Roma, Roma, Roma

We went to Rome (Roma in Italian) last week. It was really fantastic; I think Rome is my new favorite city for visiting. The sheer volume of stuff is just overwhelming and awe inspiring. Museums and ruins, and very inexpensive as far as entry fees, usually about 5 Euros. The most expensive ticket was for the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel at 14Euros. The ticket for the The Colosseum and Palantine Hill was 9 Euros (it is normally 12 Euros, but there were no special exhibits, thus the discount); if we had bought a Roma Card, we could have used it to get into it for free.

Old city walls along Corso d'Italia, across from Villa Borghese

There are a few discount cards you can get, the Roma Card being the one we looked at. It was 25 Euros and lasts for three days. It gives you unlimited public transport, two museum entries for free, and discounts at a bunch of other museums. The problem was that we could not determine how much the discount was at the museums, so we could not determine what the break even point would be. Besides, Rome is a very walkable city, so we did not really need to use the public transport. And to be honest, from our observations, the public transport in Rome is lacking compared to many of the other cities we have visited. The subway was grubby and sort of laid out badly as far as where the lines ran, and pretty crowded the one time we tried it, especially at the main train station, Stazione Centrale Roma Termini. And the buses were packed full like sardine cans, which is probably lovely in the summer when it gets very hot there.

Outside the Colosseum, which interestingly enough, does not get its name from its size, but rather from a 120ft tall bronze statue of Emperor Nero that once stood outside of the Colosseum

You really have to watch out for the drivers in Rome, they are absolutely mad. Lane markings, where there are any, don't seem to matter, which proves to be entertaining when watching drivers trying to merge or change lanes. You have to watch yourself when you are in a crosswalk, even if you have the light, because the drivers do not slow up. We were buzzed at least twice when we were in the crosswalk with the light, so bring extra underwear. So, disregard anything I have said about French drivers in previous posts; the Italians, at least in Rome, should not be driving. No. Not at all.

Inside the Colosseum.

The Spanish steps.

Living here in the South of France is expensive. The prices for food and restaurants, and shopping are comparable to the Bay Area, but the salaries are not. Even. Close. So it was really nice to find that everything in Rome was cheaper than here. The restaurants and sandwich shops, even at the airport, are what I would call cheap. We got pastries and coffees in the morning at this restaurant for 4.60Euros. For dinner, the most we paid was 43Euros; that was for 1/2 L OF house wine, splitting AN antipasta, 2 pasta dishes, splitting a meat dish, two coffees, and splitting a desert. Need I say more.

NOTE: When in Italy, when you go for a coffee, it is cheaper to just stand at the coffee bar instead of sitting down at a table. Go into the restaurant, order and pay at the cashier, take the ticket to the bar, and Bob's your uncle.

On top of St. Peter's.


St. Peter's

Not only were the prices great, but the food was excellent. Me, I love Italian food and pastries. At home, I always liked the Italian bakeries and now I know why they are so good, because Italian pastries just rock! They are not overly sweet, just a touch of sweetness, with flaky cookie goodness; canolis, cookies, little twisted thingies, so good! And with all due respect to our French hosts, we prefer Italian coffee to French coffee. I think it is because the Italians use a darker roast, which makes theirs less bitter than the French. Whatever, we had several cafe lattes and cappuchinos a day. If you order a "latte", you will get a glass of milk, so remember, it is "cafe latte". The house wines we had at the restaurants ranged from 5Euros to 8Euros for a liter. Yes, oh yes, a liter, and they were good. And effective. The pasta dishes were excellent and the veal was great (little baby cows locked in a pen make for good eatin'). Oh, and the desserts, did I mention the desserts?

St. Peter's Plaza

The Italians have been very friendly in all the cities we have been to. Like I have said in previous posts, I have no problem with the French insistence upon speaking French in France. It is their country, so their language, fair enough. But the Italians seem happy to speak English (which was much better than my Italian, which is non-existent), and even if you only know a couple of Italian words they seemed to be appreciative. They also don't seem to take it personally if you hack their language (which I do).

Trevi fountain.

Oh, yeah, we came across at least 4 Irish pubs in Rome and at least one person selling flowers at dinner. It wouldn't be a trip without them. We did not see a Starbucks though.

The Forum, which is where it all began. Hey, this is nothing like Caesar's in Vegas!!

We stayed at a hostel, the Alessandro Palace. It was probably one of the better hostels we stayed at. It was a 10 minute walk to the train station, the rooms were pretty clean and updated, and you could get a big bottle of Peroni beer (66CL, basically 2 bottles) for 3Euros in the bar. They also had a complimentary breakfast in the morning, cereal and bread and coffee. The coffee was, like the French say, le shit, so we went to the restaurant across the street for breakfast after the first morning. But all in all, a good place to stay. The only thing we did not like was that the toilet and the shower were in the same room in the dorms. We were in a 6-bed mixed dorm, and each dorm had its own shower and toilet. It would have been better if the toilet was seperate from the shower, especially in the mornings. But other than that, no complaints.