Wednesday, 6/19

Roma!

Before our reward of pizza and beer, we had to contend with the bustling crowd dismounting the plane.  Joyce was used to deplaning in a terminal and was surprised to have to haul her flight-weary butt and two bags down steep steps from the plane directly onto the tarmac. All loaded down with our carry-on luggage, we herded her onto a shuttle where we were truly packed in like cattle, standing backpack to backpack with one another and wedged against our fellow passengers hurtling toward the airport terminals.  As she struggled to keep her balance on the bumpy tram ride, mom remarked exhausted but full of good humor, “I know now why you invited me on this trip... you’re trying to kill me!”  We had a good laugh but our work was not done.  We had to walk swiftly through the airport, toting our bags all the way to get our passports stamped and to meet Francesco, who would be our driver through the wild Roman Streets and deliver us to our apartment. 

Francesco’s wild ride down the two lane highway revealed the first of the Roman landscape to Joyce.  She gazed through travel weary eyes at cylinders of hay in the fields and the towering apartment buildings with laundry flying like flags from their balconies.  The outer city soon gave way to ancient structures and cobbled streets.  As we rounded one corner, I was able to point behind us at the Coliseum in the distance. Once in our neighborhood, Francesco had to take us around the block twice and ask a local for directions, but we found a green wooden door on a quiet lane that led to our third floor apartment. Upstairs, Felipi was waiting to check us in.  The air conditioning in our white walled flat was stirring the billowy curtains creating a beautiful oasis from our travel. Our apartment has an elegant living area with white couches and ottomans (a must for tired feet).  Joyce has her own bedroom and bathroom, small and simple but comfortable and private. Greg and I have a similar bedroom with attached bathroom and we share a tiny dining room table and a kitchen cubicle with just enough space to stow some yogurt for breakfast in the little fridge and scare up some plates and cups for a take away lunch. Speaking of lunch, after a twelve hour flight filled with subpar airplane fare, we were in need of some real food. Luckily our favorite Roman pizza spot was just around the corner.  Joyce got the experience of gesturing for her desired slice and enjoyed a much needed diet coke while Greg and I were refreshed by two very large bottles of Peroni beer.  Our first pizza did not disappoint. Greg and Joyce shared a veggie medley of tomatoes, zucchini, potato and rosemary with cheese. I devoured my slice of fresh mozzarella and ripe cherry tomatoes with fragrant basil. We popped into the corner market to buys some staples for our apartment and stumbled across Greg’s favorite gelato stand. It was time to indoctrinate Joyce into the tradition of post meal gelato. Her first cup was a rich hazelnut and pistachio. Greg and I opted for the refreshing lemon and lime and mango and pineapple, respectively.  Now with food in our bellies and very little sleep, a nap was in order. We napped until it felt like dinner time, showered, and in clean clothes, feeling fresh and renewed we perused our neighborhood for dinner options.  We landed at a restaurant Greg and I had visited on our last trip, as we were surprised that many of the places we tried to pop into required a reservation. La Travenella was booked as well, but the server looked at one of the reserved tables for three whose original owners had still not arrived to claim it, bit his knuckle and hid the reserved sign behind his back, beaconing us in.  We were so glad we landed at this little restaurant, aside from having a friendly good humored staff, the food was outstanding. I am so glad this was Joyce’s first dinner in Rome. She ordered a tender ravioli stuffed with a delicate blend of spinach and ricotta and drenched in buttery olive oil with fried sage. She shared a bite, it was superb.  I had the creamy tagliatelli in lemon sauce, rich but zesty deliciousness coated every fresh strand of pasta.  Greg had the pasta alla carbonara, a delicate spaghetti coated with egg, cheese, and bacon.  After sharing our pasta and a bottle of wine, we were ready for a little sightseeing. But after the chef insisted we split two deserts, a caramel custard and tiramisu, it was imperative that we move to burn off some of those delicious calories.  We walked our full tummies to the Trevi Fountain, a magical moonlit scene full of romance and wishes and the hundreds of people making them. The Pantheon was next on our list, though it is closed at night the sight of that magnificent building and its charming piazza in the glow of the street lights were a delight to behold.  Trying to follow the charming little lanes home, we temporarily misplaced ourselves and ended up on the banks of Tevere, the opposite direction of our apartment. So we wandered through a tangle of lanes and ended up in Piazza Navona, a long rectangular piazza flanked by high-walled museums on both sides with three fountains in between. The walk was more than we had bargained for at that late hour and when we finally got home it was after midnight and we were tired.  They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, but still we managed to visit some major sights in one night.

Thursday, 6/20

We slept rather late the next morning, when we asked J what she wanted to do today, she replied, “What, there’s more? I thought we saw it all last night!”  We took her to our neighborhood café and had cappuccino and pastry for breakfast.  Then we had some important business to attend to, we needed to get our Roma Passes, so we could ride the Metro and get into our sights for a reasonable fee.  After getting our passes, it was time for Joyce’s first ride on the Metro.  I teased her as the train on the opposite tracks approached and an expansive twenty-foot gap was left between us and the train on the other side of the platform, “So now we are going to jump across to board the train.”  She smiled, luckily she knew it was a joke, and we waited for the other train to arrive at our platform.  We took the Metro to Termini station where we needed to get our Eurail passes activated by a station attendant.  We leave for Florence on Saturday and we didn’t want to wait until our early morning train ride to get the pass activated.  It is a good thing we didn’t wait as the lines were long and it would have made for a stressful morning.  All of our errands had made us hungry, so we grabbed some panini at a familiar deli on Via Cavour and headed back to our room for lunch and a short nap.  Our afternoon consisted of a journey across the river to Trastevere.  This is a section of Rome Greg and I had hoped to explore on our last trip, but we were unable to find the proper bus.  So what did we do this time? We walked!  Joyce is getting very suspicious of these walks as they always end up being longer than we expect, but she is certainly getting her exercise.  On the way there, we saw the Forum, Teatro Marcello, and Isola Tiberina which is the island in the middle of the river.  Trastevere ended up being very charming indeed.  Cobbled neighborhoods with wrought iron balconies dripping with brightly colored geraniums from window boxes and terraces.  We found a bench where we all three rested our barking feet (perches such as these are rare in Rome), and watched the locals enjoy a typical evening.  Grandpa arrived on his moped to scoop up his nine month old grandchild from the arms of the doting mother.  Proud grandpa popped into each shop showing off and giving other locals a chance to coo over the baby. One shop owner sat outside enjoying her local gelato and smoke, as all her regular customers greeted her with friendly smiles as she enjoyed her afternoon treat.  We stopped into a corner bar for an apertivo and enjoyed a Roman rarity, ice!  A cooling Aperol spritz and the smooth tunes of Depeche Mode fueled us to walk a little further and visit the church Santa Maria di Trastevere and we were lucky to find the six o’clock mass beginning and hymns being sung as we viewed the beautiful gold ceiling and amazing stained glass windows.  We finished our tour of this quaint village and headed to the ristorante where we had made a reservation earlier.  Surely we would be hungry after all that walking and we would be ready for dinner at 7:30 when they opened.  Perhaps because of the hearty meal we had last night or the heat of the day, or the jet lag; none of us were very hungry. Luckily our server didn’t mind at all if we ordered small plates and shared.  We enjoyed a spicy arugula and radicchio salad with baby cherry tomatoes and a vinaigrette that we got to dress ourselves at the table with salt, olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar.  Grilled artichokes were rich and earthy, but a pleasantly vegetarian addition to our meal.  This girl has been missing her veggies!  Finally Greg ordered a potato gnocchi, tender potato dumplings in a cheesy tomato sauce which was delivered to the table and served in a frying pan. After our shared light meal, we all felt refreshed and ready to brave the walk home.  Once back in our neighborhood we were ready for gelato.  This time I tried the stracciatella and dulce de caramel, Greg opted for stracciatella and tiramisu, Joyce tried the refreshing peach. To bed early, because tomorrow morning will be our visit to the Coliseum.