Paris, Rome and Florence Trip Report
 

Well, we’ve just returned from our trip to Paris, Rome and Florence, and what a wonderful trip it was!! We enjoyed (just about) every minute of it, and I can’t wait to start planning the next adventure! I’ve detailed the trip below. Probably more detail than some may want, but I am trying to include the things I *wish* I’d known, or just didn’t manage to find on another trip report. That, and I’m just naturally long winded.

A little about us—we are in our late 20’s, husband (here on referred to as P) is a Roman history buff, and this was his fifth trip there. We went together 4 years ago and were engaged there. He’d been to Florence before, and neither of us had been to Paris (the last Euro trip included a trip to Nice, which I adored). We’re budget travelers for the most part, and ended up doing pretty well. For the 10-day trip, we came in about $400 over budget, due mostly to unforeseen travel expenses, which you’ll see later on. I work nonstop hours, and he’s a full time professional finishing his full time PhD, so we were really looking for some time just to hang out. So, the story begins… (Apologies again for being long-winded)


Day 1 – March 6/7th. St. Louis to Paris

We booked tickets on American Airlines in November. Because we were off-season, I was able to get one ticket for 40,000 miles, and the other for a little over $600 with tax, open jaw. We were scheduled to fly STL to ORD and onto CDG, and on the return, Rome to Brussels, to ORD, to STL. We missed AA’s direct Rome service by two weeks…at the time I booked the ticket, they had plenty of seats open into April, but we had to keep our trip in March, so we had the longer way home…

Also, I received a day pass to the Admiral’s Club a few weeks before we left. We tried in out in STL…nice, but not worth the $400 a year to join. Free snacks and soda…and it was a lot quieter than the terminal. All in all, we didn’t know what the fuss was about.

So, sitting on the plane in STL, we hear that ORD has been shut down, due to a “wire” that had been cut, that had shut down all of air traffic control. We only had two hours between landing and the CDG flight taking off, and it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen. They let us off the plane to try to redirect our flights…and the use of the Admiral’s Club became apparent. No line, and VERY helpful attendants. Unfortunately, because of the awards ticket, they couldn’t rebook us through another city. But, they did buy us drinks, I think because we looked so pitiful.

About an hour into the wait at the bar, they called for reboarding our flight. We made it into ORD 20 minutes late, and found out the CDG flight had left without us. We had no cell phones, and someone who was a lot less stressed than I was recommended using a payphone to call AA on their 800 number. I was distraught at not having any change, until he pointed out that an 800 call is free. At this point, it became apparent I REALLY needed a vacation.

They had rebooked us on a flight into London, and then into Paris, arriving about 5 hours later than we had anticipated. Nice Admiral’s Club lady had booked us into the bulkhead. Uneventful flight for the first 5 hours, and then we hit the roughest turbulence I’ve even encountered. Finally made it into London, and I was able to pry my fingers off the armrest.

Had a great British Airways flight into Paris. It was only 40 minutes long, and they served everyone a deli sandwich packet and drink…easily the most efficient thing I have ever seen. Side note here…the sandwich was egg and mayonnaise…and the beginning of our understanding with the French obsession with the egg.

At this point, I should mention I am a meeting planner. I plan everything to the last detail. However, I didn’t have a chance to do that with this trip. I managed to make hotel reservations, air reservations, and even figure out the Carte Orange, and that is about as far as it went. Getting into the CDG airport, I began to realize that perhaps I should have done a bit more advance work.

We picked up our luggage, and made it into Paris without ever going through customs. We’re still not sure how we did that. And then, we were stuck. I had no clue what to do about getting to the metro, etc. Using the pictures (truly, the only French word we learned before we left was “oeuf,” oddly enough, for egg), we managed to figure out to head towards the signs marked Gare Lyon. We finally found the metro station ticket counter (down the escalators, on the far left of the big space, a room made of windows), found the English speaking line (it’s on the left). Purchased two tickets into Zone 2, and then two Carte Oranges for Zone 1 and 2. It worked perfect for us, as we arrived on a Tuesday, and left on Sunday. 45 euro total for the four tickets.

Lugged all of the luggage (I’ll admit it, there was a lot) onto the Metro, which worked really well until Zone 1, during rush hour. Decided to exit the Metro and hop a cab. Ended up at the Notre Dame exit, in the rain. I ran into the Hotel Notre Dame, and she directed me towards the taxi stand…bless that woman. 10 euros later, we were at Hotel du Champ de Mars, in the 6th!!!

The hotel is located at the Ecole Militare Metro stop. Follow the signs for Exit #1 towards the Eiffel Tower, turn right, and at the bakery on the corner (about 2 blocks down) take a right on Champ de Mars boulevard. Hotel is on the right side, about a block down.

We paid 84 euro a night for room 21, a double bed with a bath. We loved this hotel! It overlooked a street with a cheese shop, supermarket, 3 cafes, etc. within a minutes walk. Rue Cler market was around the corner, but we didn’t even “find” that until our next to last day! Check in was quite smooth, room was decent sized, bathroom was great, and included a European hair dryer. There was quite a bit of street noise at night. We loved the owner’s puppy Canon, who was kind enough to let us pet him when we were missing our own dogs. All in all, I’d give this property at 9 out of 10, for the price and location. We didn’t see many tourists at all, and when we were in restaurants, etc., we were generally the only non-locals. Also, it’s a 10 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower.

Got checked in, picked up some bread and cheese at the local joints, and a bottle of wine (the supermarket next door sells it for 2-3 euros a bottle), had a little picnic and took a nap. Ventured out that night to see the Eiffel Tower…beautiful!!! And so impressive in person, it really brought home that I was finally in Paris!! Ran into a dad and his young son from New Orleans, and traded photo ops. Back to the hotel, looking for a dinner option (didn’t want to have to sleep walk back home) Ended up at Tribeca, an Italian bistro around the corner from the hotel. I had a 4-cheese pizza that was to die for, P had linguine with chorizo and rucula and a ½ bottle of wine. 42 euros…Definitely recommend it, but do a quick review of your French for travelers book before you go in, because there’s not a lot of English spoken here.

Finally, we got some rest, to get ready for our first full day!

Day 2 – March 8 Paris

Yeah, we are in Paris!! I didn’t let the rain or the cold dampen my spirits, and we set out to hit the city, armed with my Metro map, my spiral bound notebook with attraction info compiled from Fodors, Rick Steve’s, etc. and an umbrella (a great last minute pack, thanks to a heads up from a Fodorite who was in Paris the week before us…) We found an English-run café and enjoyed café and croissants—where have these things been all my life? And headed for Invalides, about a 10 minute walk. We were there before opening, so we went over to the Rodin Museum, just because we knew it was close. Bought a four-day museum pass, 90 euros total for the 2. No special line, just bought it instead of an entrance ticket. Turns out the pass was totally worth the $$, as you’ll see, we hit a lot of attractions at all times of the day, and would have spent a lot more than just the 45 euros apiece.

P loved this museum, and was really pleasantly surprised by it. It wasn’t anything that had been on either of our “must do” lists. The Thinker in the garden is a great first intro to Paris. Basically, this is a large house that’s been converted into museum of sorts. Handheld laminated guides in English were in every room. We made it out just as a huge tour group was coming in.

We found our way back to Invalides (inc. in Museum Pass). P loved the military museum. I was a bit freaked out by all of the weaponry and armor, but cool nonetheless. And, so interesting to see the ENORMOUS tomb for Napoleon. They also had a special exhibit of his personal effects—I’m not sure how long that will be there.

Decided to take the walk down the Champs Elysees, to the Arc de Triomphe. Made it about halfway before I gave into hunger. Walked down the closest side street, and found a sandwich shop with any combo of sandwiches, soup or salads, for about 6 euro. Great deal and got out of there, with beverages, for under 15 euros. It was called Le Paradis de Fruit. About 200 yards further down the Champs Elysees, I stumbled upon Laduree and literally ran in the door. P had no clue what was going on, and followed me in saying “but this is a restaurant,” totally confused, until I led him to the bakery case. Had one of the sweetest moments of my life eating their chocolate and almond mini macaroons. I wish I had a case of them with me right now…

Finally made it to the Arc, and decided to walk up to the top (inc. in Museum Pass). This was at the top of my to do in Paris list, and I am so glad I did! I am scared of heights and a bit claustrophobic, but worked through that, and was rewarded with a great view of the city, even with the drizzle. Sacre Coeur and the Eiffel Tower were my favorite sights from up here, and I would have stayed all day but P’s fear of heights finally ruled. That, and it was COLD up there.

From here, we walked back up the other side of Champs Elysees, ducking in stores when the rain got too hard. We finally made it into a little park, and stopped at a free standing Lenoire, also home of the Ecole Culinaire School of Cooking for a coffee (and bathroom!). Coffee was great, but the 12 euros it cost surprised me!! There were a lot of young Parisian mothers with their babies here.

Kept on walking until we made it to Notre Dame. As evidenced by our legs at the end of this day, we had no sense of distance, as I was just so enthralled with the city. We toured the crypt at Notre Dame—again, P loved this, as it showed the Roman ruins of the city. I loved the exterior of the church, but was underwhelmed by Notre Dame, and upset by the blatant commercialism…I couldn’t believe the number of “souvenir” machines they have in the actual church.

At this point, we were pretty tuckered out, and took an afternoon nap. That night we walked around the 6th and 7th, just enjoying the neighborhoods. We didn’t bring any recommendations for dinner with us, and really wanted to try a French bistro (Italian the night before had been an accident, we just couldn’t read the menu). We finally decided on Bistrot de 7th, with a 19 euro set menu. This ended up being the worst meal of the trip, and a running joke for the next week and a half. Enough said about this place, other than, don’t go here.

To make up for dinner, we went in search of crepes, and found a decent one at La Recruitment, a soccer sports bar. All of the crepe stands we had walked by before dinner had closed. We made it to the Eiffel Tower in time to see her sparkle for 10 minutes, and again, I was overwhelmed by just how cool it was.

Needless to say, we slept very well this night, thanks to our on foot tour of most of the city…

That's a long walk from the Arc to Notre Dame. You had a busy day! I'm looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip.

I'll be there in 60 days(not that I'm counting)I'm loving your trip report it's adding to my excitement. I've added umbrella to my list of things to pack.

checking in...

Thanks...it's a lot harder to get this all down than I originally thought. Day 3 coming up...

I am really enjoying your trip report - I almost feel like I'm there with you! Great job and looking forward to more . . .

Lovely report, looking forward to the rest of it.

Day 3 – March 9 Paris

The goal for today was Sacre Coeur. Hopped the metro (such easy access from the hotel!) and made it to the northern section of Paris. Saw the only street vendors we really encountered during our time in Paris here, selling bracelets that they managed to tie onto a few unsuspecting tourists. Got in line for the funicular, after finding out it was included in our Carte Orange, and then decided to hike the stairs instead. This decision stayed with our legs for the next 8 days of our trip, and I fear my lower limbs still have not forgiven me. But, we were rewarded with another beautiful view! I couldn’t get over how pretty the city is from “up top”.

Church was really nice, and we spent a while wondering through the area, although we realized it was REALLY touristy. Did buy a miniature Eiffel Tower for 1 euro for my desk…and P had his 2nd café of the day. (It’s not a vacation in Europe for him if he doesn’t get at least 4 shots of espresso a day. This is ok, because it’s not a vacation for me unless I get gelato at least twice a day.)

Decided to make it to the Louvre, and in using the Metro, had to switch lines at Musee d’ Orsay. Turns out you have to actually get out of the Metro underground, and walk to the Orsay to get on the new line, so we made a detour into the Orsay. Museum Pass came in handy here too…honestly, the detour was for finding a restroom, and if a MP isn’t good for that, then what it is good for? Just kidding, but we used it for this purpose on more than one occasion. I was really impressed with what we saw here, which included the Degas drawings, but it was really crowded with field trips, so we decided to come back later to see the Degas statues, which were the big draw for me.

Made it to the Louvre, again the MP was great, we didn’t have any lines at all. But, to tell you the truth, I wasn’t a huge fan of this museum. It is just SO big. I realize I’ll catch flack for that, but I’m pretty map savvy, and I couldn’t even find us on the enormous fold out map for quite some time. And, there were so many people, and just so much, well, everything. Between being overwhelmed, and battling my stomach, which had decided to contract a bug of some sort, I gave up. I headed back to the hotel for a nap. Before this happened, we did have lunch in the mall food court. Wide variety of options for indulging any “American” needs you might have, including hamburgers and soda, which is just what P did, and I had a quick bistro sandwich. 12 euros total.

After a short nap, we headed back to the Louvre, because I was positive it was open until 9:45. Once we got there (and, all the way into the museum portion of the building) and saw all the lights out, we realized I was wrong… So, I picked up my Rick Steves book, and decided to walk the left bank. Yes, we walked from the Louvre, to Notre Dame (because we missed the earlier bridge). And, I wander why my legs still haven’t forgiven me. Beautiful walk at night, although it was really chilly. We made it into Shakespeare and Friends, where P was able to get a Balzac book he’s been looking for, and we walked around for a bit. Not finding anything that appealed for dinner, we headed back towards our hotel. We decided (probably incorrectly, but we did) to give up on French food after dinner the night before, and went in search of Italian, which is truly where our hearts our. We ended up at Pizza Tina’s, right next to the Ecole Militare Metro stop, and had a great meal. P had Penne Arribiata and a Caprese Salad, and I had a tomato and eggplant pasta. With a carafe of wine and dessert, it came to just over 40 euros, and we give it a big thumbs up.

Rain had picked up, so no Eiffel Tower this night.

Thanks for the report. Sounds like you had a ball. Forgive me for asking, but wasn't your hotel in the 7th? I looked it up on the map, but maybe it was on the border or something. Sounds like a great hotel and a neighborhood with much to do and eat...

Heavens and eviddix

No question about it, the hotel is in the 7th, and not even on the border of 6th/7th.

Well, ebiddx did say he/she didn't have much time to plan:)

Anyway, I'm enjoying the report and loking forward to more.

Definitely the 7th. Sorry about that...I was confused about it the whole time I was *planning* (or not) the vacation. Regardless, I give it a huge recommendation for anyone looking for something under 100 euros!

Sounds like you really enjoyed the immediate area of the hotel. Lots of conveniences and cafes?

Great report! Thank you for sharing. I"ll be in Paris, Rome, and Florence this summer and can hardly wait!

Dina

Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip. My husband and I leave for Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome and London in 3 weeks. Your report will help us out a lot!

I should apologize now for the typos and misspellings :)

Day 4 – March 10 Paris

I woke up not feeling great (and, no I hadn’t indulged in the carafe the night before), and P had really wanted to see more of the Louvre, so I sent him on without me, with plans to meet at noon for lunch. I felt very Parisian making it to the Louvre on my own on the Metro, and at this point, should mention that I was approached a few times as if I was in fact French while we were here. Each time made me smile…

I was early, and able to send a quick note home on email, using the Internet station right outside of the indoor entrance. Pretty reasonable, .15 euros for 5 minutes I think? P had made it to the Mona Lisa, and surprising himself, had been really impressed with it. He’d really liked the apartments too, and talked me back into the Museum to see this. I’m glad I went…it was definitely impressive, especially the dining room. Even if you are at the Louvre for a specific art collection, you really should make some time to see this opulent setting.

Plan had been to head out to Versailles for the afternoon, but we don’t want to lose any time “in” the city, so we stay. Jump the Metro to the St. Paul stop, making our way to the Picasso Museum. P is starving, so we stop into Pizza Momo’s (within a block of the Metro exit). This is where the “oeuf” is in full effect. It’s on every pizza, in every calzone…People are loving it. This is full of French students and businessmen on their lunch break…again, we are the only ones speaking any English. I just order a salad, trying to save my stomach, and P gets a ham and mushroom pizza. It was great, although P swears the waiter hated him. I’m going to agree with P on this one…something about him was rubbing the server wrong. But, the server seemed to appreciate my attempt at French. 22 euros total for the pizza, salad, wine for P and Orangina for me.

We didn’t have any directions to Picasso other than the metro stop, so we just started walking, looking for something to go in to. Walked past some great flower stalls and I got some amazing pictures. Stumbled into Place des Vosges, and into Victor Hugo’s house, with the aid of the tourist attraction signs. We didn’t know much about Victor Hugo, but the tour was free (you do still have to get a ticket though—go to the gift shop checkout). After the tour, we still don’t know much, as all of the explanations were in French, but it was still cool to see the apartment and personal effects of some time ago.

Decide to find Picasso’s place, but are waylaid by the lack of directions, and all of the jewelry and suit shops. We ended up window shopping for a few hours, and then were able to piece together the tourist signs, the small map we had, etc. I don’t know how to give you directions here, other than to say that it is off of a back alley.

There was a long ticket line, but we were able to bypass it with the Museum Pass. This is just a large house that has been filled with his pieces that were donated to the French government after Picasso’s death. I’ve always been a fan of his work, although I don’t know much about it. Explanations were in English in some places, and it covered his entire career. Really cool. P’s not a fan of Picasso, but he really enjoyed this place too. And, it was packed, and not with Americans. We’re still not sure we saw everything, because this is a really big house, and there’s not a true flow throughout it, but we really liked it.

We stop at a café with windows, and enjoy gelato and café and watch the world go by in the rain. P’s feet have given up on him, I am not feeling great at all, so we head home for a nap. P’s decided he wants to try Japanese tonight, because he saw two places near our hotel. I should mention here, it’s not normal for us to try to eat close to our hotels normally, but the weather was REALLY cold and really wet, and it just didn’t make for a fun outing. So, we enjoyed eating lunch in other areas, and then stuck in the 7th for dinners.

We checked out the Japanese places, and neither were very busy, so we went to the Korean place, also on Champs de Mars, on the other side of the Rue Clere from the hotel. We were clearly the only American’s that had stepped foot in this place in quite some time. When laughed when we were handed the menu, translated in Korean, Chinese and French. Not to mention it is Korean food, which isn’t your standard fare anyway. We did a lot of pointing, and I engaged the French phrase book that hadn’t seen the light of day yet, and the waitress walked away. We had NO idea what we had ordered, and we just hoped that our warning that P was allergic to fish had been understood.

They brought 12 bowls of “stuff” to the table…some was identifiable…pickled seaweed, etc. The look on P’s face when he bit into the Soba noodles and discovered they were fried baby (clear) anchovies was priceless.

So, they show up at the table with a bowl full of the same items that are in the 12 bowls in front of us, with a giant oeuf on top of it! My nauseous tummy didn’t find that funny, but they stirred the fried egg into the bowl, effectively making fried rice of a sort.

Then, they brought a giant heap of raw beef. Apparently, we’d ordered barbecued beef, which they cooked at the table. It was again, not a good joke to play on my stomach, but the food tasted great. In all, with bottled water and tea, the meal was 36 euros. Well worth it for the experience and the story we have to tell.

Now, I was not feeling good (as mentioned), but I was dying for some chocolate. So, we went up to Bistro B, right next to the Ecole Miliatre metro stop. We’d walked past it so many times, and it looked really nice, and we wanted to try it, but dinner was out of our budget range. So, we went just for dessert. What a great idea that was!! The waiter was an absolute delight. I had the translation book with us, and I put it on the floor so other passerby’s wouldn’t see it on our table and think this was a tourist spot, and when he saw it on the floor, he picked it up and put it on our table. He spoke some English, and had a great time trying to describe the dessert specials. When he couldn’t explain one in English, he went into the kitchen and brought one out to show us. Just a genuinely nice gentleman. I would go back there anytime just to see him! That, and the dessert was phenomenal (stomach or not!!). We had a chocolate torte and a crème brulee with bits of candied apples. P had wine, and the waiter teased me about not drinking, telling me it was good for my heart.

This was the coldest night by far, so we ran home. Only one day left in Paris….

Don't stop now! Waiting for more . . .

I'm hopeful to get the rest of Paris up in the next day or two...no one tells you how hard it is to relive a 10 day vacation in words! :)

Erika

Day 5 – March 11 Paris

Well, here is where the down comes in…I woke up feeling even worst than I had any previous day, and was so upset…I had a list of “to do’s” that I wanted to fit into the day, and I couldn’t drag myself out of bed.

We ended up spending the day in the room, getting some much needed rest, after having ran ourselves into the ground the previous 4 days.

I am still so sad that we “missed” this day in Paris, but in retrospect, we decided we never would have made it through the rest of the vacation at the pace we were going (and distances we were walking!) without this day “off”.

And, in one of the sweetest efforts of the trip, P walked through Paris looking for food “to go,” and ended up with the most ragtag picnic I’ve enjoyed in a while.

We also realized that we weren’t quite sure what the deal was for our flights the following day. I had booked us on Ryan Air from Paris to Rome, and P went down to the front desk to find out about this BVA airport I’d booked us out of. Apparently, I should done a bit more research on this before departing the US. The REALLY helpful front desk guy got online, helped find the info and we were ready to go.

Day 6 – March 12 Paris to Rome

As previously mentioned, I booked Ryan Air, BVA to Rome. I never realized both airports were a good deal out of town. Thanks to the helpful front desk guy, we arranged a 5:30 AM pickup at the hotel, for a flight that left at 9:30 AM. We took a short cab ride (I love driving through the streets in the dark, with no one out…Paris was beautiful at this time in the morning!!) to a location where busses loaded up, and headed to BVA. For 13 euros each, we got to enjoy a leisurely 1 hour drive, and the scenery was wonderful.

We were SUPER worried about the weight of our bags, but thanks to some maneuvering and very heavy carry ons, we were only 2.5 kg over on one of our pieces, and the agent didn’t say anything, so we didn’t either. We were ushered into a tent (I started to get worried here) that served as the boarding gate for all flights. Let’s just say there was a lot of pushing and shoving in here.

On the flight we were able to purchase tickets for the bus ride into Rome (this one was only 40 minutes) for 8 euros each. Turns out you could get a 6 euro ride once you arrived at the airport, but we were already frustrated by the extra travel time that I hadn’t planned for.

We made it into Rome, hopped the metro and headed to the Spanish Steps. We had booked Hotel Panda based on Fodor’s recommendations (thank you!) and found it on a side street. Note to all…it is a 3 story climb.

We got checked in (98 euros a night) and they opened the door right next to the desk. The room was HUGE! We later found out it was a triple, and was the largest room in the place. We also found out why they don’t get a lot of people who want to stay in it. The walls are very thin, and you hear everything that happens throughout the night, including the very loud front desk clerk, who likes to talk on the phone his entire overnight shift.

The noise factor aside, we were really happy here. I’d had some reservations about staying in the Spanish Steps area, but this was very close to the metro, and a short walk from most of the places we wanted to go. The bathroom was huge, the extra twin bed was nice for using as a luggage rack, the ceilings were 12 feet high, and we enjoyed the wood floor. That being said, I never saw any of the other rooms, and I imagine they were a good deal smaller, based on reactions folks at the front desk gave when we went into or out of our room and they were able to see in it.

FINALLY, we were ready to head into Rome. P’s face had a grin on it that was so big, I thought his face would crack. Finally, finally, finally, we were back in Roma and we were both so excited!!!

P has been several times, and had a pretty eclectic list of “to do’s” that he hadn’t gotten to before. Tops on his list was the Appian Way…he wanted to walk it and find some of the tombs. We took the metro (we are so comfortable doing that in Rome…it must be the only 2 lines to figure out thing) and were there quickly.

There are a lot of bike riders (we think they were a tour group) coming down the Appian Way as we started up it. In warmer weather, I think that would be a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, 200 yards into the trek, I lost a contact. Gone. And, I’m pretty close to blind without them. But, it had been a long day, and P was so excited, I decided to soldier on, and yes, I walked the Appian Way (there and back), basically with one eye!

I will say this was not the safest thing we have ever decided to do. There are not a lot of sidewalks, but there are a lot of cars and busses going very fast. Just a word of caution. It was a beautiful walk (lots of sunshine, spring greenery and church bells), and we stopped about 2.5 miles into it, once we realized the tombs were a good deal further. If you have been multiple times, I do recommend doing this, but wear tennis shoes, and walk towards the traffic, so you know what you are dealing with.

After a much needed nap, we found Tavern la Copelle between Piazza Navona and the Pantheon. It is recommended in several of the books, for good reason. There was a good mix of tourists and locals, enjoying great, cheap food. We had bruschetta, fried olives stuffed with sausage (yummy!!), fried mozzarella, a sausage pizza, cannelloni and a caprese salad, and a bottle of Chianti and 2 bottles of water AND tiramisu, for 36 euros. You really can’t beat that. We did have a rough spot with the waitress when we tried to order just apps at the beginning, and then added our other courses later, and it led a lot of laughter when the manager was called in and interpreted.

Decided to see “our” spot on Piazza Navona where we had been engaged, but it was so cold by this time, that we spent about 20 seconds walking the entire Piazza. Then we got lost. L.O.S.T. I blame it on the wine…Let’s just say, we ended up at the Arapacus before making it home. Sleep, sweet sleep…..

This was a glorious day. One of those that makes you think you could really leave your life in St. Louis, Missouri and move to Rome for good.

We started with our daily pastry and espresso, and then we were headed on a secret “errand” that P had planned. Well, we got lost, again (he’s terrible at directions, which is part of our fun in Europe) and managed to see a good part of the city, and joked that we had managed to climb all 7 hills (which we may very well have done).

Finally, we stumbled onto the Campo de Fiori market—he had correctly assumed that I would love it! I spent over an hour taking picture after picture of the fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices…I fancy myself an amateur photographer, and these will make great decorations for my future kitchens! We picked up some arribiata spice (we’ve used it since returning home, and it was fantastic, just simmered in a bit of olive oil and served with hot pasta).

We wondered for a while, making our way to Trastevere. P had never “crossed the river”, so we made a joyful hop over the bridge, and found Villa Farnese (?). This is an old mansion that is covered in frescoes, and it was great. We spent quite a while in here…the art even kept me interested. However, I feel the need to point out that this attraction houses the SINGLE BEST ATTRACTION BATHROOMS ever, in all of Europe. They were individual rooms, each easily the size of our Paris hotel room, with hand dryers. Upon exiting, I announced to P my designation for these bathrooms, and note that I had to tell Fodorites for their files.

We found an Internet café to check email, and then follow our noses to lunch. We end up at da Otello, where they have one room for locals and one for tourists. Their pizza oven was broken, so we had the antipasti bar and bucatelli for me, and Pasta Fagioli and Tomato Gnochhi for P. ½ liter of wine and bottled water, 32 euro. When we mention P’s fish allergy, just in case, the waiter loudly announces “we have a big fish for you!!” and laughs his way to the kitchen. All in all, a great, relaxing lunch.

We make it into St. Maria in Trastevere, and it is beautiful! We have less luck with Consigliori and Cecilia, as they are both closed. We window shop our way back over the river, and I rescue a pair of earrings that are calling my name.

Finally, we make it to the Forum and it is very, very crowded, with a lot of school tours. This is the only area of Rome that was ever really “full” during our trip and it is different from my last time to the Forum, when it was just us. Also, it feels as though they have blocked off a larger portion of the ruins…which I am glad of, because I remember thinking how odd it was they weren’t protecting more my first time there.

We can hear shouting and bells whistling as we approach the Senate building…turns out there is a small, but very loud, demonstration going on, with a lot of police surrounding it. Weird, and I’m still not sure what they were protesting.

We use this opportunity to walk to the top of the “wedding cake” which we never knew was an option. It’s a hike, but the view was beautiful. And, again, free bathrooms at the top of a monument. Just a note, you have to go all the way through the museum to get outside…there are no signs.

We make a rest stop (for coffee, and ice cream) and then head onto St. Peter in Chains. The Moses statue was covered for restoration on our last trip, and it is impressive! I truly love it. I love this church, and P and I agree it is a great starting point for anyone’s first trip, as the beauty of the church is in its simplicity, which can be underwhelming after seeing some of the other churches.

We end up eating at a restaurant right below Hotel Panda, and although the food is ok, there are cover charges on the final bill, which irritates me (they weren’t printed on the menu). I decide to boycott the restaurant forever…or until I am hungry again.

We have an early trip to Florence in the morning, so we head upstairs. We spend the night listening to the clerk yell at someone on the phone in Italian.

Day 8 – March 14 Day Trip to Florence

We opted to do a day trip to Florence, and took the train in in the morning, spent the night, and took the train back to Rome the following morning. I think this was perfect…one day was plenty for us in Florence.

Strike number umpteen against my lack of pre-planning…I left our ticket printouts at home, and have to pay another 70+ euro to purchase new ones. I’m sure their was a way to retrieve our reservation, but the ticket agent wanted nothing to do with it.

The ride to Florence was beautiful, and fast. We took the express train, and it took 1.5 hours. Exiting the train station, we hit strike number umpteen plus one…I had no idea how to get to our hotel. I just knew it was “near” the station. Some helpful Florence folk helped us find it. And, thanks to Ira for the recommendation.

It was BB Peterson. For 52 euros a night, this was a steal. Yes, it is a bit of a walk, but not any farther than we had been from attractions in Paris or Rome. The proprietor met us at the building, and was so nice! I felt like he was my best friend by the time we left. Huge room, comfy bed, great bathroom, and a free make it yourself espresso upon arrival. Big thumbs up, and I definitely recommend this for any short trips to Florence. For longer journeys, the walk into town might be a bit much.

Stop one is gelato…I get a vanilla that tastes like cake batter and P stars with raspberry. The vanilla wins this round.

To be honest, I was less than enthused about Florence for the first little while. It was terribly, terribly crowded, everywhere we went. Then we stumbled on the Duomo, and I understand why people love it. This building is beautiful on the outside! One of the more impressive feats that have been accomplished I think.

We make another gelato stop on our way to our Uffizi reservations, and try the nutellata. This quickly becomes #1, and vanilla is moved to #2.

I am going to make a disclaimer here…our Uffizi experience was less than thrilling. So, my apologies to those folks that love it.

We had made reservations ahead of time (super easy with the phone number). When you get there, go in the building across from the museum building, and into door #3. We paid our 19 euros, and were directed to museum building door #1. Here, there was a velvet rope, and an attendant was letting folks in at his mercy, as opposed to the time on the tickets. Once we made it past the rope, we encountered the same thing at the ticket entrance. We finally attached ourselves to a school group that was being let in at once, and made it through. By this time it was 20 minutes after our reservation time. The time itself was not a big deal at all, it was that we couldn’t figure out how they were deciding which people they liked enough to let them in, and it was getting annoying.

Once we got in, and ushered past the sign that says something along the lines of “don’t take the elevators, you must take the stairs” a woman directed us onto the elevator. It stopped one floor up, and she looked at us, said “stay here” and walked off the elevator. At this point, we knew we were not on a regular museum visit.

We did finally make it to the museum itself, and while the busts were enjoyable, and I did like the Birth of Venus, all in all, P and I were both museumed out. We decided to make our exit, which much like our entrance, was not an easy thing. By the time we made it through an underground space, an outdoor space, 2 gift shops and a Post Office, I was thrilled to see the great outdoors, and may have vowed never to step foot in the Uffizi again. Our experience aside, for those that enjoy pre-Renaissance and Renaissance work, and have not been to a million museums already, it was good.

We had a few hours until our appointment with David, and after the Uffizi, I was questioning whether we should show up for that one or not. P said I would regret not going, so we decided to wander until reservation time. We decided to take Mr. Steves up on his suggestion of I Fratelini, and P deemed this the best meal of the entire trip.

I Fratelini is a storefront on a side ally, a counter big enough for two men and some sandwich fillings to sit behind. You can order one of 27 sandwiches, which come with a glass of wine for 4 euros. You eat on the street, drink your wine, and return the glass. Brilliant! The bread rolls were to die for, and we shared/devoured 3 sandwiches…salami with artichokes, salami with goat cheese and tomato mozzarella. I would go back to Florence in a heartbeat just for these delights. Oh, and the wine was good too. 3 sandwiches, 2 glasses of wine, 9 euros = the best deal in Italy.

We had plenty of time, so we ventured to San Croce. This ended up being my favorite few hours of our entire 10 day trip. Michaelangelo’s tomb was amazing, and I found my favorite tomb that I’ve seen to date…a very plain tomb, marked by one statue laying a wreath on the marble casket. We headed outside to the beautiful courtyard, and wondered into what seemed to be a pre-Renaissance, very sparse museum. Here, I saw two statues that brought tears to my eyes. They were so beautiful, and are my favorite “thing” we saw during our trip. Even the photos of the statues manage to show their beauty. This church and its surroundings are outstanding, and I recommend planning for plenty of time here.

We window shopped for a while, and made our way to Academia. Again, the line guard rule was in effect. If you were early, they’d let you in, if you were on time, you may get in behind those with later reservations. We were still happy from the sandwiches, and less annoyed this time.

I will admit, I went in just to see David. And, am I glad I did. The sheer size of the statue is impressive, and the art of the piece itself is astounding. I also loved the unfinished Michaelangelo’s…no words to describe them they were so beautiful.

We decide we need some gelato to refresh ourselves and end up with lemon. It moves to spot #1.

Onto Ponte Vecchio. This was beautiful, as it was sunset, and we were surrounded by sparkling jewels, but again, it was so crowded. We window shopped for quite some time before finding a restaurant for dinner. Upon entering, it was obvious they cater to the tourist crowd, but we had a Ravioli covered in a mushroom gravy that was truly amazing. The most memorable part of this meal, though, was the group of 4 women (who proudly announced they were from Georgia) engaging in every Ugly American activity known to man, and having no knowledge of it. They asked what everything “was” on the menu, in English, to the waiter who obviously was not understanding them. They were amazed that “Ragu” was on the menu. And, they didn’t understand just why the waiter wouldn’t sell them wine by the glass.

The day came to an end, and we made it back to the comfort of BB Peterson. All in all a great day in Florence, and a perfect amount of time in the city for us.

topping

What a great trip report. Is the end of the trip on another report?

This is my favorite part of the report. It really decribes what makes this forum special -

About 200 yards further down the Champs Elysees, I stumbled upon Laduree and literally ran in the door. P had no clue what was going on, and followed me in saying “but this is a restaurant,” totally confused, until I led him to the bakery case. Had one of the sweetest moments of my life

I had given up on this report...we recently moved across the country (see Floriday post) and I haven't unpacked the journal just yet. But, I just finished reading a great trip report and it's inspired me to finish this one--although I can't live up to the one I just finished reading.

Woo-hoo! I'm glad you are going to finish it!

Oh, yes! Please finish - really enjoyed your report so far and hate being left hanging!

Interesting!

So glad this thread got revived - looking forward to the rest..

Day 9 – March 15 Back to Rome on the Ides

We sleep in because we plan to take a 9:30 am train. P figures out the self-serve espresso machine, another big plus to BB Peterson (side note, P just finished his PhD in August, and his gifts were 1. a leather bag from the leather school in Florence and 2. a Nespresso espresso machine—2 things he’s been dreaming about since this trip). We pick up breakfast on the way—pastries and a salami sandwich—how can anyone not love Italy??

We try to buy tickets once we arrive (I hereby swear to buy all of my daytrip tickets at least a day ahead of time) and the machines won’t work. Something to do with the fact that the train is SOLD OUT! We end up on the 10:10 train, which is only running a few minutes late, so we don’t lose much time.

We check back into Hotel Panda, where our stored luggage is waiting for us, out in the hall (I guess if you don’t want luggage taken from you, it is a good idea to pack it until it is so heavy, no one would dare try to lug it away) and they check us back into Room 21—huge and adjacent to the check in desk.

We are starving, so we head to the pizza by the kilo joint right next door. (When we first checked into our hotel, and walked past this place, a Scottish man---think the Sean Connery character on Saturday Night Live---walked out of the store and announced to the entire street “It’s a Pizza MAC Donald’s!!!”—we had been laughing about it since, and quite honestly, still are laughing 5 months later). They have 10-15 different types and cut you whatever size you indicate, weigh it and heat it up. It is delicious—we try 8 slices of 4 or 5 types of pizza (I’m a pizza connoisseur) with 2 sodas for 12 euros. Highly recommend this for a quick lunch or snack, and it is about 5 doors down from Hotel Panda towards the Steps.

It’s a beautiful day, and we alternate between jackets and no jackets as we stroll through Rome, headed for the Arapacus. P has watched this restoration for years and he’s excited when he sees how far it has come—you can see through the glass to the Arapacus itself—it is huge!! We also stroll around Augustus’ tomb (now known to us as the “poop tomb”—very popular place for dog walking and not picking up after them). There are kids of all ages, lounging around the area having lunch, etc. Crowds today are huge—we are guessing it is a holiday of sorts and that folks are off school and work.

P wants to create a laurel for Caesar. He has studied Roman history for years, and is most fascinated by Caesar. We pull a branch off of a tree and fashion a laurel and start to head towards Trajan’s Markets. We are sidetracked by ice cream at “American Bar” on the corner of the Pantheon’s piazza. We have two enormous cones for 7 euro—melon for P, cream and caramel for me (yum, yum, yum). We sit in the shade of the Pantheon and watch the children play, locals hang out and peddlers. We head into the Pantheon, but it is so crowded you can’t move. We finally make out way to throw the laurel. P has used some architecture and history books and decided which tree Caesar died against, and tosses the laurel down. He’s surprised no one else has done anything here (although statues around town are covered in flowers), but we’ve officially celebrated the Ides.

We start trying to find Maria Maggiore, one of my favorites, and one of 3 churches we are going to try to get to today. We are sidetracked by two women from Korea who speak little English and are looking for the Spanish Steps. We get them going in the right direction and head on our way. We then realize we’ve sent them in the totally wrong direction, and P takes off running after them to set them in the right direction.

When we make it to Maria Maggiore, it is still great, but I wrote in my journal “there’s a weird feeling seeing it a 2nd time—still really impressive, but not as ‘aweing’ as the first time”. We are running out of daylight and P wants to make it to another church. I didn’t write down the name, but it has a statue of St. Catherine and St. Catherine herself inside. Very small, and quite beautiful, if you don’t mind the preserved body.

Start down Via Veneto and have fun trying to find a restaurant from the last trip that was one of the highlights. We find it—Ciao Bella. Four years ago, the food and service were amazing—I’d recommend it, although we didn’t try it this time. It was quite pricey as I remember, and the menu shows that it still is.

Our goal now is to find the “crypt of monks.” We keep going in circles, literally and finally stumble across it. I don’t have the name, but P said it was basically skeletons of monks (thousands of them) made into art. I don’t have the stomach for that, so he went in alone, and as I waited at the entrance, I heard a great variety of what I’ll call “movie commercial quotes” for the place, including “well, that was uplifting….”, “that makes me want to keep meat on my bones….” P seems similarly freaked out when he exits and we take the metro “home” to the Spanish Steps.

We stroll through the night, accidentally buying P a new suit, tie and shirt that are beautiful and ridiculously cheap (he’s now worn it 10 times or so, and it is holding up quite nicely). We head into the Piazza Popolo, which I have not seen before. The twin churches and fountains are beautiful—this becomes one of my new favorite places. We also pick up wine and olive oil in a grocery store, so P is hauling quite a bit up and down the streets of Rome. We make our way back to Taverna Coppolla, mainly because we are hungry and too tired to make a decision on a new restaurant. It is full of Rick Steve’s toting tourists and we enjoy watching a grandma, sister, daughter and granddaughter on their first day in Italy. We get the fried mix with crab claw, zucchini blossom, cheese, salted cod and sausage stuffed olives, bruschetta, pasta americi, lasagna, penne pancetta and vodka and a caprese salad. We wash down this ridiculously huge meal with a liter of their house wine (drinkable, not great) for 39 euro. Halfway through the bottle of wine, we decide to head to the scene of our engagement—Tucci on the Piazza Navona.

We are literally the only people on the Piazza and we enjoy our Tartufo outdoors, warmed by the heaters. Every member of the 5-person waitstaff waits on us at some point. (P proposed by accident with the Tartufo several years ago. He handed my ring to the waiter, and while trying to explain his plan, the waiter took off with the ring. So, P didn’t know when I was getting proposed to anymore than I did. The waiter taped the ring on a plate underneath the Tartufo dessert plate. When he took the Tartufo plate and exposed the ring, P and I were both surprised! We enjoy reenacting P’s dropped jaw.) Fully stuffed, and mostly frozen, we run home to Hotel Panda.

Day 10 – March 16 Rome

Our last day of vacation…We actually set an alarm, because we have 9 am reservations at Villa Borghese. We figure it we leave by 8:15, we can be there by 8:30, because it is at the same metro stop. We have figured wrong. To top off the fact that we have literally no idea where we are going, it is raining, hard!! Of course, there are plenty of peddlers with umbrellas at the ready. We decide the best option is to cut through the metro to stay out of the rain, and hopefully find some direction. We know it is in a large park, so we walk through a large open park, and suddenly do not feel like we are in Rome anymore. Similar to the feeling one gets in Central Park. (Sidenote—we are really starting to miss our two puppies at this point and are petting every dog we run into).

After wondering for a bit, we finally hit upon the right “road” in middle of the park. We are very late for the 8:30 call, but they let us pick up tickets anyway and we are let in for the 9 am tour. We did not know what to expect, and for those of you in the same boat, let me describe it. It is basically a huge house. I expected it to be the collection of one family, but instead, each room was redone by different families and/or family members that lived in the mansion. Then, inside of these rooms are statues. It is not cohesive at all, and about 5 minutes into it, I realized I was completely museumed out. Then, I stumbled upon a Bernini statue. I immediately became a Bernini fan. The statue of Apollo is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen—I could have stared at it for hours.

We take the metro to the Vatican. It just didn’t seem right to be in Rome and not go (we are Catholic). When we exit, it begins raining again, and we are starving. Though the Vatican is to the right, something tells us to go left, and we cross the street and run into a local bakery. We are the only folks inside that do not speak Italian (or for that matter, that speak English) and we are the youngest by decades. It smells delicious, and we do a great job pointing and gesticulating with the young girl behind the counter. We end up with more pizza by the kilo and little rolls with olives in the center—probably the best thing I have ever eaten. P goes back to the counter to select dessert and does some more pointing. An Italian grandmother begins gesturing and speaking to him, and to the server. We are able to figure out that she is selecting a different dessert for us than we have picked out, and here choices of a blueberry tart and peach cookie are fantastic. 11 euros with drinks. We buy a bag of olive rolls to go home with us the next day, although we end up eating all of them before the day is over.

Finally, we make it to the Vatican, although I break down and buy an umbrella on the street for 5 euros. The line is stretched for miles, or at least 2 hours. We decide on St. Peters, and the line there is only about 30 minutes long. (also, there is security here. I don’t remember that from last time, but I think it is because we went in through the Vatican museum).

I forgot how truly awesome St. Peters is. It is sheer grandeur, and after the Bernini statues in the morning, it is amazing to see the altar. We are able to get very close to it, and I spend a long time taking it in. We notice a lot of folks coming in and out of a door near one of the tombs, and follow them in. It leads deep into the church, to the Basilica’s treasury (basically, artifacts, but really cool ones). We pay the 6 euros each, which includes an audio guide, and spend an hour. There are some really amazing pieces, and most people would be very impressed with the jewels. We finish here, and head for the Metro. We stop at another local store and pick up some more wine and olive oil.

After we drop off our purchases, we head to the Forum, which we have been saving, minus the short drop in when we first arrived. Splashing through the rain, we decided to get another umbrella, and this time, I get it for 2 euros and some change, which is all I had in my pocket. When we arrive at the Forum, we are astounded to find it closed!! I don’t know what the deal here was, but it was really cool to look down onto an empty forum in the rain, with the mist and the fog—quite a perfect vacation moment.

We climb to the top of the Palatine hill and enter the church there. It is very plain, but I am glad I saw it. We stop to warm up at a café (although we had wine instead of coffee) and have to go back to the hotel, because we are soaking wet at this point. (Although we dry out our shoes and clothes overnight, they are still wet when we return home almost 24 hours later).

The rain keeps us from traveling very far for dinner and we give in and decide to have dinner near the Spanish Steps. I am so glad we did, as this was the best meal of the two weeks here. It is called Enoteca Wine Bar, and it is on the same street as Hotel Panda, towards the Spanish Steps, on the opposite side of the street from Panda. It is small, and hip and very crowded. To get in line for a table, you must find a waitress and be put on the list and then hang out. They seemed to have a huge variety of wine, and it was shortly after a soccer match, so there were folks from a ton of different countries in there.

We order a bruschetta mix, with plain, hummus, traditional and one covered in mushroom gravy. Heaven. P gets a basic tomato fusilli that was fantastic and I have meat ravioli in a cream porcini mushroom sauce. It is right up there with the Laduree macaroon and olive rolls for favorite food moments ever. We finish with a Caprese salad that I wish I had taken a picture of. They served us an entire, unsliced, ball of fresh mozzarella and 2 sliced tomatoes, with a side of oil and vinegar to prepare ourselves. I wish we hadn’t eaten so much, so we could have eaten more. With wine and water, it is $46. This is the first restaurant I will go to when we return.

We try to go to sleep early, as we have an early flight, but I am kept awake by the thin walls and couple next door. Let’s just say, they may have been on their honeymoon.

thanks for posting... I'll be printing out for morning coffee...

I'm so glad you were able to continue this - very enjoyable!

Thank so much for the report, I've really enjoyed the great read.

Thanks for all your kind words. It's fun to have this to look back on (and share with my husband, who hasn't seen it just yet). Wrap up and final thoughts on the way tomorrow.

Erika

I'm so glad you revived the thread. I'd love to see pics. Have you considered posting any?

How do you post pics? Anything specific you'd like pics of?

Erika

Lots of ways. Here's a post presently on the Europe board with folk's favorite sites -

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34847229

Good luck in S. Ga. It's part of my territory. What a change in everything - topography, climate, culture - for the two of you. I hope things are going well!

In fact, the couple from my "table sharing thread" was from Albany! :-)