May 04 Rome Report

Old May 28th, 2004, 07:39 PM
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May 04 Rome Report

I just spoke with a friend in Rome who asked how I was managing on my return. After explaining to him I was having a difficult time adjusting to my current reality, he laughed told me there is a commercial for an Italian cruise line they run there which reminded him of me. Apparently, the commercial shows a woman on her back porch sobbing while flashes of her holiday shoot across the screen as she rocks herself saying, I have to pull myself together, I just have pull myself together!

Each time I?ve gone to Italy the harder it?s been for me when I return home. Believe me I had many reoccurring thoughts/fantasies of just not getting back on that plane and then the practical Midwest thinking kicks in?. I know I am not alone here when I say that I fall more in love and respect with the people, culture, and different pace in each city?.

So, the travelers were 4 women, 3 being sisters and a friend, an honorary sister indeed.
Our itinerary
Rome: 5/3/04?5/10 Apartment rentals
Florence: 5/10-5/12 Tourist House Ghiberti
Venice: 5/12-5/14 Ca' Satriano
Back to Rome: 5/14-5/20

We arrived early Monday morning with no difficulties at FCO. Luckily we had booked a mini van w/ Airport Connection; apparently that day the taxis were on strike and indeed traffic was a mess. I didn?t really care I liked being a passenger and watching how our driver navigated through the sea of cars and motor bikes.

We rented two apartments in the same building because there were the 4 of us. We chose two apartments because we could not find any thing else suitable in the area I wanted without having to use sofa beds and also with 4 women we needed more than one bath.

I rented for my third time without a hitch through Sleep In Italy. These are the apartments I chose this time. Many positives - great location, plenty of wonderful restaurants, coffee bars, considerate owner, ect. The only drawback which I fully knew about were the 58 stairs no lift, we got over this quickly. The only time that it was a drag was when we hauled our luggage up those steps but the owner helped us which was very kind

Apartment 1
http://www.sleepinitaly.com/files/apt_coronari2.html
Of the two this was the less expensive one, and I ended up liking it best, it became our pre dinner hang out pad. This one had better natural light and overlooks Via dei Coronari which is one of my all time favorite streets. It has a real double bed not two pushed together, wood beamed ceilings, a full fridge, gas burners microwave but no oven. The bathroom had plenty of hot water for showers with good water pressure and there were plenty of shelves for toiletries. I bought candles there to soften it up a bit. At night the overhead light in the living/dining area was just a bit too severe. The bedside light was very dim for reading but rarely was I able to keep my eyes open for very long anyway after being out. It has Satellite TV for CNN and MTV.

Apartment 2
http://www.sleepinitaly.com/files/apt_coronari.html
This apartment was more expensive and had a large full kitchen which I took use of! The furnishings were more sophisticated but it felt to me a bit dungeon like at times due to lack of light, I also bought candles for this apartment to make it a warmer environment. It needed a lamp or two more. The apartment had heated tile floors, wood beamed ceilings, nice rugs, good closet/dresser & space, washer w/no dryer but there is a clothes line outside the windows and I bought some clothes pins or used the radiator, we also used a laundry mat a few streets away. It too has Satellite TV for CNN and MTV.

Off to explore? Really we just wandered around on foot, of the four of us I was the only one who had been to Rome before, so I was trying to point out landmarks to help should I not be around. We went the route of Piazza Navona and over to Campo dei Fiori where I was able to have the first latte of our trip and then a Gelato at Blue Ice. There are now two Blue Ice?s very close together in Campo Dei Fiori. It seems that the first Blue Ice when you enter off of Corso Vittorio Emanuele is more congested because people hit it first, but the next one is just the same and less crowded so it made it easier to view the flavors. My new favorite?s flavors are smack (chocolate), crème caramel and a combo of melon and coconut.

We headed down to Largo Argentine to see the cats, where I need to make a daily stop. Two of us enjoyed the cats but I could tell it was getting pretty boring for the others so we moved onward to the Pantheon and ending at the Trevi. Being pretty beat at this point we headed back and stopped at the market to pick up our daily wine & snacks for the apartment and had relaxation time.

Next day we had our 1pm Vatican/St Peters tour with Scale Reale. We had a nice small group of 6 everything went well but I think our tour guides ADD was kicking in as he became very distracted by other tour guides voices and it became this whole I?ll show you who can talk louder. I?m glad I took the tour, I have been there on my own before and it really did make a difference to have the inside scoop on artists and their work. Still my favorite is St. Peter?s Basilica ? A couple of us were teary eyed and I was in awe of the architecture not knowing how this all came to be and the mosaics continue to amaze me. Sadly we only spent ? of the tour here so I?ll try and plan a different tour that will focus exclusively on St. Peters.

We also booked a reservation for Galleria Borghese for the following day at 1pm. We booked this through Scale Reale and I had the confirmation printout but when we entered the reservation desk at the galleria had no reservations for us on file! Gratefully the woman admitting people reviewed the document I showed her and let us in, bless her? We were very stupid not to get the audio guide and next time I will do this, lesson learned. Had a great mid day snack at the cafeteria which tool the edge off. It?s funny I?ve been to Rome several time and this was the first to visit both the Galleria Borghese and then to walk in the park. Weather was not the typical lovely May it usually but we had a nice walk through anyway. Our last week there we trotted back and had a small picnic and laid in the sun like cats?

The other tour we scheduled was a 3 hour walking tour which started at 8 pm Piazza Navona, also with Scale Reale. The other women I was with participated and really enjoyed this. I on the other hand was at the apartment with my foot elevated because I had pulled a tendon in my ankle hauling luggage up a ramp at JFK before I even arrived in Rome. So after a week of walking everywhere it finally gave out and I was close to tears in pain. The next day I was able to call a friend in Rome who is a doctor and she told me what to pick up at the pharmacy, within a day I was up and running again. Not to be able to walk in Rome to me is like being blind at the Louvre.

That?s it so far as scheduled tours the rest of our time in Rome was exploring on our own. What can I say, we had a great time in Rome?.

Here are some restaurants that we found in and enjoyed in Rome. None of them too pricey and location mainly close to our apartments in the Navona area and in no particular order of liking:

1) Il Fico - Piazza del Fico 24/25 39 066875568 Very fresh & creative menu I saw them bring out a whole fish to show a customer for approval before preparing it. Great antipasti fried calamari very good wine and loved my steak.

2) Osteria del Pegno ? Vicola di Montevecchio 8 ? Just off Coronari small intimate & romantic, awesome carbonara and steamed clams!

3) Lo Stroggna (sp) address? On the corner of Via Panico and Coronari. Big family run restaurant, casual, wonderful pizza, steamed clams in broth over a heaping piece of bread, house wine is not the best, great rip apart rolls I think from Forno in Campo dei Fiori. Very kind and lovely waitress who helped me immensely with my Italian pronunciations and received a large tip from us.

4) Taverna Le Coppelle ? Via dellle Coppelle 38-39 Close to Navona & Rotunda/Pantheon. Inexpensive, good house wine, great pizza, the best fried squash blossoms and fried olives, delicious broccoli pasta.

5) Baffetto -Via del Governo Vecchio 114 ? Tried this from all the ravs I had read on this board and it was indeed worth trying, tasty tasty pizza ! 5 of us 4 pizzas two salads wine 2 desserts and water came to something crazy like 47 euros. There is also now a Baffetto #2 in Campo dei Fiori which we did not go to.

6) La Taverna del Ghetto ? Have lost the card so I have no address to give. We did try a somewhat upscale restaurant in area called La Taverna del Ghetto. I had the goulash which was out of this world as was my sister's braised beef in a red sauce. We just wandered in there off the street cold and a bit wet after leaving from the "We are the future concert" at Circus Maximus. It was a nice find! None of us loved the fried artichokes, but glad we tried them.

7) Alle Fratte di Trastevere - Via delle Fratte di Trastevere 49/50. This too was another great recommendation from a Fodors poster. As she suggested I had the smoked salmon pasta with vodka and cream as a first and grilled lamb chops mmmmm!

Wished I could have explored Trastevere more, I do love it here, but with 4 people it can get difficult to agree.

All for now, hope this wasn't too boring! This was hard to write for many reasons but I wanted to share a bit. At some point I?ll work on our two nights spent in each Florence and Venice.

Eileen








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Old May 28th, 2004, 07:50 PM
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Great, now for sure I won't get to bed! Thanks Eileen.
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Old May 28th, 2004, 07:55 PM
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Leaving in the a.m for Rome and will print out your report. Speaking from experience, why don't you silence that "mid-west" thining and start thinking like an Italian? It sounds like you ARE one in spirit anyway. Go back and come home when you are ready to, if you are ever ready to. Where there is a will, there is a way.
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Old May 28th, 2004, 07:57 PM
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OOPS! I said Mid-west "thining" instead of thinking. I am obviousely conserned about fitting my bottom into my airline seat tomorrow.
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Old May 28th, 2004, 08:22 PM
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I apologize for all the (?) that appear, thought I did plain text but I guess not.

Calamari, have a wonderful, wonderful visit! I have no doubt you will. Thanks too for the positive encouragement. I'm working on how I could actually make it happen. I return in October so who knows
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Old Jun 3rd, 2004, 05:07 PM
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ecat,
You were at Tourist House Ghiberti just a few days before me. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. I look forward to reading your opinion of Ca Satriano. They were booked, so we did not get to stay there, but I am curious for our next visit.
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Old Jun 5th, 2004, 09:43 PM
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Tlc,

Yes we did really enjoy THG, loved the rooms, location, coffee & croissants big yum! Claudio is one serious man, he does his job very well and he needs to go on a holiday!

Ok so Ca' Satriano - After we found it, (lol I think most people have a hard time finding where they are staying) it was wonderful for us. Lovely, lovely rooms, there are only 3 here and we had two of them, both on the 2nd floor. The 3rd is off of the kitchen looks on to a canal.

Christain who is managing the place by himself god bless him, does a great job. However if you are the sort of person who requires a lot of attention and need someone at the front desk often - this would not be the place to stay.

Our one room looked on to a canal and in the day you could hear classical music across the way coming from the music conservatory. Our second room looked out onto a small courtyard.

Nice furnishing in both with jaccuzi bathtubs! This part was pure heaven... After walking for days this was such an unbelievable pleasure to just soak.

I would definitely stay here again - great price, great location & fantastic strong coffee - I miss Christian whipping up espresso in the morning and offering me a smoke

Hope this helps and I know they are much better now on answering e-mails.

E

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Old Jun 6th, 2004, 08:34 AM
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ira
 
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Very nice report, ecat.

Thanks for sharing.
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