Honeymoon: Day 7

We were up bright and early on Day 7.  It was time to go home.

We arrived at the airport two hours before our departure time.  Our itinerary listed our flight as through Air Italia, but every ticketing agent we tried to work with told us that they couldn't help us.  Finally we found a lady that told us that Delta had cancelled our reservation, and that she was going to have to put us on as standby.  We checked our bags with her, and went to the area for standby check in.  I'm now a bit panicked.  What if we don't make this flight?  Then we won't make our connection which we are confirmed and checked into!  What if our bags don't make the flight?  So much that can go wrong......and I'm a big worrier anyway.

After checking in with the standby desk, we went to grab breakfast.  We each got a Coke Light and split a ham and Swiss on foccacia bread.   We also had these little cream puff pastries that I couldn't resist.  They were wonderful.  Finally 30 minutes passed, and the man working the desk informed us that we were confirmed on our flight, and we could go to the gate.  Hooray!  We were on our way home, but we weren't seated together.

View from window on flight from Rome to Milan

We had two stops before we made it to Little Rock.  Our first stop was in Milan.  I wish we could have had a bit of time to venture out of the airport, but we had less than two hours to make our connection.  We went straight to the gate for our next flight, but found out that we should have claimed our bags after landing in Milan and then re-checked them.  Great......another huge ordeal to stress me out.  The women working the Delta desk were quite helpful though, and were able to get our bags to the plane after a good 20-30 minutes of phone calls.

Once on the plane, we could finally relax.  We had our extra 6" of leg room, and were ready to relax.  There were four movies shown on our flight from Milan to Atlanta.  First was "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".  We both were asleep before we made it to the end, and I woke to catch the last hour of "Mr. Popper's Penguins".  If you haven't seen this movie, I wouldn't suggest investing any time into it.  Next up was "Jumping the Broom".  I had never heard of this movie, but it kept my attention better than the previous two options.  Last we saw "Larry Crowne".  All in all, the four movies didn't really do much to make the time pass quickly.  Ten and a half hours on a plane is a bit much.

After a quick stop in Atlanta, we were on our way again.  We were home (with luggage) by 8:30pm.  We finished the evening with dinner from Chipotle, and were asleep by 10pm.  It was good to be home.

Honeymoon: Day 6

Day six we slept past breakfast.  I was beginning to feel a bit congested due to allergies.......and perhaps due to walking around in the rain our first day in Rome.  That said, we got ready and headed to the train stop first thing.

We stopped for lunch at Ristoro della Salute dal 1920 before heading to the Colosseum.  We must have been well ahead of schedule for lunch as we were their only table.  We each ordered water and a pizza.  This pizza was on cracker thin crust.  We had one mushroom pizza and one prosciutto.  They were tasty.

After lunch, we crossed the street and got in line to tour the Colosseum.  Tour guides approached us to tell us that we could skip the two hour wait in line by hiring them, but we decided to risk it and skip the guide.  The wait to enter was only about 1/2 an hour max, and it saved us about 20 Euros by not hiring the guide.

The Colosseum was full of tourists, and it was difficult to get around without bumping into someone.  We were able to pick up bits of information from tour guides that had groups near where we were and read everything posted that we could.  It was amazing.  I had always heard stories of the gladiators fighting there, but reading about the other stuff that went on was pretty amazing.  I had no idea that wild animals were brought in and "hunted" by men that had to fight to make it out alive while people sat and watched.  I'm certainly glad that we have other forms of entertainment today.  ha!

After we left the Colosseum, we walked across the street and wandered through the Palatine Hill area.  Excavations have shown people to have lived here since 1000BC.  This hill is directly between the Colosseum and Circus Maximus (which we did not get to see).  It also overlooks the ruins of the Roman Forum.

Wish our pines grew like these do

Stadium of Domitian

While I'm snapping shots, Jtl is texting 

Ruins at the Roman Forum

Next we took the train to the Barberinni stop.  We were on a mission to find the Hard Rock Cafe...... believe it or not, after getting a tshirt from the New Orleans Hard Rock my 12 year old is a fan of their shirts.  This area of Rome was quite nice.  We saw more restaurants with outdoor dining, and even spotted LaScala Restaurant.

That evening we had dinner at Red by il Padellaccio.  There were several men working in this restaurant, but no women.  They had the neatest wine racks in this restaurant, but most people were focused on the soccer game that was being shown.  While looking at the menu, I noticed "rocket" listed again on several items.  I decided to get something with this ingredient since it was our last night.  I went with the appetizer described as  prosciutto, mozzarella, olives and rocket.  As it turns out, rocket is simply a form of lettuce.......and quite tasty.  For our entrees, I ordered ravioli with pink sauce and Jtl had rigatoni with tomato, bacon and hot peppers.  Both were quite tasty.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped into a grocery store looking for hand sanitizer.  Instead, I found Santa Margherita Pinot Grigot for 7.89 Euros.  For real?  Why did I not load up my suitcase with this for our return home?  Why are we paying nearly $30 a bottle here?  That's crazy!

Next stop was at Palazzo del Freddo for gelato.  This is the oldest gelato factory in Italy.  It was amazing.  Jtl had chocolate and tiramisu.  I went with plain chocolate.  We both opted for the fresh whipped cream on top.  As a tourist, I took pictures and didn't worry about the kid that found this to be amusing.

Honeymoon: Day 5

Day five began with our free continental breakfast at Hotel Taormina.  The offerings in Rome were not quite as good as what we had in Paris.  Each place setting had three rolls that were what I normally would have considered dinner rolls if I were at home.  There were a few soft cheeses to choose from, crackers and more bread.  We ate quickly before heading out to find the Metro line heading to Vatican City.

We arrived at Vatican City around 10am.  We were quickly approached by an English speaking man offering us a tour of the Vatican museum.  He explained that tickets for the museum would be 20 Euros each, but for 10 Euros more per person we could have a guide.  After a bit of debate, we joined the tour guide.

The museum was amazing.  So much to see, and not enough time to take it all in.  Our tour lasted two hours, and ended in the Sistine Chapel.  It was all so beautiful.  I wish that there had not been so many people in the Chapel and that our guide had allowed us a bit more time to look around in some of the areas.  I did sneak a few shots in the last room we visited before entering the Sistine Chapel.  The Chapel was so full that we didn't stay long.  There just wasn't room enough to look without being bumped around by the other visitors.

that's our guide....and check out that ceiling!

Exiting the Vatican Museum

After we exited the museum, we walked across the road to Ristorante Paolo for lunch.  We each had a Coke Light and split a prosciutto pizza.

After lunch, we walked down to St. Peter's Square and got in line to enter the Basilica.  I worried that it would take a while to get into the church, but the line moved quite quickly thanks to the Swiss Guard efficiently moving people through the metal detectors.

Michelangelo's Pieta

St. Peter's Basilica is enormous...... so many chapels, paintings, sculptures and people.  There were guards working in the church to move people along and allow everyone a chance to see everything.  I was most surprised to find popes on display.  I was aware that popes are buried at St. Peter's, but was under the impression that most were below the ground.  Pope John XXIII and Pope Pius IX are actually in tombs within the chapel.

Pope Pius IX

Pope John XXIII

After we had completed our tour of the chapel, we went looking for the ticket window for visiting the top of the cupola.  I knew prior to our visit that you could get there by elevator or stairs, and we decided to save 2 Euros each by taking the stairs.  We knew that once the elevator climbed as far as it could, there would still be 300+ stairs so we figured the elevator couldn't save us that much time...... wrong!  We climbed and climbed up those spiral stairs before finally reaching the level where the people were getting off of the elevator.  At this level, we were able to walk around the inside of the dome over the altar in St. Peter's.

Scary, Narrow Stairs

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From there we continued our journey up.  The next stairs were not at all like the ones we had been climbing.  The stairwell was narrow, poorly lit and the walls were slanted.  Just when we thought we were approaching the door that would take us out to look over St. Peter's Square and all of Rome, we would find more stairs.  This set was a spiral, metal staircase with a rope in the middle to hold onto instead of handrails.  I thought I was going to die.  Claustrophobia was setting in, I could barely breathe, and it was hot!

Resting on top of St. Peter's Basilica 

When we finally reached the top, the view was amazing.  We both agreed that it is definitely worth the crazy climb...... once.  Before heading back down, we bought two Coke Lights and sat down to enjoy the cool air and sunshine.  It was about this time that the bell tower next to where we sat began to ring.

After we left Vatican City, we took the Metro to find the Trevi Fountain.  Once I told Jtl that it was the largest baroque fountain in all of Rome, the jokes began.  "Why would we want to see a broken fountain?"...... and so on.  It was amazing, and I wish my camera's battery had not died before we found the fountain.  The shots we got with my iPhone are ok, but would have been much better with a quality camera.

The road that we walked down toward the fountain was wonderful with lots of little restaurants and souvenir shops.  There were people everywhere, and it was nearly impossible to get a picture of the fountain without people in the shot.  We had several "professional" photographers offer to hold my phone to get a picture for us at no charge, but we opted to stick with the extended arm self portrait method.   Across the street from Trevi, we found another Basilica.  We stopped in, but did not stay long.

After stopping in to freshen up at the hotel, we asked the front desk where we should dine that evening.  He suggested a restaurant several blocks away, and we set out to find it.  When we arrived, we were told that they would not serve dinner until 15 'til the hour, so we went next door to Panella to wait.  With our two glasses of house white, the waiter served us each a plate of finger foods.  He told us that they were a gift and they were amazing.  Looking back, I wish we had just dined at this restaurant....... even if they charged us 20 Euros for two glasses of house wine and our free appetizers.

Free gift

Jtl playing with his mozzarella appetizer

We dined at Ristorante Tempio Di Mecenate.  The service was wonderful.  The heated patio was lovely.  We ordered the table white wine and mozzarelline fritte, and began to look over the entrees.  I considered going wtih the gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce, but decided that I couldn't resist the Risotta alla Crema di Scampi.  Risotto in a creamy cognac sauce with shrimp?  Yum!  Jtl went with the lasagna.

That's not a shrimp!

Raw sausage anyone?

The verdict?  Jtl said that he prefers the lasagna that I make to what he had that evening.  Go me!  Mine was a plate of rice in a wonderful sauce with one large prawn on top of it.  It still had eyes.  Yikes!  I decided to ditch that and order a pizza.  Approximately 8 minutes later, our sausage and mushroom pizza arrived.  I thought that a pizza would be a safe bet, but I swear that they simply dropped raw sausage on top of this and sent it out to the table.  It was not pretty.

After dinner, it was time to call it a day.  We must be up early to head to the Colosseum on day 6!

Honeymoon: Day 4

We woke early on the 23rd to catch the shuttle at 6:15.  We had learned our lesson with cabs in Paris, and opted for the economy shuttle back to the airport.  Breakfast wasn't supposed to be served until 7am, but our friend from the front desk had started baking the croissants early and we were able to have a quick breakfast before hitting the road.

The flight to Rome was only an hour and a half, but seemed much longer due to the screaming child two rows ahead of us.  He was crying when he arrived at the gate an hour before the takeoff, and continued to cry until he finally fell asleep under the seats on the airplane 30 minutes into the flight...... thank goodness.

It didn't take long to gather our luggage and head out to find a taxi.  Our driver was named Massimo, and he scared me to death.  The posted speed was 80km per hour, and he was driving 140km.  I've not checked to see how many miles per hour this is, but I do know that it was fast enough to terrify me in the cab.  He drove in two lanes at once.  He passed cars when there wasn't room.  He slammed on his brakes at the very last moment.  I am thankful that Jtl did not have any injuries from my death grip on his hand during that very long drive.  He did point out a few sights along the way.  He also charged us 60 Euros for our trip from the airport, but offered to take us back to the airport for a mere 40......so generous, right?  We took his number and went to check into our hotel.

We stayed at Hotel Tarmino.  We had to climb two flights of stairs to check in at the front desk.  Our room was ready, and we headed up the next couple flights to find our room...... which was actually more of a suite. Marble floors, king size bed, desk in the entry and an entire REAL bathroom.  It was wonderful.

Heading out to explore Rome, we noticed that everything around the hotel was run by Chinese people.  Even the signs were in Chinese, but after a few blocks we found Pizza Yok.  It was wonderful.  We were able to get a square of sausage and mushroom pizza, a beer and glass of wine for 12 Euros.......and it tasted wonderful even without red sauce.

From there we followed the map around town.  The weather was nice at first, but the rain began to fall about an hour into our exploration.  We still saw three Basilicas and more statues and fountains than I could keep track of.  When the rain began, there were Italians everywhere offering to sell us umbrellas.  By this time we were soaked, and just kept going.  Jtl used his gps to get directions back to the hotel, but I was able to get us back on track.

This looks like a split shot, but is actually looking across at the altar with the chapel below.......so beautiful.

Second Basilica we visited on Day 4

We rested for a bit, and headed out for dinner at a restaurant two blocks from our hotel that the man working the desk suggested.  It was wonderful.  I had Scaloppine ai Funghi Porcini and Jtl had Veal Saltimbocca.  Both dishes were amazing and the table red wine was wonderful.  We split a tiramisu for dessert.  This was unlike the tiramisu that I have always seen in AR........but it was sooooo good.  The couple next to us joined us for a bit after dessert.  They were celebrating their 25th anniversary, and had been given the trip as a gift.  They were from Germany, and the wife did not speak any English.  The husband spoke some, but still we had difficulty with our conversation.  It was the first time we've met anyone while traveling outside the US that weren't from Canada.  haha!

Veal.  Not pork.

The owner of the restaurant sent us lemon sorbet to finish the night before we went back to the hotel to crash.  It was a wonderful first day in Rome.