Rome-Paris Report
 

We’ve just returned from a Rome/Paris trip. I intended to keep a daily journal, but got out of that pretty quickly, so most of my observations will have to be from memory.
We flew out of JFK on Eurofly with a great promotional fare. The trip over was uneventful and pleasant (we managed to snag the exit row seats). It was raining when we arrived and having had no experience with Rome or FCO we were happy that we had arranged for romeshuttlelimousine.com to pick us up. The driver did not speak English nor did we speak Italian, but it was no problem at all.
We rented an apartment on via natale del grande, using sleepinitaly.com. Prior to leaving I had questioned the apartment building number as it did not seem to exist and sure enough I was correct. The driver had a cell phone and was able to communicate with sleepinitaly and it was quickly cleared up. The owner arrived at that same time. I have no idea why the number was given to us incorrectly.

Recommendations:
Accomodations: sleepinitaly.com – communication was good, as was choice of apartment rentals. The one glitch with the apartment number was cleared up.
I would certainly use them again.
Restaurants: Alle Fratte di Trastevere – I made a reservation on their website. The restaurant was around the corner from where we were staying and was convenient for our last night. The restaurant itself was comfortable and nicely decorated. The staff were friendly. We were seated immediately at a table for 2 in the open window/doorway; they were great seats. The food was very good. We had 2 different bruschetta; I had a ravioli in cream sauce with sausage and my husband had veal scallopini, which he enjoyed. We both had a salad. My salad was a delicious insalata caprese with a huge ball of buffalo mozzarella. We had the house wine. For dessert we had gelato at a stand on the street.
Transportation from airport: romeshuttlelimousine.com They were only 35 euro. They were waiting for us at the airport and got us directly to the apartment and avoided traffic by using a scenic route into Trastevere. The driver was helpful with locating the apartment. We also used Terravision for a round trip to and from Ciampino (13 euro). For us this was easy and convenient, but there are cheaper ways to go. I booked my ticket online, but you could just buy the ticket from the driver. They parked their buses on Via Marsala alongside the Termini station.

We did a lot of walking and when we got to the point where we needed to rest our feet, we used the tram and buses. We found that nobody validates the tickets on the bus. I was law abiding and did validate, but near the end of the trip, even I was just riding.

More later.

Thanks opaldog. Waiting for more!

Welcome back! Looking forward to the rest of your report (Rome for memories; Paris for previews.)

Yep... I'm waiting as well.
And, this will bring it back to the top.

I'm at work right now trying to catch up. I'll try to get something on before too long. Thanks for the interest.

I did a lot of Fodor’s reading on Rome before we left. The usual questions people ask are things such as, “What should I wear?” I found that in Rome everyone wore jeans but me. I saw American (Levi) jeans and all sorts of designer jeans. People wearing them were young, old, thin, fat; in other words all kinds. My husband wore only jeans and was happy about it. I had forced him to bring a pair of black pants, which he never wore. He did have a sport jacket which he wore a lot. I had black and gray slacks. For tops I had white, black, gray, chartreuse. I also had a jean jacket and black sweater. For shoes I had easy spirit sneaker shoes that were camoflouge green with brown stripes. They had elastic strings that pulled tight, no tie. They were very comfortable and fit in with the other types of sneakers people were wearing. I also had black ecco shaker shoes. In Italy I felt my age in my comfortable walking shoes. Italian women (in Rome) like to wear high heels sandals and close fitting pants and tops. They looked good and could pull it off, I don’t know if I could.

There were also a lot of questions about apartments. Having never stayed there I took a chance on Trastevere and was glad we did. We really liked the area. It was not all the same in Trastevere. Out street, via natale del grande had everything we needed; restaurants, cafeterias (patisserie and coffee), cheese shops, clothes stores, tabacchi, hardware, bank with ATM, etc. The Oviesse Department store with a Standa grocery store in the basement was right around the corner. Viale di Trastevere was one block away with easy bus and Tram stops nearby. It was a quiet street and really had a neighborhood feel to it. The farther into the Trastevere you got the more crowded and noisy it was at night with club goers. If that’s your thing then fine, but I’m not into that and I was happy to be where we were. The apartment was very nice and the owner was also very pleasant. It was clean and large. It was furnished with older but well maintained furniture and there was original artwork all over the walls. The bathroom was large and very clean as was the kitchen. The only complaint that I had was that being on a courtyard, it was dark. There was only one window and the lighting in the apartment was not good, you kind of felt as though you were going into a cave. Knowing this I would seek an apartment with a front facing window.

On our second day, a Saturday, we had reservations for the Vatican tour. We had faxed the Vatican a month before, as instructed by readers and the Vatican alike, and the day before we were to leave they faxed back with the reservation. We didn’t have to do anything further except check in 30 minutes ahead. We did get to bypass a line that looked to be at least 2 hours long. We also were told that we only had to check in 10 minutes prior. We were assigned an official Vatican tour guide, who was rather strange, to say the least. She trooped our group around, stopping us here and there and babbled on about completely off topic subjects. She ended each sentence with “blah, blah, blah”. It didn’t take long for people in the group to take off their headsets and wander off. Some people completely left the tour. I am not a tour person and I basically just wanted to avoid the long lines. After this experience I am still not a tour person. I did enjoy the experience of the Vatican museum, just not the tour guide.

We walked back passing the Spanish Steps, which were so crowded I didn’t go up, although my husband did. We picked up a pretty tasty gelato from a store near there. I had chocolate and coffee. Not too original, but delicious. My husband had mango and pistachio. After that we stopped at Tazza di Oro and didn’t find anything different about their coffee as opposed to the coffee we had each morning at our local cafeteria which we actually enjoyed more. As we left that area we came into a small square (can’t remember name) and at that moment the bells started to ring in the church, it was to me a real Rome moment. We passed by the unbelievably packed Trevi Fountain and got a shot of the fountain and all the people crowded around it. We headed back to our neighborhood and bought some outfits for our 2 granddaughters. Dinner that night was back up by the Vatican. This time we figured out the bus and rode up. We ate at Dino & Tony’s. My son recommended it to us. As far as dining experiences go, it was by far the most different and energetic we had on our trip. It was a small restaurant with inside and outside seating. We were seated immediately inside and began to watch the show. Dino & Tony ( I assume) were racing all over the place, in and out of the kitchen, the bar area, outside and all over again. They never stopped. They brought the food and the only things you were asked was if you wanted fish or meat for the secondi and if you wanted white or red wine. The quality of the food was actually not important it was, as I said the show. We were served a plate of antipasti, mostly fried and pizza. Then we had pasta (rigatoni) with a creamy, peppery sauce. The secondi was a pork with potato dish and a whole white fish on a plate with nothing else. Dessert was an icy type thing with cream on top and a tiramisu. A digestive was slammed down on the table. It was liquoricini (?). Tasted like licorice. When it was time to leave Dino and Tony both came over and gave us a hearty hand shake and a buono serra. I have never had such a send off. We walked all the way back to the apartment along the Tiber and dared to wade through the club goers in the Trastevere. We slept well that night.

I am seriously considering a Rome/Paris trip, so your report is perfect timing for me!

Thanks...can't wait for more.

Great trip report! Thanks for sharing. Our Vatican tour guide for the official Vatican tour was very good. I am sorry your guide was not. We ate lunch at Dino and Tony's too after our day at the Vatican. We were laughing so hard we were crying. The food was decent, but it is our most fun meal memory for sure.

Thanks again.

I, too, highly can rcommend Sleep In Italy. I had a wonderful apartment in Rome last week right next to Campo di Fiori. The transaction was flawless.

Sunday morning I discovered that the alarm on our clock was not working. We definitely needed this as we had an a.m. flight to Paris on the following Tuesday. After our now daily cappuccino and espresso at the neighborhood cafeteria we walked down to the Porta Portese Flea Market. The market was huge and similar to other flea/junk markets in the U.S. and Paris that I have been to. We walked around for quite some time, actually looking for an alarm clock. I never did buy one. I think I felt intimidated by the language; I shouldn’t have. My husband made his one and only purchase on the trip, a gnocchi maker for 2 euro. The day was sunny and after we finally found our way out of the market we ended up alongside the Tiber. We walked up aways. There were many families walking and biking along the river. There were also people fishing on the river bank. We walked back up through the Trastevere south of Viale di Trastevere and back to “our neighborhood”. We picked up some cheese, salami, bread, and Peroni beer at the Standa. It was actually pretty good. We had lunch back at the apartment.


An observation and comparison; In Ireland there is a pub on every corner, in Rome there is a church on every corner. It was particularly impressive to hear all the church bells ringing. At one point we were up on the Giancolo and the bells rang at noon. It sounded as if there was a rolling chorus of pealing bells all over the city. Another "Roman moment".

We had reservations for the Borghese Gallery but decided to forego them as we didn't really want to be tied down to a reservation and also wanted to be outside in the city. We found the H bus at Piazza Sonnino and climbed on. We were packed like sardines. Needless to say, there was no validating of tickets going on. We had decided to try and find the location of the Serendipity Residence where we would be staying our last night in Rome. We were returning from the Paris portion of our trip the night before our flight back to the U.S. and wanted to stay somewhat near Termini. I chose the Serendipity Residence from recommendations on Trip Advisor, more on that later. Termini wasn't nearly as bad as I had read. We located the Terravision bus stop and walked up Via Marghera to the Serendipity on Viale Precastro (?). It was in a large building and appeared to be ok. I like to know where I'm going when I arrive late at night into a strange train station. After this we decided to walk down down Via Cavour and over to the Colisseum and the Roman Forum. They were both impressive, but crowded. We didn't go into the Colisseum, but did take pictures. We walked back from there going through the Ghetto area. Being Sunday I expected more to be going on in the Jewish neighborhood of the Ghetto. In Paris on Sunday the Jewish area of the Marais is very busy and alive.

We decided to eat locally for dinner and ended up at Da Vittorio Pizzeria off of Piazza San Cosimato. It was a nice, small spot that I had read a recommendation for in one of the travel books in the apartment. I had the house gnocchi and a salad. It was quite tasty. I however think that my gnocchi is a bit better. After dinner we walked into the Trastevere and it almost immediately became very crowded with club goers just on the streets. They were not being rowdy (it was still fairly early) but it was pretty striking that on a Sunday night there was so much going on. Next day Monday; last full day in Rome.

Monday in Rome was sunny and we decided to take a walk from the Frommer's Trastevere walk that took you up the Giancolo. One street that we seemed to always be on was Via San Francesco a Ripa. On the north of Viale di Trastevere it went up toward the center of Trastevere, Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. The walk then took us along a narrow, cobblestoned "alley", Via della Lungara. It was set down below the embankments of the Lungotevere. The size of the cars that squeeze along the "alley" are unbelievable. There is barely room to walk. We ended up heading up a long brick stairway that came to the Passeggiata del Giancolo. This roadway runs along the ridge of the Giancolo and gives a beautiful panoramic view of Rome. There were other people taking a similar walk. There was a park and places to sit along the way. This was the spot where the bells started to ring all over Rome. We headed back down into the Trastevere and over to Piazza San Cosimato to our apartment. That night we had dinner at Alle Fratte di Trastevere www.allefratteditrastevere.com I already mentioned this and would recommend it. The next day was our last. The taxis were planning a strike and we had a morning flight on EasyJet out of Ciampino. Rather than take a chance on a taxi we decided to get up early and leave the apartment at 5:00 a.m. We were the only people on the street. It was great. We walked along the quiet, dark streets onto Viale di Trastevere. The night buses were racing along back to the depot. We walked over to Largo Argentina and waited for the bus to Termini which was set to begin at 5:30 a.m. Despite the taxi strike there were a couple of taxis cruising for fares. One driver passed us a few times and stopped each time trying to get us to get into his car. The bus did come and we quickly arrived at Termini where we had already arranged to take Terravision bus to Ciampino. The bus stops on Via Marsala alongside the train station. There were already people waiting and it didn't take long to board the bus and get underway to the airport. The ride to Ciampino was interesting. We rode out of the city in an area that we hadn't seen. There were roman ruins outside of the city alongside the highway. Ciampino was more like a bus station. I was impressed with EasyJet. I had read some negative things about them, but we had no problems. The plane boarded quickly and we took off on time and arrived at Orly on time. The descent into Orly gives you a view of Paris; the Eiffel Tower and Montparnasse tower stood out. This is a view you don't get flying into CDG. We quickly got our luggage ( as we were not able to carry on) and bought our tickets for the Orlyval, which brought us to Antony RERB and onto Chatelet. We walked from there to our apartment up off of Rue de Temple.

We rented from vacationinparis.com I can recommend this company, but I can't recommend the apartment that we just stayed in. The neighborhood was ok. When we arrived at 1:00 p.m. many of the stores were closed as it was "V Day". We did find during the week that it was a busy area with many bijoux stores that sold mostly wholesale. There was a monoprix around the corner, which was convenient. There were restaurants all around and Place de Republique was 2 blocks away. I think the problem was the apartment. It wasn't ready, the manager was still there washing sheets and cleaning. We were kind of shocked at the size of the place. One guest wrote in the guestbook that it was like a hamster cage and I had to agree. The pictures as always made the place look much larger. I knew it was going to be small, but I was surprised. The loft area was a mattress on a piece of plywood (that was the loft)reached by a rickety set of ladder type steps. The cable tv did not work and the dsl internet connection kept coming disconnected. We did fix that with a few strategically placed books laid on and under the wires. The view was basically on an air shaft and the apartment was not clean. That bothered me the most. The first apartment we rented from vacationinparis.com was wonderful. I would still rent from them, just not this particular apartment. We had to go out into the neighborhood to wait for the apartment to be cleaned (which it really was not very well). We came back at 2:30 and the manager was just finishing up. The moral of the story, you get what you pay for ($125 per night). We got out and did alot of walking that day. The weather was cool and damp, unlike Rome which was sunny and warm. Oh, well. We ended up walking down to the river near the apartment we rented last. We both agreed not to pass it and make ourselves feel worse. We ended up having dinner at Brasserie Isle St. Louis. I had my usual omelet mixte with pomme frite and my husband had the charcroute. We headed over to the Trocadero and watched the Eiffel Tower twinkle on the hour. It started to pour at this point, but it was fairly "magical". We headed back to the metro and up to Place de Republique to try the loft for the first night.