The Eternal City

Hey, is it me or do these steps seem Spanish?

So friends, I'm back from Roma and wow, what a great weekend it was!

I left work at noon on Friday and took the tube to meet Franca at Gatwick. Giddy and excited about trip, we decided to start celebrating with a bottle of wine at the airport. Three hours later, we landed in Rome and it was hot and sticky. There's one thing that' really anticlimactic about landing at an airport - not that I expected to have like some mustachioed plump chef spin pizzas in my face as soon as I got off the plane, but you land in Italy and you expect some pizazz and it's like, 'Oh look, a huge parking lot!' Anyway we took a shuttle into the city with a few other travelers and a hilarious Roman driver. After everyone else got out, he started to chit chat, but realizing we were not Italian (or even European for that matter) he got back to yelling aggressively at the traffic. At first I thought the guy was laying it on thick for his foreign passengers, but I think this is what native Romans are like. They yell and bang their hands on the wheel and lean on their horn and say incomprehensible things in Italian out the window.

Finally we get dropped off at our hotel, ditch our bags and head out for dinner. We go to this rather crappy tourist trap for food and though I tried to be as gluttonous as possible (ordered the tortellini in cream sauce) the food was sub par, which was pretty tragic considering it was our first meal in Italy. The bruschetta however was delicious and we got some free drinks care of our waiter, so all in all not a bad night. We headed back to our hotel so we could get a head start on a full day in the morning.

We woke up to crappy weather - hot and humid which was pretty damn nasty. We decided we would take it easy that day, see a couple of things but save the good stuff for Sunday when the weather was supposed to be nicer. We walked across the street to buy a hop on, hop off bus ticket for two days. Unfortunately, we couldn't sit upstairs because it was raining and some dip shit had put decals all over the windows at the bottom of the bus, so we spend an hour staring at black silhouettes of famous Roman landmarks.

Or, you know, you could leave the windows of your tour bus CLEAR so people could see out of it. Just a suggestion.

Anyway, we hoped off at Barberini and headed out for lunch. Found this little cafe that had DELICIOUS looking food in the window. Franca and I split a proscuitto sandwich and tomato flat bread and ohmigod, they were both absolutely amazing. Memories from my jobs at various Italian bakeries/delis/grocery stores flooded back to me and I remembered hoping one day I would actually get to visit this culinary mecca and taste something authentically Italian. It was heavenly, and every morsel of food I ate after that first night was positively mindblowing. If for no other reason, go to Italy for the food.

After that we strolled over to Via dei Condotti to check out la creme de la creme of shopping in Rome. Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci - they were all there and all painfully out of budget but it was nice to window shop. We wandered around some more and found ourselves walking down some beautiful steps covered in pots of bright flowers and decided to snap some pictures. It was only when we reached the bottom that we realized we had been on the Spanish Steps. Such ignorant North Americans.

I had found in my Rome travel guide what was declared by the New York Times to be the best gelato in Rome, so after getting lost several times we finally found Il Gelato di San Crispino. Now, I won't say it wasn't good, but it was almost too gourmet. It was a little bland and too plain. Maybe for the gelato purists out there this would have hit the spot, but we wanted an holy portion of gelato in a cone, with a smaller cone on top for good measure. Anyway, after that, we grabbed some wine and more snacks (notice a theme?) and headed back to our hotel.

That night we got dolled up to within an inch of our lives and set out for a fun-filled evening. We ended up at Piazza de Repubblica for drinks. We sat outside and enjoyed a bottle of wine with a gorgeous porticos and a beautiful fountain. After that, we headed to a pizzeria - which is honestly what I came to Rome for.

Repubblica!

Pizza to me are like the culinary equivalent of blue jeans - they go with everything and the foundation of something beautiful. I'm a woman of simple tastes, so I went with a good old classic, the Pizza di buffala, while Francs got the pizza di funghi, both of which we shared. Before that we had some bruschetta, which again, was amazing. I don't know what the hell they put in those tomatoes but I would kill someone gladitor style for a permanent stock of those in my kitchen. The pizza was incredible, as was the bottle of wine. Afterwards we headed to a martini bar where we drank and enjoyed people watching. Afterwards we headed to an Irish pub which was probably unnecessary but fun none the less. We headed home drunk and tired and ready for sleep as we had a big day to look forward to Sunday.

Sunday we got up super early so we could cram in everything into one day. We got on the bus and headed to the Colosseum. As soon as we got off the bus, we see these two Roman soldiers, and being the perpetural tourist that I am, decided to start snapping pictures. Then the guy calls us over and poses with us, gives us his hat and his sword and we're laughing and he's being a typical perverted Roman saying things like 'Mamma mia' and 'are your breasts silicone?' Obviously I was bowled over by his suave and seductive nature. Anyway he was talking in Italian, his older gladiator friend was taking our picture, Franca was dressed up, we were all having a marvelous time.

Filthy Roman thief!

And then quite abruptly, the laughter died, the props were taken back, the accents seemed to fade and the cheerful mood quickly vanished.

'Five euros each. Five euro for you and five for you.'

Franca was beyond pissed and I felt a little ashamed and embarrassed by what is probably the oldest trick in the Roman book. Take advantage of two ignorant young girls, play nice and then rip the rug out from under them. We begrudgingly gave them the money but vowed never to be ripped off again, which resulted in Franca having some stern words with a couple of over enthusiastic tour guides.

Anyway we get into the Colosseum and I have to say, it was a pretty humbling experience. To think of the millions of people that have walked these ruins before you, the fact that such an ancient structure has withstood the test of time, gravity and inclement weather. The fact that the Romans were so technologically advanced is so mindblowing, even being there I had a hard time conceiving how such a monumental structure was built and still stands today.

After the Colosseum we headed to the Vatican for a little more Roman culture. We got there and the St. Peter's Square was packed. Franca and I stood in line to get into the Vatican and realized that more and more people were cramming into the square - many with huge signs. After standing in the sweltering heat for about 20 minutes, we hear massive, uproarious cheers and hear a voice come on the loud speakers reciting verses in Latin.

Holy shit! It's the Pope!

Pope Benny doing his thing.

Franca and I get through the security gates and then rush to the front of this designated area to get a look at good old Benny himself. There he was, sitting on his big chair way up above with the doors wide open, reading to his people. He was small, and far away, but it was still pretty cool to see him and to experience 200,000 proud and loud Italians screaming and cheering for the HBIC!

After that we headed toured the inside of the Vatican which was beautiful but the Sistine Chapel was closed for the day which sucked big time. We got over that quickly though as we headed off to an outside cafe for food and booze! Franca and I got this delicious pizza garlic bread, I had penne arrabiata and Francs had a salad. It was absolutely delicious and was followed up with a giant double scoup of gelato in a cone with a little cone on top! I had nutella and biscotti and oh man, it was delicious. Rich and tasty and truly satisfying.

After that Francs and I headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap. We got up for our last dinner at a great place across the street from the hotel. Wine and pizza (again, amazing) and we headed back to the hotel for our last night.

Monday morning we woke up and headed to Trevi Fountain - the place was absolutely jam packed with tourists but Franca and I managed to get some good shots. Then we headed to the Pantheon which was unfortunately under construction. We walked around Piazza Navona and checked out the beautiful paintings and restaurants (more cat calls, more 'mamma mias' more groans from us). Everyone in Rome is trying to take your money - street performers, artists, restauranteurs, gladiators (ugh). So you have to sort of ignore them which gets pretty damn tiring after a while.

After that Franca and I made out way to the train station so say goodbye to Rome. Got to the airport really early and decided hey, why not make the most of it, so we got drunk and ate a bunch of panninis. Got on the plane, passed out, got to Heathrow at 10 pm, took the tube home and finally got home and back into my own bed, completely knackered.

So that was an insanely long post about Rome but there's more good news. I was going to wait until it was absolutely certain and now it is so I can tell you!

I'm going to India! Yahoo has asked me to go for work-related purposes and my flight was booked last week, so I leave May 17th to the 25th! I'm going to Bangalore which is the Silicon Valley of India so not exactly a tourist destination but I am going with a coworker and we are going to try and travel for a couple of days afterward - either Goa or Kerala. I'm pretty excited about it and am excited that I won't really have to pay for much! Anyway I will keep you abreast of any updates but that is the latest news from Patsy the world traveler.

Alright friends this post has gone on far too long. I hope you're all doing well and I miss you muchly!

Will write back soon!

Cheers,

Patsy