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Last Day–Cats & Rome

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Today we woke up around 7 and got ready to leave the villa. We said our goodbyes and Greg drove us, Jim and, Doreen to the train station in Castelfiorentino. We were all taking the train from Castelfiorentino to Florence. From Florence, Don and I were going back to Rome for the day so we could fly back home the next day. The train from Florence to Rome was pretty cool, it was a high speed train, 247 km/h.

We arrived in Rome at noon and we were on a mission to find the luggage deposit so we could walk around Rome all day without our bags. I had found instructions online on how to get to the luggage deposit in Roma Termini but none of them were very descriptive. Basically the easiest way to do it is by exiting Roma Termini onto Via Giovanni Giolitti and walk South along the train station and just after the Airport Shuttle you can re-enter the train station and you will find where you can deposit your luggage. It was super easy and and I think it was around 10 Euros for us to leave our bags there for about 5 hours.

We wanted to leave our bags because we had to be back at the train station later to take the train to our hotel by the airport. Once we were not weighted down by our luggage we were free to roam Rome for the afternoon.

We wanted to have carbonara again because we couldn’t stop thinking about since the dinner in Montecatini Alto. I found a place called La Carbonara and we decided to have lunch there. It was pretty crowded and seemed like a tourist trap.  The carbonara was nothing compared to what we had earlier in the week at Casa Gala. It was ok though.

After lunch we walked to the cat ruins at Largo di Torre Argentina. When we were in Rome earlier in the week I had noticed there were no cats roaming around and I thought this was weird because every where we have traveled has had cats. I usually make it a point to photograph cats in places to travel to, so I was a bit disappointed by the lack of cats in Rome.  A friend commented to me on facebook that we should visit this place and I hadn’t even heard of it so I wanted to check it out on our last day. Largo di Torre Argentina is an archaeological site where there is also a cat sanctuary. Stray cats are cared for here at the shelter and they are allowed to roam the ruins. This place is also were Julius Caesar was killed. It was a weird place. When we first arrived we were looking down at the site and we saw a few cats sleeping among the ruins. It was so hot. We were trying to find a way to get down into the ruins and we found stairs that went down to the shelter. We went into the shelter to check out the cats. The shelter was divided into two areas: one area had cats that were recovering either from sickness or injury and the other side had cats that were just roaming freely. The cats were well cared for and it seemed like you could adopt cats. I am still unsure about that. All of the products they were selling were used to benefit the shelter. I bought a magnet here. We spent some time with the cats and it was pretty cool. I was a bit disappointed because while you could look down into the archaeological site and point out cats you could not go into the site. The site itself seemed a bit forgotten, there were signs around that you could read about the place but other than that there was very little information on site. It seems like they could do more to this place but maybe they are working on it. It was very cool to see cats in the ruins.

After the ruins we didn’t really know what else we wanted to see but we were not ready to go to our hotel. We decided to check out this park we saw on the map earlier, so we risked taking the city bus again. We successfully rode the bus to Villa Borghese Park on the North side of Rome. It was a nice park, we walked around for a bit, and then we noticed there was some kind of horse show going on. We stopped for a bit to watch some horses run around and do some tricks. It was pretty cool, we have never really seen anything like it. Then we walked around some more and came across a small pond where people were in rowboats. Later I found out this area was called Temple of Asclepius. It was a really pretty area. Then we decided to walk back. We stopped at a cafe in hopes of using a bathroom but their bathroom was closed. We each had an overpriced cappuccino and enjoyed being outside at the park. We tried to take the bus back to Roma Termini to get our train but the bus was never coming so we ended up walking. It was about a 30 minute walk.

On our walk back to train station, I may have left my hat in Rome….I just didn’t want it anymore.

We got our luggage from the luggage deposit and we were both so happy that it worked out for us. Then we took the train from Roma Termini to the airport. Once we got to the airport we couldn’t figure out how to get to our hotel. We were staying at a Hilton but there were two Hiltons near the airport. We ended up walking to the Hilton that was connected to the airport because it was right there and we hoped that there would be a shuttle we could take to ours, but there was not. The walk was so long and I was getting tired and grouchy. We had to walk back to into the airport where we ended up calling our hotel and they told us where to find our shuttle. We were staying at the Hilton Garden Inn Rome Airport hotel, which was still very near the airport but you could not walk. It is also cheaper than the Hilton Rome Airport, so if you are ever trying to get to it the shuttle is at terminal 3 door 3 in the airport. The shuttle was weird because it went all around the airport and airport workers would use it.

Once we got to the hotel we were surprised to see the check in line was out the door. The check in went pretty fast though. There were a ton of police checking in and all around which I thought was weird but apparently it was the G7 Summit here.

The room here was nice, along with the lobby. I would definitely suggest staying here for the convenience and the price. We decided to get some dinner at the hotel restaurant, it wasn’t very good. Don had carbonara and I had pizza. During dinner we were watching a couple from afar who were in an obvious fight. They were American and we had fun commentating on what the fight could be about. It lasted a long time.

I can’t believe tomorrow we are leaving Italy. This trip has been awesome. I really don’t want to leave.

 

Food Blog, Restaurant Reviews, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Italy-Day 3-Cinque Terre

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Today we had to wake up super early because we had an early train to catch to go to Cinque Terre. Our train left Roma Termini at 6:50 am. It was sad to leave our hotel in Rome so soon because we really liked it, but we were excited to see what the Cinque Terre was like. The Cinque Terre is made up of villages on the coast. The towns are built into hillsides so it’s very rugged and steep. The five villages are: Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. The Cinque Terre is an unique experience because there is a train line that runs between the 5 towns, there are hiking trails between each town, and there are boats you can also use to town hop. So it’s very common for people to try to experience each village. Most of the villages do not have cars either so that is cool. I really wanted to stay in Manarola because from pictures it seemed the most beautiful to me, but most of the hotels were booked. We ended up staying in Monterosso, which was probably the best situation because out of all of the towns it is the most flat, so we didn’t have to trudge our luggage up too many crazy stairs.

I had purchased our train tickets online previously so they were fairly cheap; I think they were about $40 for the two of us. The train went from Rome to La Spezia, the biggest town just South of the Cinque Terre. Once it got to La Spezia we would have to switch to the train that went to the five towns of the Cinque Terre. We picked up sandwiches and coffee from a shop inside Roma Termini and got on our train. It was very nice. I wish the U.S. had a train system like Italy. We both had windows seats because we sat across from each other with a table in between us. It was really cool to see the country side. As we got closer to La Spezia the train got way more crowded. Switching to the train to Monterosso was pretty easy, it’s crazy how easy and convenient the trains are here.

Once we arrived in Monterosso it was very crowded. Right when you get out of the train station you are on the boardwalk for the beach. There were people every where, it was crazy. I think we were both surprised at how crowded it was and we both questioned if this was going to the nice quaint place we had hoped for.  It was only around noon when we got there so after walking from the train, which was about 10 minutes, we found a restaurant for lunch. We ate at Ristorante il Moretto. We had a nice salad to start and then we both had pasta. I had spaghetti; first spaghetti in Italy! It was very good. Don had pasta with seafood I believe and he really enjoyed it also. We sat near an older man who went to UIUC and knew exactly where Champaign-Urbana was so that was funny. He started talking to us because I was wearing a Cubs shirt. I also saw my first cat here!

Sleepy cat in the restaurant.

After eating we went looking for our hotel, it was just a short walk from the restaurant and we were able to check in. The room and bathroom are very small but it is nice enough. We are staying at Hotel Souvenir. The outside patio is very nice here.

Once we got settled in we decided we should explore Monterosso a bit. So we walked around and then went down by the water. We felt the water and it was pretty cold, but also the beach was all pebbles so it was hard to walk on. We decided to get some ice cream and cappuccino. The place we got ice cream at was called Nuovo Eden, we chose it because it had a really nice outdoor seating area. It was pretty good. While we were here we decided that we should check out Manarola tonight.

We took the train to Manarola which is the second village in the Cinque Terre. It was also the place I wanted to stay for our time here. It was absolutely beautiful. So picturesque and quiet. We did figure out that by late afternoon all the day trippers and tour groups had left the villages so it was much less crowded.

I had done a lot of research on Manarola so I had a restaurant in mind called, Trattoria dal Billy. It was a hike to get up to it, Manarola is a lot more steep than Monterosso, but it was definitely worth it! We got seated outside on one of the balconies with a nice view of the sunset. We decided to try anchovies here because that is one of the foods of the Cinque Terre. I was pretty hesitant because they came as full little fish on a plate with olive oil and lemon seasoning. It was intimidating but I did it and they were good! Especially good on bread. I ordered the pasta with pesto because the Cinque Terre is known as the birthplace of pesto. It was delicious! Don had calamari and shrimp. We basically ended up sharing everything and it was delicious. We both loved this place and we also had our first wine in Italy here!

After dinner we walked around more. I found another cat on a rooftop behind the church. Don tried to take a picture of it and had his flash on and it totally disturbed a couple making out on the other side of the rooftop. We couldn’t stop laughing!

We walked down by the water and found another one of the restaurants that I wanted to try, so we definitely have to come back to Manarola! It was so amazing. Here’s some night time pictures we took.

We had fun taking pictures on the way back to the train also. There was a long tunnel with some weird art and writings.

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Italy–Day 1–The Vatican.

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Our first day in Italy was good but tiring. We took a direct overnight flight on American Airlines. The flight was good; I tried to sleep but probably only got a couple of hours. We arrived in Rome around 9 am. Getting through customs here was the easiest it’s ever been  anywhere! We didn’t really have to do anything–no paperwork, no computer stuff, no questions–just showed our passports and we were on our way.

Our first mission was to take the train from the airport to city central of Rome. Buying tickets was pretty easy, they have these machines where you can buy them yourself or you can go to a ticket booth. We chose to use the machine and it took a few times because for some reason our credit card wasn’t working.  When we got to the train we at first got on the wrong one. We were sitting there and it wasn’t busy at all and then somehow we realized it was the wrong one and ours was on the other track. We got out and went to our train and crisis was averted. That could have been Amazing Race disaster. We liked to pretend we were on The Amazing Race because we’ve been watching it and all of the traveling made it feel like we were.

Waiting for our train to Roma Termini!

When we got to the city of Rome we walked to our hotel, which was about a 15 minute walk from the Roma Termini Station. We are staying at iQ Hotel Roma. It was great because we got there around 11 am and a room was available for check in. The hotel seems awesome so far, it’s very clean and modern. The hotel staff was very nice and upon check in we got a coupon for a free cappuccino or prosecco.

We got to our room and decided we needed to stay up and keep going so we could get our sleeping on track. The man at our hotel desk gave us directions on how to take the subway to the Vatican so we decided to go there and see what we could see.

The subway was very nice and clean compared to the ones in NYC or Chicago. It was easy to take except for in order to buy a ticket we needed smaller bills because it would only allow 4 euros in change. We were trying to think of what to do but we were in luck because a very nice man saw us struggling and bought us each a ticket. You might be thinking “why not just buy extra tickets to use later?” From what we could see the tickets were only valid for 100 minutes so we didn’t want to buy a bunch and not be able to use them, so it was very nice of the guy to buy us our tickets!

When we arrived at the Vatican the mood changed a bit to more touristy. People were selling things on every corner and other people were trying to get you to go on Vatican tours. We stopped at a little sandwich shop and got our first lunch in Italy. It was pretty good.

Near the sandwich shop we ran into a guide that wanted to take us on a tour. He was offering the walk through part of the museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters Basilica for $55 per person. His group was leaving in 10 minutes and we would also be able to skip the line. We decided to go with him because the line was long and he was ready to go. Could we have done it cheaper? Maybe, but we were here now.

The tour was supposed to be 2 hours, but the tour guide talked a lot. He was very informative and it was interesting but it almost seemed like way too much information, especially on 2 hours of sleep. At one point the guide asked if we wanted to go around the long way or the short way, of course most of the group said the long way. At this point I was so tired and not really feeling this tour.  People were dropping out of the tour left and right to go and do their own thing. It was like a maze though I have no idea how anyone would get around in that place without a guide or a detailed map. The Vatican was beautiful though. It was really amazing. One nice thing about the tour was we each had an ear piece that we could hear our guide speaking in. Here are some pictures.

Our tour guide, outside The Vatican.

Replica of The Vatican.

Don’s favorite painting-The School of Athens by Raphael.

When we were almost to the Sistine Chapel  one of the doors was closed because it was getting late in the day and they wanted to limit traffic. The guide told us he would get us there but he would have to take us around a longer way that would be another 45 minutes. We got to see parts of the museum that are usually not on the tour, but I was fading. Luckily getting to the Sistine Chapel was a breath of fresh air. It was so beautiful! We were not allowed to take pictures but we might have snuck a few.

It was almost 5:30 at this point and the tour had started at 1:30. We ended up not going to St Peters Basilica because it was very crowded and we wanted to take some pictures outside. The outside of the Vatican was very pretty.

 

Now it was time to eat and make our way back to the hotel. We were getting a second wind now but we were tired. We ended up eating at a pizza place called Il Piccolo Pub Bistrot. It was across the street from a pizza place I wanted to try but we couldn’t find at first. This place was ok; the pizza was definitely nothing special. It was nice to sit down though and have a cold beer.

Now it was time to figure out how we could make it back to hotel. We were all walked out and the hotel was about an hour walk away. We were also pretty far from the subway we took earlier, so Don looked at his phone and saw a bus that would take us a block from our hotel. We walked to the bus stop and tried to ask someone how to buy a ticket but he didn’t know. An American couple came to the stop and told us they had just been getting off and on the bus all day. They decided they were going to walk to Trevi Fountain so we decided to try out the bus. Basically what you are supposed to do is buy a ticket at a train stop and then within 100 minutes use it and validate on the bus. The validation machines on the bus are located in the middle and in the back so you can just get on, unlike in Chicago or NYC where you have to get on at the front of the bus and insert your ticket immediately. People would just get on the bus and sit down. We saw one person validate a ticket. So either there is some sort of monthly pass for people or people in Rome never buy bus tickets? I was nervous a ticket person would come on the bus and we would get in trouble but we made it to the hotel. We got back around 8 pm and went to bed. So tired, but good first day in Rome!