schnauzer

Hi Cosmo and Scarlett,

The apartment was 67 rue de la Bourdonnais, the "Pinot" apartment from Paris Perfect.In the 7th district. It was much quieter than the 6th, but after a hard day sightseeing I liked the calmer area. Yes we really like it. The bedroom was a bit smaller than appeared on the web but, it was big enough, the window opened onto a central courtyard, which was fine expect when the resident baby was crying through the night! (Somewhere in the block of units) We had trouble with the dishwasher, firstly it flooded, but they were very quick to fix that problem, however some wires then came loose and everytime we touched inside we got quite a severe electric shock - not so good. It took them a couple of attempts to fix that, it wasn't a huge problem as were weren't using that much crockery etc, but glad we didn't have small children as it could have been fatal.

Loved the owners of Le Petit Troquet, she was a sweetie and he came out of the kitchen a few times to check the scene, as it were. Can't repeat enough how good the pork and lemon confit was.
Cosmo, you are right about the time change, it is a bit of a bummer eh?

We met up with some people who lived by the Bastille area/Marais and they said it was very convenient for public transport. Don't know if this helps any.

Agree this fodors site is worth its weight etc etc, addictive though. If any one in OZ needs some train tickets from or from Fumicino airport to Terminii, then I have two available, we didn't use them. They are OK until you validate them. They are worth 19E, just let me know and I can send them on if you send me a self addressed envelope.

Might post some more tomorrow morning and see if some of the US fodorites are awake!

LindyE

Schnauzer,

Great report!

We haven't been to Paris yet but I'm printing your report so I can put in my "One of these days - Paris" file.

I've just started planning a trip to the Italian Lake region which will be in April or May. I've been doing a bit of research and am finding it tough to decide which area to call home base. Since you mentioned at the beginning of your report you wish you had stayed longer in this area I'm considering adding a couple of days extra here.

Yes - Rome is crowded ... but gosh - it is Rome! We loved it.
You are right about the Pantheon - a great place for some relective moments.

Looking forward to the rest of your thoughts on Rome!

It sounds like you had a wonderful trip.

Happy 20th Anniversary!!

For our 20th (in March 2008) we're planning on Australia. Really looking forward to seeing your country!

Again - loving you report!
Thanks for sharing.

Simone1

Schnauzer – Thank you for a great report. I really enjoyed it.

I was reading another trip report where they also lost their pictures.

Apparently there are a few threads that talk about recovering lost pictures. You might want to check it out.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34537989

I hope it helps.

schnauzer

Thanks for the tip Simone, it is funny the card itself was a 128mg memory, and it only took 63 photos (yes I did high resolution) but even so. I took all the cards straight into a photo speciality shop when I got home to burn the images off immediately onto a CD before I started mucking about with them on the computer, doing further damage!! They said that memory card had a whole heap of gobledy gook on it, so there is something there. I will look at your suggested thread and see if I can get something from it.

Looking forward to seeing you in Oz Lindy! Any questions just ask. (oops not on this section, I guess)

To continue with my report:
Day 16:
Woke up at 8.20am keep thinking it is earlier because of the shutters keeping out the light. Oh, well, on holidays now. Too late for the early photo opportunity for the Trevi but went to the Pantheon instead, took photos with no one around, (expect of course for the fellow selling the junk out the front, does he every go away?) DH is actually first into the Pantheon as they open.

Had breakie and then headed off to Santa Maria sopra Minerva church for a look see. A huge and very beautiful church,fab ceilings etc. Well worth a visit, we are not "into" churches in a major way, but wanted to see a few at least, put this one on your list if you are wanting to see one of the most beautiful.

Had designated today a shopping day followed by a visit to the Gallery Borghese (previously booked for 5.00pm) As I said before I had researched some speciality shops and had a very frustrating time trying to find them. Even more disastrous Bruno Magli was not where they were meant to be!! Ask in another shop and was told they were on the via Veneto. Later found them quite easily on the via Condotti. hmm. Tried a few pairs on but nothing 100%, I do have strange feet anyway, very narrow and sensitive (aaah poor baby) so shoes are always hard to find. Found a pair of gorgeous black suede and black patent medium heel evening shoes in Ferragamo so feel chuffed at this.

Decided to have a long lunch today rather than a big dinner. Found a restaurant just off Condotti, thought it may be a bit "touristy" so close to the action but it was really good, with lots of locals as well. It was called Ristorante "AL34", via Mario de Fiori 34. I had the house ravioli with pine nuts which was excellent DH had the fresh anchovies to start and the lobster linguine to follow, complete with half a lobster still in its shell. Very good though, I had the squid with bacon and basil and nuts, very tasty, the squid was microscopic but I could taste it was there. Huge serves and I could only struggle to eat half. They had given us a small bowl of chick pea soup as a complimentry starter so I was really full.

Walked back to via Sistina to La Dolce Vita shoe shop, near via Crispi. Really special shoes, I found a lot of the shoes very same same in the other shops, these weren't outrageous, cos that's not me, but very elegant and beautiful. Found a lovely pair of black and white herringbone shoes, patent toes with little gold tips! Sound ghastly as I type, but they really were great. Will look good with all the black and white stuff I got in Paris. They were the last pair and he offered me the matching handbag at the special price! Asked how special the price was and got it half price! Can't do better than that. From 285E to 140E. A bargin!! well sort of. Asked if they were open on Sunday as we were now needing to rush to get to the Villa Borghese for the ticket pick up time. He said yes, will be back I say.

Hot footed it to the Villa and picked up tickets, don't know how urgent it actually was to be there dead on 1/2 hour beforehand, they didn't seem too fussed, I am sure we could have left it a little later.

Really enjoyed the Gallery, the sculpture was superb. The famous Canova's Paolina Borghese was amazing, the marble mattress she was sitting on looked so soft and squishy. How did they do that out of marble? Probably enjoyed the sculpture much more than the paintings. Room after room of religious paintings tend to wear after a while. They said we were only allowed 1/2 hr. to look at the paintings, no-one timed you going in or out so we took as long as we needed.
Would recommend a visit here, definately.

A slow wander back through the park this time and walked down the via Veneto, just big hotels and designer shops again, very busy road. Glad we didn't stay here, it was very ho hum.
Sore feet again as it was a fair walk back to the Pantheon area. Probably the longest walk we did.

Decided we would just have a pizza slice and gelato for dinner after the big lunch that I didn't even finish. Went out fairly late to look for pizza slice place, looked everywhere expect about three doors down, couldn't find anything, all restaurants, we couldn't face another sit down meal at this stage. Just bought huge gelato at the Cremeria and then of course found the pizza slice place on the same side as the hotel - too late.

Day 17:
Got up earlyish and walked to the Trevi fountain to do the quiet photo shot. Sure enough hardly anyone there, this was about 8.00am. Back for breakie.

Vatican day today. Was going to take the bus to save the feet a bit, but the only bus ticket place had run out of tickets - great. What a dumb system. Wandered slowly there. Got there about 11.30 and found a huge queue waiting to go in to St. Pauls. Yikes, very hot day and didn't fancy standing in the hot sun for ages. Decided we would walk to the Vatican museum which you had to pay for and see if the queue was less than the free entry one into St. Pauls. Yup, no queue, headed on in. Now some friends had given me a tip about getting back from the musuem to St. Pauls without going the long way back, cos it is quite a walk to and from. I of course had half listened thinking it would be obvious when I was there, well it wasn't and we ended having to walk the long way back round again. So if you are wanting to save some shoe leather here is my suggestion. Go to the museum first, go first to the Pinacoteca , because the quick exit is from the Sistine Chapel itself. Once you leave the sistine chapel you cannot get back to the quick exit. Once you finish in the Pinacoteca follow the signs to the chapel, you get to see everything along the way anyway, there is no quick route to the chapel. The map gallery is fascinating and I loved the Raphael rooms. At the back of the chapel there is an exit that says "authorised tour groups only", the staff at the museum said (afterwards) we should have taken this exit. So don;t worry about the tour groups bit just head on out. This apparently leads to the back of St. Pauls where you just make your way around to the entrance of St. Pauls without joining any more queues. I wished I had listened more closely!! It would have been a good tip. Just watch the order in which you see things.

Anyway by the time we had made it back to St. Pauls the queues were almost non-existent so we just walked on in, this was about 2.30pm. It was huge inside and of course very beautiful.

Wanted to catch the bus up to the Gianicolo but yet again, absolutely no where to buy a ticket, found the bus stop but with no ticket you are stuck. Grrrr, getting tired and cranky now. Just wandered back to the hotel and consoled ourselves with huge gelato.

Had pot of tea downstairs in the Pantheon bar and then went to Myosotis for dinner, in guide book and also recommended by Salvatore at hotel. He failed to tell us it was a sea food restaurant, guide book just said it used really fresh food. The menu was extensive and everything sounded really good, however our meal didn't really live up to the hype. I had the buffalo cheese and tomatoes to start which was fine but had the Cabonara as main, it was swimming in oil, almost inedible. yuk. DH had the mussels which were fine and the roast lamb which was very ordinary , seemed to be a really cheap cut of meat. We shared a hazlenut parfait which was the best bit of the meal. Maybe the seafood choices may have been better? Wouldn't rush there again.

More later.

LoveItaly

Hello schnauzer, again I am so enjoying your trip report. Did want to make one comment though regarding your visit to the Vatican. It is St. Peter's not St. Paul's. Only commenting so any new traveller to Rome would not be confused.

I am sure looking forward to the next segment of your trip report. Again, it is a wonderful report, a very good read. Best wishes.

schnauzer

oops sorry, too much information flying around!! Back in London for a moment there with the St. Pauls.

LoveItaly

Hi schnauzer, a lot of wonderful Italian wine will do that to you, LOL. Again, love your report, more please!!

schnauzer

Thanks Loveitaly for your encouragement. I feel like this is starting to go "on a bit", but coming to the end nearly anyway.

Day 18:
Up fairly early, breakfast tables booked out so went for a few quiet moments inside the Pantheon while we were waiting.

Today is Forum day. Walked to the forum through the lovely Piazza del Campidoglio, they are setting something up for the nuit blanche roman style for tonight. My guide book had said there were english speaking tours at the Arco di Tito at 10.30am. Unfortunately the plan in the guidebook didn't have a reference point as to which end was which! Can't see anything at the first arch, lots of tour groups but no-one looking like they were looking for fresh blood. Ask a couple of groups, get blank looks. Walk on through to the other end of the forum, ask the very uninterested ticket booth lady (what tickets?) did she know of any tours? We had admitedly interrupted her reading her novel, so understandably she wasn't too keen to help. She points to the other arch (the one we had just come from) blow that we think. Keep wanting to say "A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum.." but nothing funny happening just annoying. Decide we will head to the Colosseo and see what luck that brings. We are approached by tour touts. We have been told of these people by the nice american couple we met at the hotel. Take a tour they say it is OK. Hand over our money and team up with next group heading out. Denni is our guide, she is funny and informative. We are told if we turn up at 3.00/3.30pm, (they keeping changing the time) that afternoon, the price includes a free tour of the forum. We paid 18E each, which included the price of entry with no waiting - a bonus and the tour and the tour of the forum. The tour at the colosseo was 3.5E anyway, so we figure if it all works out we should be doing OK. We enjoy the tour even though a bit of imagination is required, but what a place, you could almost hear the roar of the crowd. A bit upset when it comes to the stories about how many animals were killed. What a bloodthirsty lot they were. Be back at 3.00 Denni says and disappears.

Denni had mentioned a church with a Bernini sculpture in it but we missed the name and also the "first" cathedral in rome, also missed the name. Decide we will go and check these out as we have plenty of time for lunch before the forum tour. Ask two other tour guides did they know of these churches, blank looks, finally someone knows what we are talking about. The church with the "free" Bernini is San Pietro in Vinoli and the cathedral is San Clemente. Decide on the Bernini one and head on up. We arrive on the stoke of 12.30pm and ... the doors shut in our faces, literally. Blast, We pass a couple of restaurants on the way back down and this of course gives me the lunch idea. I had wanted to see the Aventino which was meant to have terrific views over Rome. We head off, surely there will be a restaurant on the way. Er no such luck, we can't believe it, just meters away from the Colosseo and there is absolutely nothing. A couple of these hot food vans which don't look particularly appetizing. We walk down via di san Gregorio which look big on the map, nothing, up the side of the Circo Massimo, nothing, hmm, thirsty and hungry and cheesed off. Start to do the nag bit to husband. Why can't we just stop for lunch, why do we have to keep walking, I'm hot and hungry, blah blah, so instead of heading left to the Aventino which is just a park with not much hope of a restaurant we head right, passed an old theatre and see some umbrellas in the distance. Don't care if it is good or bad we are eating. The restaurant turns out to be the Vecchia Roma. It was mentioned in my guide book, but hadn't really taken my fancy. Anyway, it looks lovely so in we pop. One look at the antipasto selection and we are sold. We will have a selection we say, how much? Oh depends on how much you eat. Sounds fair. We tuck in, stuffed calamari, roasted capsicums stuffed with kippers, octopus, zucchini, some prawns a couple of other bits and bobs and I see the deep fried artichokes. I had read so much about these on Fodors that I knew I had to have one... and one of those please. This would have to have been the taste sensation of the trip. Everything we ate was just magnificent. The plate was not overly full but just perfect for lunch. We congratulate ourselves on our selection. We only had a bottle of water to drink, the bread with the cover charge and the bill is 57E. Yikes quite a bit for a small plate of antipasto... but we decided it was worth every penny. (nearly!) In fact we were so impressed by the food we booked in for the following evening which was our last night in Rome and DH's birthday. via della Tribuna di Campitelli n. 18

Feeling more like a snooze than a tour of the forum we head back to the meeting point. We wait a bit, finally another couple from the previous tour turn up, we feel better. Eventually Denni turns up and tells us that Jay will be taking the tour. Sure enough he turns up. He is an american who nows does tours all the time. In fact he had taken a 4.5hr tour of the Vatican that morning and is wacked. A pleasant and passionate young man, we head off. He is very good and dates just keep flying from his lips, incredible knowledge. I don't know how you book these people because they didn't hand out any flyers or anything, we were lucky to find him. Completely saturated with Roman knowledge we head off back to the hotel for a zuzz.

We went to the Duo Colonnes, just up the side street from the hotel. It again had been recommended by some other folk at the hotel. It is raining this evening and suddenly the restaurant is full with people coming in to shelter and deciding to stay for dinner. We have one course only, the special which was veal in red wine sauce and mushrooms. It was very good, we finish with coffee and in the rain head to the favourite gelato place in via della rotunda.

It is the white night tonight and eveyone is out in the pouring rain. Not sure what they are all doing, there is nothing formally set up in the piazza but there are hundreds of people about. The Pantheon has stayed open and there is a constant stream of people ALL night, the hum of the people was OK it was the ones with the tooters, tooting that kept us awake. We were glad it wasn't our last night with the horrendous journey ahead of us. We had gone to the Pantheon ourselves because we thought the rain was going to be a terrific show through the opening. You don't just need rain to see something you need torrential downpour, rain don't cut it I'm afraid.

Day 19:
Last day in Rome. DH birthday. Everyone is fairly late to breakfast because of the disturbance last night. It is Sunday morning but the breakfast hours are not extended, the ladies running the breakfast are most miffed at the late arrivals, ie just before 10.00 and let you know in no uncertain terms, one other guest asked if there were any other flavours of yoghurt left, well, she nearly wore the one that was there. Talk about grumpy. Breakfast spoilt (spoiled?) by a group of ladies sitting next to us who insisted on discussing their candida/thrush problems in very loud voices all through the breakfast. Very inappropriate, really. At least they weren't wearing baseball hats, that would have done it for me. I kept thinking these are NOT fodor people, they wouldn't talk so loud or wear hats to mealtimes,or in the Sistine chapel like one fellow, I couldn't believe it, what are they thinking? Or not thinking as the case probably is. Can someone please explain this obsession with bloo....dy baseball hats. grrrrr. That's off my chest.

Decided to just wander this morning over to the Trastevere area and see what turns up. Seemed to be so much graffiti on this side of the river, my imagination? It was everywhere though. We found a beautiful medieval church called Santa Maria in Trastevere, which had the most amazing mosaics, if you are over that way make sure you pop in, well worth a look. The rest of the Trastevere, take it or leave it in my opinion. Walked over the Tiber and in to the ghetto, again nothing to get excited about. IMO. Could have well done without this interlude, hey we saw it but I certainly wouldn't rush there if you didn't have much time.

Had a quick sandwich back at Piazza Navona. Most of the shops are shut and I was planning to go back to my shoe shop. We ring up, no answer but decide to walk back up to via Sistina anyway. Alas it too is closed, even after they told me they were going to be open. Darn, could have gone beforehand to get some more shoes. Rome and only two pairs of shoes - not trying hard enough Schnau.

The hotel staff sent up a good bottle of sparkling Italian fizz for Alex's birthday so we enjoyed a couple of glasses before we headed out for dinner that evening.

Walked to the Vecchia Roma, not very far, getting used to the streets now so things don't seem as complicated. A lovely balmy evening, sat outside and really soaked up the atmosphere. The restaurant is in a quiet square but very pleasant. DH had the linguine with prawns, scampi and clams, very good. I had the fried anti pasto, not quite sure why as I am not a great fried person. It was pretty good, but it was all fried, surprising that!! It actually was a light batter more like a tempura batter, so not too bad. I followed with the calamari stuffed with cheese and spinach with a hot and sweet sauce, very good. DH had the veal kidneys done in a wine sauce. He tried to get the recipe out of the maitre d' but no such luck, apparently they use a sweet wine with a red wine vinegar. He thoroughly enjoyed this. I had the creme brulee for dessert and DH had the pistachio ice cream, both excellent. With just about every meal we tried different wines. DH is keen on his wines, I have no idea what they were except they were usually excellent and cost nearly as much as the meal!! I got the shoes/handbags he had the wine, fair enough.

Had lovely walk back to hotel tried to avert eyes from Victor Emmanuel! (only joking)

A few comments about the Del Senato. I know hotels in Rome are always a hot topic of discussion and I have already said some things on another thread so excuse if you have read those. We found the hotel to be in the most perfect of locations, I don't think there is a better location, looking out in the morning at the Pantheon was just amazing. That said, we paid for a junior suite which was 350E per night. Now I know some people spend this at a drop of a hat, but I thought that was plenty (more than) for a hotel room. The junior suite consisted of a room, I am presuming ordinary size for the rest of the hotel, not large but a decent size for Italy. It had a small desk and a couple of bedside tables. Dim lighting - as per normal all over the world. The bathroom was small, only one person at a time. The water was barely warm the whole time we were there, we complained day one and were told they knew of the problem and the maintenance people had been called and were on the case. By day 3 nothing had changed, day 4 we were then told, well nothing could be done until Monday, the day we were leaving. We told them it wasn't good enough at 350E a night I expect HOT water. During the hot months it was barely tolerable but even whilst we were there it had started to get cooler and showering was becoming unpleasant. We got the distinct feeling this was just the way it was, and they had no intention of doing anything about it. We met others in the hotel who also thought the water was too cold. We kept on at them until the end and were given a 15% discount at check out for our inconvenience. We thought this was fair, but... unless you complained bitterly I don't think they would automatically offer it. Do they do this to save money on electricity, I'm not sure. It all felt a bit dodgy.

Back to the room, the suite then had a small room as you entered the door which consisted of a sofa and two small chairs with a table in between. It did give the feeling of extra space and it was nice not to walk straight into the room. It gave more space for suitcases etc, however the windows jutted out and there was plenty of room to store cases/bags in the window alcoves. Was it worth the extra 75E a night? I don't know, is there anyone out there who has stayed in both types of rooms and can comment? I believe from another thread that the prices are really going up at the hotel. The double glazing was good with the airconditioning, not normally an air con fan, but the noise would have been too much each night without shutting the windows. We were in room 102, next floor up from ground level just above the Pantheon bar. Anyway just thought I would offer some thoughts about the hotel.

Day 20:
Heading home. Early start, well reasonable, picked up by limo at 9.15am. Decided to ditch the tickets for the train and go the easy way. A much better idea I think, particularly at the end of a trip with heavy bags and that "just want to get home" feeling that starts. At the airport with plenty of time to spare. Decide to look around duty free shops and low and behold, look a Bruno Magli shop and Furla now fancy that!! Decide to do something about the lack of shoe shopping and manage to buy another two pairs of shoes, some really wild, not really me shoes. Violet suede with a black and white disc on the front, straight out of their new winter seasons stock. Not quite sure when I will wear them, but sometimes you have just got to break out, tempered those with a lovely little pair of black flatties. Feeling four pairs of shoes and three handbags is not too bad a haul for the trip.

Catch plane, uneventful trip to Gatwick but we have to catch the bus now to Heathrow. (couldn't get a flight straight to LHR using FF) We show the BA boarding passes and get a three pound discount each,not bad. Arrive at Heathrow about 3.30pm and have to wait until 10.00pm for the flight to OZ which of course is another 24 hours in length. When will time travel become available to the general public, beam me up Scotty. Fortunately we are travelling in the pointy end so can use the Concord lounge. Have a snack, mooch around the duty free and buy Thorntons toffee for 14 year old as well as some Hugo Boss cologne for him. Finally flight is called and we are off......stop over in Bangkok for another two hours and then what seems like three days later we finally land in Sydney at 6.00am. Yeah, home sweet home, have a brief nap and rush to kennels to pick up my babies, two schnauzers of course!! Pick child up later!! well, had to wait for him to finish school didn't I? He of course comments that I have rescued the dogs before him!

Well, what a trip! I do believe all the info I gleaned on this fantastic site made a huge difference. We have travelled heaps before, but never quite got the restaurant thing right, a lot of hit and miss. I do believe all the recommendations make such a difference. I also used trip advisor for the hotels and will be posting there as well. Thank you all so much for your help before we left and I hope I have helped others with this rather long report!! You can imagine I talk like I write - a lot!!

Just an aside. There is always so much talk about what to wear in Paris. I think I must make a comment. We saw absolutely everything. Sorry folks who think wearing black might make you look Parisienne - or is it just not to show the dirt, (can't quite figure that one out) anyway tourists look like tourists, it doesn't matter what you wear. Unless you are actually French you will never look french no matter how hard you try!! So don't worry, wear what you want, wear what is comfortable and what packs well, doesn't crease and looks fresh and smart. I saw heaps of jeans, shorts, and every combination in between. The only thing that looked particularly french was the little linen dress in beige or pale green with the chic strappy sandles. Neither of which are any good for travelling or walking!!! Go and enjoy.

Regards, Schnauzer or Lesley as I am sometimes called.