on Sundays and only from 7 am to 2 pm.
What a BIG HUGE market! It's a great place to spend a lazy Sunday browsing through endless aisles of goods.... listening to all the vendors shout in Italiano. I had to have my wits about me because all the crazy tourist reviews are saying this place is pickpocket heaven. Of course probably grossly exaggerated, we had no issues at all.
After a good 1.5 hours of wandering around and haggling with vendors who proudly say their items are "not from China... from Bangladesh!" we found a food truck selling various goodies. No hotdogs or burgers here... only the best porchetta and salumi sandwiches in rustic, crusty breads. We bought two sandwiches, a diet coke and a beer. A beer! Toronto can learn a thing or two about the food truck business in Italy.
Satisfied, we walked back to our apartment for an afternoon siesta.
Feeling refreshed after a few hours of rest, we headed out again at 3 pm. I planned a walk through the heart of Rome with my handy dandy street map. 4 hours of walking and we were able to cover:
- Campo de Fiori
- Piazza Navona
- Pantheon
- Palazzo San Ignazio
- Fontana di Trevi
- Piazza d'Arocoeli
Our hands down favourite was the Pantheon. Before we got there, we were just in awe, admiring the architecture, the tiny winding streets, a bit annoyed by the hordes of tourist, turned a corner and then... holy shit. Can't even describe the Pantheon. Truly didn't know what to say. It was like travelling back in time. The ancient Romans had so much more fun than we do now. I can totally imagine people back then saying "Hey, where are we going tonight? I'm so over the Fontana di Trevi, let's just hang out at the Pantheon instead!"
Beautiful, breathtaking. What kind of geniuses were they to be able to build such a place, with no modern tools... the thousands of slaves may have something to do with it.
Sunday, June 2
The church bell just rang twice, with two small baby bells following. It means it's 2:30 PM now. Greggy is sitting by the big window overlooking the square, with a glass of wine, watching the tourists and locals go on about their day.
See, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.... we were up very early this morning and found our way to Porta Portese market, the largest flea market in Europe. It's only held on Sundays and only from 7 am to 2 pm.
What a BIG HUGE market! It's a great place to spend a lazy Sunday browsing through endless aisles of goods.... listening to all the vendors shout in Italiano. I had to have my wits about me because all the crazy tourist reviews are saying this place is pickpocket heaven. Of course probably grossly exaggerated, we had no issues at all.
After a good 1.5 hours of wandering around and haggling with vendors who proudly say their items are "not from China... from Bangladesh!" we found a food truck selling various goodies. No hotdogs or burgers here... only the best porchetta and salumi sandwiches in rustic, crusty breads. We bought two sandwiches, a diet coke and a beer. A beer! Toronto can learn a thing or two about the food truck business in Italy.
Satisfied, we walked back to our apartment for an afternoon siesta.
Feeling refreshed after a few hours of rest, we headed out again at 3 pm. I planned a walk through the heart of Rome with my handy dandy street map. 4 hours of walking and we were able to cover:
- Campo de Fiori
- Piazza Navona
- Pantheon
- Palazzo San Ignazio
- Fontana di Trevi
- Piazza d'Arocoeli
Our hands down favourite was the Pantheon. Before we got there, we were just in awe, admiring the architecture, the tiny winding streets, a bit annoyed by the hordes of tourist, turned a corner and then... holy shit. Can't even describe the Pantheon. Truly didn't know what to say. It was like travelling back in time. The ancient Romans had so much more fun than we do now. I can totally imagine people back then saying "Hey, where are we going tonight? I'm so over the Fontana di Trevi, let's just hang out at the Pantheon instead!"
Beautiful, breathtaking. What kind of geniuses were they to be able to build such a place, with no modern tools... the thousands of slaves may have something to do with it.
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