Arriving in Florence

Breakfast Leaving Rome

It was so sad to leave Rome, but arriving in Florence, I forgot how beautiful it is!  Howard and I were in Rome seven years ago for our 10th anniversary.  I remember the food, but not the beauty as much.

Speaking of beauty - our apartment in Florence is fabulous!!  Huge - three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a full kitchen with washer/dryer and a living room.  The large marble steps to our second floor (third story in Europe) apartment are challenging (80 steps, we counted) but beautiful.  Almost all rooms have painted frescoes on the ceilings.  Can this be?



The train ride was relaxing (according to me, I was studying - I only read three pages...where did the time go?) 


We took two quick taxis to the apartment (a la Amazing Race) - much "safer" than those "crazies" in Rome was the consensus.   We then had a fantastic lunch.. okay Howard.. step in here....

























(Howard) Elizabeth had recommended a wine bar for lunch... yes a wine bar.  Aside from the very good Montepulciano we had, we had our best antipasto and crostini of the trip...  really, really good.  Stacie and I had  big salads (think the Italian version of Elaine from Seinfeld) and the kids had gnocchi with a meat ragu, chicken, and caprese salad (guess who).  Gelato again, some window shopping, and naps before dinner.












While the kids napped, we went to a little (10 seats?) wine bar where the wines by the glass were all paired with an appetizer.  Two glasses of Brunello and chicken liver crostini (I ate both, of course), lousy service (think indifferent college student), but fun.

After naps, we went to the restaurant next to the wine bar.  expecting the same service we went in with a chip on our shoulders but were more than surprised.  We had a bottle of ProRibolitta, scampi risotto, and buffala mozzarella to start (really?), steak and Cacio e pepe for Brian and Jessica, Baccala (sea bass) for Stacie, and more Cacio e pepe for Rachel finished out our best dinner up to that point.
secco to start, the food was great, and the service was equal to the food.  

After dinner, we found a little local bar/cafe playing 70's music and had an amaro, wine, and gelato until the kids couldn't take us singing Barry White and YMCA any more.

Oh my gosh - why are we still so tired??  Perhaps it is all the activity, maybe jet lag...

Tomorrow, the Accademia, Uffizi, the best food day of our trip (gelato x2 again but no mozzarella???), and a surprise encounter with a legendary Hall-of-Famer that still has Howard buzzing.

Easter Sunday in Ancient Rome

Yes, the Easter Bunny came, but we still decided to head out early for some breakfast.  Given it was Easter, our preferred spot was just opening.  Realizing they wouldn't be ready for us in a "New York minute" we went to a place next door, and had a nice "sit down" breakfast - to Howard's dismay, this similar breakfast to what we had yesterday was a fortune since we chose to "sit"!   But it was good.  Howard and I each had two cappuccinos, which was the equivalent of 1/4 cup of coffee.  For the kids, a nutritious chocolate croissant with a cup of hot chocolate.  The breakfast of champions!

We met our tour guide for Ancient Rome bright and early at the Colosseum (that's not her, that's a gladiator). 

She did an incredible job of describing the life of the ancient Romans, who believed in providing all citizens with bread and entertainment to keep everyone happy (and to ensure votes!) Jessica also did a great job of taking pictures (see below).

  Next was the Forum where our guide walked us through incredible ruins that depicted a society where gathering, socializing, politicizing and trading were daily events...not to mention, celebrating a triumph or two..or three.. 

A highlight was learning how to use the Roman water fountain.  It looks like a faucet, but when you plug the mouth with your finger, the water is forced out of a smaller hole in the top of the neck of the faucet producing a drinking fountain - brilliant!  and fun.

After the 3 hour tour of Ancient Rome, we were ready for a cozy lunch at (okay, where is Howard?...)

(Howard takes over)  Lunch was at Taverna dei Fori Imperiali, in our food guide's neighborhood.  Being Easter Sunday, they had a special menu (you know how I 'love' those), but it was actually very good.  A bottle of Montepulciano, pasta, veal chops with truffle cheese, and lamb, and complimentary drinks afterwards (grappa and limoncello) rounded out a nice Easter lunch.


On our way to find a taxi home, we got Gelato and detoured past the church of St. Peter in Chains, where we viewed not only the chains that were said to bind St. Peter, but also a sculpture of Moses by Michaelangelo (so yes, I was in church on Easter...) 

Finally, after a long, full day of exploring, we headed back to the apartment to take a quick nap and get ready for dinner.

Dinner was in a converted warehouse on the outside of town, that specialized in pizza!  There was Roman (thin crust) and a thick crust. 

We love Star Tavern, Mr. Dinos, Forte's, etc. but this was right up there. After dinner, somehow, there was still time to fit in Grom again for more gelato (second gelato of the day), where the kids ordered, only in Italian.  Great final full day in Rome, but a little tiring with all of the walking and the sun (!) we got.

Coming tomorrow: the train to Florence, another great lunch, a surprisingly great dinner, and gelato x2 (again).


 

The Vatican and the Jewish Ghetto

It sounds like a tale of two cities, and in some ways it is here in Rome, although the Jewish Ghetto is mostly in name now and happened to be where our dinner restaurant was.

First, the Pantheon.  Built over 2000 years ago, it has survived because it's been a temple/church of some kind continuously.  It's about 50 meters from our apartment, and the square it is in is mobbed during the day.  Since it opens at 8:30, we went in then and it was quite less crowded.

 We had a typical Italian breakfast (standing up at the bar to get the cheaper prices, of course) of coffee/hot chocolate and cornetti (think croissant).  Some orange juice rounded out the economical meal.

 Next, the Vatican. 

From there, we took a taxi to the Vatican Museums, where we met our guide Antionetta.  Does she kind of look like someone we know?

 Lunch was at a restaurant near the Vatican, but 'just far enough away to be good', with daily changing specials and a great house wine:

Lunch was house-made salumi and cheeses (yes, buffala mozzarella again for you-know-who), pasta for Brian, and polpette: meatballs made by Nonna (Grandma) Nina.  When the kids said they were the best meatballs ever I was a little hurt, but knew we were on the right track.  All that was left was the 'scarpetta', wiping up the rest of the sauce with the bread at the table.













After lunch, headed back to the apartment to get another layer of clothes and umbrellas.  It rained for about an hour, including on our way to the Trevi Fountain.

 While Rachel was throwing her coin, Brian thought that he had forgotten to make his wish.  We explained that the 'default wish' for coins in the fountain was to come back to Rome and he was satisfied.

Of course there was gelato again, which you should expect as a default.  Gelateria are like pizza places in New York, with at least one on every street.

Dinner that night was in the Jewish Ghetto at a restaurant famous for its fried artichokes.  It was so-so, and the first 'miss' of the trip, although Brian liked his pasta carbonara.

Finally, it was lights out and the Coniglio di Pasqua came.

Coming next, ancient Rome, lunch in our Food Guide's neighborhood, and pizza (finally).

Buona Pasqua dal Vaticano!

Rome and the Borghese

Friday seemed a glorious day-and-a-half long.   Our goal was to "play through" and then be on Italy time.  I (Stacie) confess, that I napped however, it was only about 30 minutes, and the others stayed strong.  We all slept well Friday night - here is why.

Upon arriving in Rome, we were introduced to our apartment where we would be spending our first three nights. Our host John lives in the building with his parents on the third and  fourth floors.  He was so welcoming and gave us a tour of our apartment.  First impression:  big.  stark.  plain. but, since then, I have grown to love it!  It is a 1/4 discrete blocks from the Pantheon, which is not only an amazing cathedral, but a great place to get taxis!  We are on the second story which is accessible by a beautiful marble staircase or a charming elevator (so charming, that Jessica and I refuse to use it.)  The apartment has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.  It is alongside a bustling side street that had us nervous at first, but ultimately quiets down nicely by ten at night.  I love that there are no screens on the windows - so just as you would imagine - if we need to figure out the weather - we open the tall thin windows and lean out to see what is going on.   Hair dryers are provided in the apartment, however, flat irons and curling irons are not, which is proving to be a travesty for some of us (okay, one of us .. can you guess who?)  There is a nice office, and a TV with multiple channels including one that carries "Honey Boo Boo" translated in Italian.  No wonder we are taking  pains to look "Italian."

Did I mention our shoes?  We have worked for weeks to get the proper footwear, and I can confirm that it was not in vain.  No one here wears "Nikes" or "adidas", but Converse and "walking shoes" are all the rage.  I might be pushing it, but we look like locals.  Howard's Italian helps immensely!  After a whopping 3 months of studying, he easily gets us seated at restaurants, asks for directions (really) and jokes with the waiters (although, they do not always get it the first time.. )  He even asked the taxi driver about daylight savings time which is Sunday. Yes - we lose an hour again.

Our first meal in Rome was at an amazing trattoria, which was within walking distance from our hotel.  As expected, coke: 4 Euros, awesome bottle of wine, 10 Euros.  It was a bottle of Montelpuciano.  We started with some mozzerel... (guess who is taking over here)... So, the first restaurant was called Maccheroni.  We started with some great buffala mozzarella and tomato, the kids had pasta with cherry tomatoes, and the adults had a pasta carbonara and a very good tortellini with mushrooms.

After lunch, we stopped for Gelato and then we went to the Borghese Gallery, and say some incredible sculpture like Apollo and Daphne and Raphael's Deposition.  We were pretty tired, but the audioguide kept us entertained for most of the first floor.

After the Borghese, we went back to the apartment to rest a little before dinner.  dinner was at Constanza,

in the underground portion of an ancient amphitheater:

The staff couldn't have been nicer and made sure our first dinner in Rome was memorable.  We had the house antipasto (fried, stuffed zucchini flowers, pizza bianco with chicken liver and marscapone, etc; buffala mozzarella (you might sense a trend here), Lobster pasta for two (Jessica and Stacie), and prosciutto and melon (Brian's new favorite).  Main dishes were meat, meat, and more meat, with Filet in Barolo, Rib Eye Steak, and Veal Scaloppine

before dessert, the highlight of which was an apple cake/pie drizzled with chocolate:

A good time was had by all:

Day 2 to come tomorrow.  It includes more Mozzarella, wine, and pasta, and gelato.

Siamo in Italia!

We made it to Italy, pretty uneventfully.  Our flight to Munich was a little late, but comfortable:

 Flight attendents thought the girls were European and were ready to offer them cocktails, and Brian occupied himself by playing poker on the in-seat entertainment system (he got 'flushed')

Make to order Ice Cream Sundae

With Extra Hot Fudge

And bed

They were out solid!

Transfer in Munich was pretty easy, we had some time to get breakfast in the lounge, and a quick 90 minute flight got us to Rome.  Bags came out quickly, driver was waiting for us, and we were off to the apartment.  Next time, the apartment and the first day's food (hint: pasta and wine).

Here we go again!

We're heading off on our next adventure.  Italy awaits, and all of its food, wine, and history.  Since I did such a spotty (poor) job of documenting our last trip, I'm going to have some guest bloggers help me this time:

And these two also:

More to come soon!