Rome 10/2009~Day 1 |
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Sunday, October 11, 2009 The day had begun almost 36 hours earlier with the alarm going off at 2:45 am on the 10th of October. What followed was a haze of airports, bad airplane food, a ride into the city worthy of Mario Andretti, and a near-fainting. Fortunately, the day ended with the surprise of a catholic procession through our neighborhood and a lovely meal filled with laughter and hearty discussion among friends. LAX-JFK-FCO Because our flight is scheduled to leave at 6:10 am, I am up at 2:45 (yes, ouch!) for a 3:30am departure from my house. We arrive at the airport at 4:15 and because we've checked in online the day before, we are able to get in a different line to just check our bags. Going through security still feels like undressing; Coat, scarf, shoes, belt, liquids, laptop, bag, purse, all come off and go throught the x-ray machine. The flight from LAX to JFK is 100% full and I am thankful I have an aisle seat. At JFK we have a couple of hours and walk around the terminal in search of someplace we can sit down to eat. Unfortunately, the only place is Chili's. We sit and eat. 'Nuf said. The flight to Rome is also full and I end up watching movies to pass the time, unable to sleep. We arrive in Rome almost an hour ahead of schedule and have no problem going through immigration, getting our bags and clearing customs. The driver from Rome Cabs (www.romecabs.com) is there and waiting for us. He's not familiar with the street our apartment is on, but I'm able to show it to him on a map. Off we go! Zoooooom! It's a whirlwind ride into the city. We arrive at our apartment at 8:30 am, a full hour and a half before the scheduled time we are supposed to meet the owner. My mom and I take a wander around the neighborhood and can't find anything open where we can sit with our luggage for an hour or so. It's a Sunday morning and other than one small bakery (with no tables), nothing is open. We decide I will call the apartment owner at 9am. There are people upstairs in the apartment, but S. and her husband graciously allow us to go upstairs and drop our bags after the other renters leave. S. is dismayed we have to see the apartment messy. I'm just happy we can ditch our bags. While we are there, we deal with the payment and discover I am 45 euros short. I had calculated the rate at 150 euros per day but somehow the agency had added on 45 euros and not detailed this in the email to me (though to be fair, their total included the 45 euros, I just hadn’t noticed it). I think it was for a "cleaning fee", but honestly, I'm too tired to argue. We scrounge for extra money and get that all settled, along with $450 in US dollars (300 euro) as a security deposit we will get back at departure. Then S. starts explaining to me the details of the apartment, specifically the 4 separate bins for different types of trash and recycling and suddenly, I feel like I am about to faint. I'm dizzy and my heart starts to race wildly and it's all I can do not to pass out on the floor. She must have thought I was crazy. I sit down for a moment, catch my breath, and we gather our things to leave for a few hours so she can finish cleaning. "I've never seen you that particular shade of green."
The apartment is only about a block from the Ponte Sisto, so we walk across and into the historical center. We find a cafe in little piazza about a block from the Campo di Fiori and everyone (but me) has a coffee and a snack. We decide Jessica will walk with me back to the apartment and mom and Tris will stop at a grocery store we've passed and pick up some supplies. We are waiting to cross over to the Piazza Trilussa and Jessica looks at me and says, "I've never seen you that particular shade of green." I now know this is not just in my head. I am praying they are done at the apartment, but they aren't. Fortunately, one bedroom is clean and S. graciously allows me to lie down. As soon as my head hits the pillow I am instantly out. Nothing signals one has arrived in Rome quite like the smell of incense wafting from a Catholic Procession. Mom and the girls go have drinks at a cafe in the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. They come back after an hour or so for a rest along with a story about how they'd seen some sort of religious gathering in the Piazza.
At 3pm Jessica leaves to meet up with her college roommate, Mary, who now lives in Milan and has come down to Rome for the day. By 6pm I am feeling normal again and we all meet up to go out for a walk and dinner.
First we walk over the the historical center and to our favorite gelateria, Frigidarium (112 via Governo Vecchio). But wait! Where is our guy Fabrizio (the owner)? He's not there! Note: We discovered Frigidaruim when we were here last year and visited almost every day. We got to know it's friendly owner, Fabrizio and have kept in contact with him via email. When I let him know we were coming back he seemed genuinely pleased. He also told me my web site had brought him a lot of business. So I guess people do read this stuff... Il Fico Ristorante When we arrive the outside patio area is full. They offer us glasses of Prosecco while we wait for a table. After a few minutes, we take a table inside, choosing food over the wait. We order a number of antipasti dishes to share and everyone orders pasta for their main course. While most Italians don’t eat pasta for their main course, this was our first night in Rome and we were still getting into the eating groove.
We have an octopus salad, mixed grilled vegetables and two types of stuffed zucchini flowers; one breaded and fried, the other, which they called a “terrine”, was not a terrine, but rather just the flowers stuffed and baked. The battered and fried ones are very good and came with the traditional anchovy tucked inside along with the cheese. I could eat those all day long. We also have an order of eggplant parmesan.
Il Fico Ristorante, Via di Monte Giordano, 49. Tel:06 6875568, www.ilfico.com After dinner we get Mary into a cab back to her hotel and walk back across the bridge to our apartment. We find the street teeming with people walking, dining outside, drinking, etc. So, when in Rome,...we stop at a gelato place right across from the apartment called Cremi for a late night treat. |
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