Travel Day, Day One and Day Two (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)


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Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome
May 15th 2014
Published: May 15th 2014
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Trevi FountainTrevi FountainTrevi Fountain

Lisa in a happy moment at the Trevi Fountain, not the picture from our first day. She would not let me post that one.
At SFO, no problems getting baggage checked and getting through Security. We enjoyed a Manhattan while waiting for our flight. The flight had a slight delay of approximately 15 minutes. The only issue on this flight was the turbulence towards the last half of the flight. Every time Lisa tried to fall asleep, the plane bounced around. Jim took his happy pill so he got about 4 hours of sleep (the two whiskies served after dinner also helped). Lisa got 1 hour of sleep.



We had a 1 ½ hour layover in London. Jim was looking forward to going to the whiskey shop and also having some fresh hand pump ales before our flight. However, the travel gods decided otherwise. We arrived at Heathrow and were delayed getting to the gate by 15 – 20 minutes. Once we got to a gate, it took forever to get out of the plane – probably another 15 – 20 minutes. We go through the checkpoint for passport verification. Simple right? Wrong. Now we have to go through security again and the conveyer belts with take-on luggage was not moving at all. Lisa was pretty sure we were going to miss
Roman PizzaRoman PizzaRoman Pizza

Inside the pizza bakery during out food tour. The pizza is sold per length you want, up to 3 meters long.
our connecting flight to Rome. We asked a gentleman if there is another line we can go to since we now had about 15 minutes to get through Security and get to the gate before it closed. He said a line was getting ready to open since they had just repaired the x-ray machine that had broken. Another 10 minutes, he opens the new line and we get through but we still have to get to the gate. Once we get to our gate we notice we still have time before boarding and as luck would have it there was a bar close by so Jim ordered a couple of pints and our nerves were settled.



Day 1 – Tuesday

We arrive in Rome to discover that security at the airport in Rome is different than London. We go through the checkpoint for our passports. The gentleman at the checkpoint was more interested in his iPhone than our passports so we get through in less than 1 minute. We see the sign for customs and go to the door marked “nothing to declare”. We literally walk through the door close to the exit of the airport.
In the Wine Cellar with our Tour GuideIn the Wine Cellar with our Tour GuideIn the Wine Cellar with our Tour Guide

Val our tour guide was kind enough to take a picture with us in the wine cellar.




Our driver was delayed to pick us up at the airport to drive us to the hotel. It is a flat rate and that is a good thing because otherwise, Lisa would have been convinced that the driver was trying to drive up the bill. We went in what seemed like circles forever. Each time the driver came to a red light he cursed and sighed heavily. When the police cut him off, he raised his hands in disgust and called them B*&#*)*s. Driving in Rome is something we will NOT be doing!



Hotel Golden is where we are staying and it is a family run hotel with the mother, father and two brothers taking care of everything. They are extremely friendly and we were in a good location for walking to many sites. Papa just nods his head and does not say much but he is always there. After checking in Giuseppe takes out a map of Rome and with a highlighter proceeds to tell us what sites to see, where to eat, and get a good glass of wine. Jim asks where to get a good beer and Giuseppe says only bad
Market at Piazza de CampoMarket at Piazza de CampoMarket at Piazza de Campo

Some of the fruits and veggies available at the market.
beer available in Rome.



After unpacking it was about 7:00 PM so we head out for our first adventure. The first discovery was Trevi Fountain. Jim took a picture of Lisa that looks like she would rather be anywhere else. Lack of sleep can do that to you even when you are on vacation. We were trying to stay awake as long as we could to get on schedule. However we know it will be an early night. We decided to get a bottle of Prosecco and head back to the hotel. However, we look up and see the Coliseum. Well we can’t come this far and not go so off we go. We just walked around it to get a sneak peak at what we will see when we come back on Thursday.



Time to head back to the hotel but Rome does not have a simple layout. There are more twists and turns than a murder mystery novel. We got back around 9:00 or so, enjoyed our Prosecco and were in bed by 10:00. From the time we got up on Monday to start our travel and went to bed in Rome
Tiber RiverTiber RiverTiber River

Looking down the Tiber River from the bridge
on Tuesday, it was 30 hours. Jim had about 5 hours of sleep and Lisa about 1 ½. We expect to sleep well.



Miles walked: 7 ½



Day 2 – Wednesday

Sleep well we did. Jim woke up around 4:00 am with Lisa following shortly thereafter. We put KNBR on the iPad and started listening to the Giants game. That didn’t last long. Imagine our surprise when we woke up and it was 9:00 am. We felt like we had overslept our alarm and needed to get somewhere NOW. We jumped out of bed and rushed to start our day.



Mama takes care of the breakfast and Jim was in heaven with this breakfast. It was buffet style but had a lot of foods Jim likes – mortadella, salami, fresh breads of all kinds, cheese, omelet, fruit and even tiramisu. YUM!



After breakfast we head out for a walk. We have a food tour this evening so we are spending the day exploring. We go to Borghese Park. The grounds are quite large and expansive. We believe this is the second largest park area in Rome. We tried to get tickets for the museum before we left the states but they were sold out for the entire duration of our stay in Rome. The temperature was about 70 degrees but the wind was blowing about 25 MPH so our allergies kicked in.



Following the map Giuseppe gave us we walked back to Trevi Fountain, then on to the Pantheon, Piazza Navorno, Piazza de Campo, and some places we cannot remember. Rome is a busy city and full of tourists so walking around can be challenging especially when pedestrians do not have the right of way. At many of the piazzas there are open markets with stalls that sell fruits and vegetables. Without the ability to cook it was frustrating for Jim to see all that was available.



Jim had researched places to get craft beer in Italy so since it was lunchtime; we went in search of one of them. We found Open Baladin, which has many craft beers to choose from including beers made with American hops like pale ales and IPAs. Since the description of the beers was in Italian it was a crapshoot on what we ordered but every beer we had was outstanding. Our favorite was a local pale ale called Area 51, a hoppy ale that was pleasant. To go with the beers we ordered lunch, an appetizer of deep fried potato balls with pepper and pecorino cheese, Cesar salad, and a Roman style burger. It was all good but made Jim thirsty so we had to order a couple more beers before more walking.



This is a typical big city when it comes to the constant background noise of sirens and horns. However, we have seen some crazy driving in our travels but this is really crazy. You take your life in your hands when you try to cross the street. Follow the locals. As Jim has enjoyed saying “When in Rome….”



After lunch we crossed the Tiber River to try to find another beer pub but got lost so we ended up going back across the river to the Jewish Ghetto area and sat at an outside table at a café and ordered a cocktail to rest our feet. Now it was time to meet up with our travel group for the food tour. Our guide, Val, was very informative and accommodating. We went to 7 different restaurants for tastings and even got a special surprise that was not food related. Quick rundown on the food:



Stop 1 – Small Café, Deep fried artichokes and prosecco

Stop 2 – Wine cellar of a restaurant, Lentils, salami and bread, meatballs and bread, cheese with artichoke rennet. All of this was served to us as we sipped wine in the wine cave below the restaurant.

Stop 3 – Biscotteri, to taste 3 different cookies – lemon, shortbread and pecan. None of these were made with butter. They are vegan. Most used olive oil.

Stop 4 – Cheese and Meat market – we sampled pecorino Romano cheese

Stop 5 – Deep Fried Rice balls at a small take away spot

Stop 6 – Roman Pizza Restaurant – they made 2,700 pizzas a day. The pizza oven was about 12’ deep and fired with hazelnut shells

Stop 7 – Osteria, Bread and smoked tuna, ravioli, mushroom pasta, carbonara pasta and wine

Between stop 7 and stop 8, we got a special treat that is not part of the tour. We were taken to the Santa Maria church where we were given access to their original pharmacy. It was closed down late in the 1800’s and all the original materials are still there. This was very special and so interesting. We were told we could not take pictures and it is such a shame because it would have been nice to show.

Stop 8 – Gellateria. You get 2 scoops. Lisa had chocolate (because you have to) and cream, ginger, and honey. Jim had pistachio and hazelnut.



The tour was through Eating Italy and because of our experience we highly recommend the tour. We met a nice couple from Perth Australia and we ended up walking back with them from Trastevere to their hotel where we said our goodbyes and proceeded to walk to our hotel. It has been only a little over a day and we already feel like we have walked all over Rome, probably because we have!



Tomorrow we go to the Coliseum.





Miles walked: 13 ½

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17th May 2014

When in Rome...
The ights, sounds, and food sound so welcoming! Is it true--only bad beer in Rome? Enjoy!
17th May 2014

Not only bad beer
Karyn, we did find some good beer although we had to search for it. In fact, we went to our favorite beer bar (Open Baladin) almost everyday. Lisa doesn't think it is a coincidence but we "stumbled" on it again on our third day even though this was not our original destination. Go figure!

Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0689s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb