I am terrible at writing down travel experiences. I always take along a cute journal with great intentions of chronicling the daily trips and sights, but sadly, I never get around to it. This is my attempt to rewind to June 2011 and recount our Honeymoon to Italy. (Thanks Angela Zippilli for inspiring me).
Day 1: The Long Haul
We left the NJ on June 22, 2011 (a much anticipated date!) around 5pm. Flying Alitalia was a treat, as always, with the encouraged drinking of wine with meals, and throughout the trip. We attempted to sleep, but I think we just nodded off for a few moments here and there. Dustin made every attempt to partake in 'photo journalism' so here we have a few shots of us packing, getting ready, and on the flight:
We traveled with Rick Steves, I find his travel books to be the most helpful at finding places and restaurants "off the beaten path", as well as traveling on a budget. (After returning, we came in grossly under budget, which was an exciting surprise- maybe we can go again!)
On flight, we got our first practice of ordering probably the most frequently ordered item, vino; rosso o bianco?
Breakfast! After a long 7 hours or so, we were served some Italian goodies- "croissant" (I use quotes because... it's clearly NOT a croissant), yogurt, cookies, cheese, and cafe in a laundry detergent cup.
Mmm looking so refreshed....
I think Dustin was trying to mimc some Italian speech maybe?
At this point in the trip, we decided that we had PLENTY of sleep and we were in fact, fine, and completely ready to take on some sign seeing. Hmm... really? Maybe it was the lack of sleep talking. After landing, we collected our bags and found our bus shuttle. Rick Steves recommended booking an airport shuttle that would drop us at our hotel for around 30Euro, which is only a few Euro more than taking the train. We found that the downside to taking the shuttle was that we were packed in with about 10 other travelers, all going to different hotels. We were the last ones to be dropped off! So we got a 'free' tour of the city at that point.
Starting to feel a bit groggy, we checked in at the Hotel Duca d'Alba, but, as it was only about 9am, our room was not yet ready. We stashed our bags in the hotel lobby closet (so secure!) and decided to head out for some sight seeing (big mistake). Duca d'Alba is on Via Leonina, not far from the Colosseum. Almost equidistant, really, between the Colosseum and Stazione Termini.
Here are some of the first photos Dustin took:
I decided an 'easy' thing to do with little sleep was to hike it up the Vittorio Emanuele Monument. While impressive in it's size and presence, it was just a bad, bad idea at the time. You can't tell from the picture, but it was SWARMING with Asian tour groups and annoying Italian teenagers on class trips. We were severely jet lagged at this point, and just trying to hold it together and avoid a major breakdown. It was about noon, and the sun was beating down and we were officially zombies. Dustin politely suggested we head back to the hotel, and either beg for our room or just fall asleep in the lobby. I agreed, and we headed back. Luckily, our room was ready, and Max showed us to the PENTHOUSE (get crazy!) which boasted of a lovely terrace overlooking Via Leonina. Impressed with our room, we decided to 'take a quick nap' which turned into the most confusing four hours of my life. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out, but had crazy quasi Italian/English dreams, with lots of noise and what seemed like terrible musical banging. At one point I became conscious enough to realize that our neighbor was a piano teacher, and her student obviously hadn't practiced much that week. I think we finally woke up and pulled ourselves together at some point, and headed out for some food. I think at this point I broke down to tears (thinking Dustin HATED Italy so far- it had been a traumatic few hours), but luckily the good husband assured me he would like it. (Thank God he really did, in the end)
We must have woken up later in the afternoon, but it wasn't quite appropriate dinner time yet (it's quite strange for an Italian to eat out before 8 or 9pm) so we used our Ipad to google a grocery store. We found one a few blocks away on Via Cavor, where we happily discovered cheese, artichokes, and LOTS of wine!!!
Which one to choose?? I loved that they actually had a seat in the wine section, just so you could sit and ponder your decision.
Dinner snacks?
Back in our hotel with our goods! We were so proud of ourselves. I think this was the turning point, when we actually started to enjoy Rome. The sun was finally setting, making the temperature drop to a comfortable temperature, and we just sat on our terrace and enjoyed our two bottles of wine, some cheese that we ordered (scusi, seniore, formaggio, per favore?) yeah, we're linguists.
See, we're happy!
Caught her. The dang piano teacher of the under-practiced students.
Enjoying the view, wine, and Rick Steves
At this point, we decided to venture out to dinner. Map in hand, we attempted to find one of Rick's recommended restaurants. When we arrived, it was so crowded that we decided to leave and find something on our own. We stumbled on a small, dimly lit cafe and parked it. We happily drank more wine, ate some pasta, and felt very very happy.
Here are some photos of our walk to and from dinner:
Stumbled upon the Quirinal Palace
View of San Pietro from the Quirinal
After dinner we asked a man passing by, dove la fontana di trevi?, and he promptly answered: go left and take another left. Wow, thanks for even entertaining my attempts at Italian! Dustin liked the Trevi better at night, as seen here. (Nice uplighting!)
View from Via del Corso heading back to our hotel. Looking at the Vittorio Emanuele Monument.
Rome has a cool bike sharing program, but we didn't take advantage! It was so crowded everywhere in June, we probably would have gotten hit by a vespa or an Asian.
Can you believe they're building a Metro Line C?! Finalemente!
Artsy lighting photos near the forum on Via Nazionale.
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