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Published: April 27th 2009
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Al gets Catholic
Al thought about dropping in on the Pope
His Eminence was a bit busy 13th day - Thursday
The plan:
Drive to Fiumicino, drop off the rental, hop on the train, check into the hotel, head to the Vatican and have memorable last meal in Italy.
What actually transpired:
Drove to the Fiumicino Airport in good time and then proceeded to drive around in circles looking for the gas station that is supposed to be at the entrance to the airport. Finally stopped at the Hilton and was given instructions that were actually quite accurate. The instructions for getting to the entrance to the rental car return - not so accurate. Virtually every airport I’ve ever rented a car at has large signs and lanes specifically for the rental returns. Not at Fiumicino! One has to look for an incredibly small sign at the bottom of a list of other instructions for the parking garage.
It was like an episode of the Keystone Kops. Four sets of eyes missed the little sign on each go around. It seemed like once things went askew, it just didn’t get better. Finally turned in the car without any additional fanfare and then headed to the train station.
While we dithered about which train to take both immediate options
French Cowgirls? Who Knew?
Sure wish I had a cowboy hat like that
I’d fit right in just like this French schoolgirl
thought Al pulled out of the station…gack!! We bit the bullet and jumped onto the Express as we were already at least an hour an a half behind schedule.
We headed to the hotel only to be told that they were overbooked. Fortunately they had another location with rooms available less than a block away. Yet more time was dribbled away.
We finally headed to the Vatican so Sam & Terri could go in and take a look. We arrived and the line was longggg. Apparently the Pope was about to give mass and the line was cut off…doh!
Beth and I stayed and briefly watched the pope give the mass on the large outdoor screens. I sort of thought that it would qualify as “going to mass.” Beth didn’t think so and so I opted for us to go in search of a restaurant in that case.
We stopped at the Spagna station which comes out at the Spanish Steps. There were hordes of drunk high school kids on the steps. They were in groups and engaging in chants about their countries. As soon as one group finished, another group from a different country would start right in. Yeah, the cops
Al gets attention
A tourist filming the adventures of Al were observing to make sure things didn't get out of hand. Apparently these kids hadn't received the memo on all that EU touchy feely "we are the world" stuff.
We are on vacation from high schools kids, all high school kids regardless of their nationality so we walked away as fast as we could and headed toward Barberini Piazza. We walked up the side streets to see what we could find. We walked by a place that immediately gave off the “good food vibe.” I asked a woman that was going into a shop if there was a good place for eats close by and she said that the place we just finished looking at was the best.
The door was open but a chain with a little sign on it was strung across the door. It was 7:25 and the place opened at 7:30, a young waiter came up and I told him I hadn’t eaten all day and “Ho una fame da lupi,” which translates roughly to “I am as hungry as the wolf.” He laughed but said the chef was eating and not ready.
Minutes later he came back and let us and other customers in the
His Holiness digs Al
Al receives a cyber-blessing from the Pope
kind of...sort of... door. The headwaiter as well as all the other waiters were all lined up and ready to head to their stations. The young guy interceded and told the headwaiter that we didn’t have reservations but I hadn’t eaten all day and was as hungry as the wolf. The other waiters laughed and said that obviously I needed to eat soon. They were pretty cool about it and immediately sat us down.
This turned out to be a sweet intercession as the majority of tables were already booked. It filled up quickly and while I took a trip to the loo I became aware of guys with earpieces that came in periodically to check in with some of the groups. It became obvious that these were political types and they were seated at the best tables.
Our waiter was an elderly gent (probably my age..heh) that was just terrific. We started off with a smoked swordfish antipasto, then a bowl of capellini brodo (broth with capellini pasta), then a plate of papardelle pasta alle lepre, then a thick ground steak of lamb and a contorni (vegetable side dish) of artichoke and spinach. We washed this down with a bottle of house
Al doesn't meet his quota
Beth is such a stickler, apparently “viewing” a Mass on a tv screen is not the same as actually “going to Mass”
so Al took his huff and left Chianti. Just when we thought we couldn’t eat another bite our waiter convinced us to try a dolce of fresh wild strawberries, small wild raspberries, blueberries with gelato. We shared a bowl of that and I was immediately sorry that I hadn’t left room for a bowl of my own.
But wait there’s more. After paying the bill the waiter brought us each a grappa. We couldn’t finish the tiny little glasses. It was the most potent grappa we have ever tasted. We took the long way back to the hotel room and were grateful for the walk.
Note: The restaurant that we ate is "Tullio. After we arrived home I googled it and discovered it is a very well known ristorante in Rome...quite famous actually. It is one of "the" places to eat when in Rome. I happily concur. Good food vibe ndeed!
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