Sunday evening, 19 September 2010
Ciao!
Well, here we are in Roma! This morning Robert and I made a brief survey of the surrounding neighborhood – it really is a nice neighborhood – looking for something for breakfast and the closest grocery store. Found both, just around the piazza. Not the pastry they have in France, unfortunately, but adequate for breakfast. There was also a market set up in the piazza itself where we picked up a melon to augment breakfast. Wasn’t sure when the grocery store opened on Sunday (8:30 a.m.) but went over there with our list – needed the basics like TP, OJ and H2O; also laundry detergent.
Back to the flat to get ready to meet Tom and Anna Marie, when Marco called – the rental property manager, and was on his way over. Of course it was an Italian 10 minutes – more like 35! I headed down to meet the Hetmans, but it turns out that Tom’s cold had settled in to a sinus infection, and he was in need of a doctor and antibiotics. So, I walked back to their hotel with Anna Marie, and we agreed on where/when to meet for dinner tonight. Back to the flat to find that there is some talk of re-keying our flat tomorrow…we’ll have to see! Very difficult lock!
Finally headed out towards the Forum. Stood at the bus stop on the square for something like 35 minutes, and the bus never showed up…so, we opted for the metro instead. We purchased 7 day transit cards, which are working GREAT! Unlike the Paris system, which requires registration and photos et. al and is only good Monday morning through Sunday midnight, the Rome weekly pass is actually 7 days from the first date of validation, regardless of what day it is! Neat!
Got out at the Coliseum stop. The avenue that runs between the Coliseum and the Forum was blocked off – NO cars! – and lots of people were milling around. Not sure exactly what was going on, but there were various bands playing on both sides of the avenue – and really not far enough apart for each’s music to be distinctive! Quite fun! We wandered toward the Emanuele Due monument where we decided to have lunch. Just half a block off the avenue we found a very nice little outdoor restaurant. Mom had a huge bowl of minestrone soup with olive tapenade bruschetta followed by “natural” (olive oil only) bruschetta. R had a plate of ravioli with bolognaise sauce, and I had spaghetti bolognaise. We washed everything down with two pitchers of a lovely, young white Frascati wine. It was great!
After lunch we headed back to the Metro and this time, out to the Metro stop of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls. We’d never been there before, and it was truly an amazing place! For hundreds of years it was the largest cathedral in Europe, and it was magnificent! They have St. Paul’s sarcophagus on display; it’s an amazing place, and oddly on a Sunday, it wasn’t crowded at all! We had a good look around – beautiful grounds outside – then headed back to the flat. Mom wanted a nap and I wanted to do laundry…the beginning of trouble…
So, here’s the machine…I could figure out where the soap went, and got everything loaded – but couldn’t get it to start. Finally got it going (R looked up one of the words on the front of the machine: Start…oh well!) But it turned out that that, added to the television set AND the air conditioning was MUCH too much for the power grid – and everything shut off! Whew! R flipped the switches in the fuse box in the flat, but no good. So … tried to reach Marco or Fabiana … no good…so, called the “call only in emergency” number…reached a person who knew nothing, but said he would try and reach Marco or Fabiana himself. Well, to sum it up, it took two hours to find someone to come to our rescue – the nice guy who works for Marco who showed us into the flat originally! He took Robert to the bowels of the basement and showed him which master fuse to flip. Good grief! So, power back on, washer started up again – and we opened the windows…until it began to POUR! And I mean POUR – but if we looked out, it was sunny, with a HUGE black cloud in the distance! Very odd! And still the washer went on … and on…I figured it went on for something like 2 ½ hours, until finally, after something like spin #7 or 8, I had had enough and stopped the machine. (I wanted the clothes WASHED, not WORN OUT!) And of course there was water in the bottom of it! So, hung the clothes up on the rack and all over the apartment, and started a wash with nothing in the machine while we went out for dinner! (Surprisingly enough, it was done by the time we got back from dinner!)
Met Tom and Anna Marie as scheduled, but the restaurant they had suggested was chiuso on Sunday! So, no go! Instead we took the metro to Piazza Barbarini and headed up the Via Veneto. Found a restaurant we had eaten in a year or so ago with friends, and they now have a glass box set up outside!
Very, very good food, and a really fun evening! Mom had a bowl of mussels and “claims” in a garlicky broth. Anna Marie and Tom had spaghetti bolognaise, R had penne all’arrabiata, and I had my first Italian bresaola salad with parmesan cheese – YUM! For dessert, Tom had tiramisu, Mom had mixed gelato and I had some sort of cake with fresh berries on top. All good! SO sorry to bid farewell to the Hetmans, because they are heading back home tomorrow. Tom eventually had a hotel “house call” by a local doctor, and was able to get some antibiotics, so hopefully he will be feeling a bit better by tomorrow! Flying when you’re not feeling well can be very difficult!
Back to the flat around 10 and while the TV gets lots of channels, I’m not able to get any live Italian soccer – think it’s all pay-for-view – we are able to get live NFL football! Go figure!! So, in case anyone cares, the Pats are leading the Jets!
More later!
m
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