..and my own twist on the book title "Eat Pray Love" which is also based partially in Rome, and which I did bring along with me because I am a geek and thought it would be neat to read the Rome bit..in Rome. and owing to the fact that, one of my purposes was also the lofty goal of eating everything i possibly could!
However, I'd gotten off to not the greatest start on that. Having taken advantage of the lovely warm and steamy evening we'd had in Vienna at a 'beach' bar for some cocktails and beer the night before...yuh, how does that saying go, beer and liquor never sicker..anyway, survived the day in the office, and even recovered in time for lunch with my dear friend Geralyn, who also then provided me with Rome guidebooks. This ended up being a very very good thing...
As it seemed I used up my good travel karma instantly with having my flight arrive 15 minutes early - since this certainly did not filter into the airport train. I got there with precious few minutes to spare before the 'leonardo da vinci express' was meant to leave and with amazing dexterity had ordered my ticket on the automatic machine, only to have it twice reject my bank card, and thus making me miss said train. grrr. Of course once said train had departed, the machine worked.
and, when a new train appeared - albeit at a different platform, i just assumed that was it. and got on. and didn't bother asking. and only realised once this train was pulling out of the station with self on it, that i was actually meant to be on the train the platform over - the one with the picture of Leonardo da Vinci painted on it - hence the airport train name 'Leonardo da Vinci express'.
bugger.
So i paid attention to the announcement (only in Italian) and managed to recognise a couple station names, at which point i fervently fished out geralyn's guidebooks and located the stations on the public transport map, figuring which ones were the closest to termini, then found one on a street map, and voila. so, it wasn't so disasterous after all really, as Tuscolana station had a metro a few blocks away!
the metro closed as soon as i arrived. the night buses were still an hour and a half out from running.
so i walked. 1 hour and 15 minutes.
and entered my room to gratefully find the other 5 occupants already sleeping (ie, no expected interruptions) and sunk into that deep sleep one can only really have after a day filled with a hangover, my office, packing at warp speed after work and running for the vienna airport bus, flying to Rome, taking the wrong train and walking that distance with luggage in tow (thank god i'd packed light, but with an expected forecast of sun and 30+ degrees, one can do that).
right. Saturday. today will be better! the sun is out, all shiny and gold and so is my credit card! So i'd mapped my way to start first down Via Nazionale, and ultimately up Via del Corso, with a finish at the fountain in Piazza del Popolo (and of course stepping into the side streets in search of a pizzeria).
The shopping, I have to say...was not so lucrative as last time. Perhaps because last time it hadn't been a goal really. However, I did have some fun at Sandro Ferrone, a shop where i'd bought an original dress last year and hoped to get another - that was a success, but the interim was also most entertaining..and slightly overwhelming. the shop assistants fuss and fawn all over you (or, rather than shine of the aforementioned credit card), which is a far cry from the hands off ones of Vienna. To be honest, I prefer the latter though; I subscribe to the notion that shopping is definitely a one-woman job. I need this to be effective, and its better - I never did get those women who insist on dragging their blokes out for shopping - the poor things look incredibly bored to tears, and lets just be honest - they just get in the damn way! leave them to do something they are interested in ladies...had to get that little gripe in there, now that it is in context, haha.
anyway. so back to the insanely attendant shop assistants. I mean, I took 3 items into the changeroom, which somehow multiplied by an exponential component. Not wanting to be rude, I did try on everything she brought. I went out and stood in front of that mirror and supressed my laughter as the assistants (yes, i'd garnered more than one at this point) waved their arms about saying 'bella! bella! oh madam!!!', and had to further suppress my laughter when they did this even for the ones which made me look like a pig in poke. 'stretch! stretch! stretch!' - which is fine for yoga or pilates, but not a white dress, thank you. especially when they started chosing dresses that were so not for me - the ones that made me look like some scary 1950's stepford housewife.
at that point, i quickly changed back into my 21st century miniskirt and tank top, took the one dress i'd intended to get and made the transaction and carried on, wondering was 10 am too early for a pizza?
As i just wasn't feeling the groove, the other shops were considerably less dramatic. I did have a chuckle stopping in at one place with T-shirts, handbags, you name it, that said things like 'marriage - game over' and 'tell me again why i need a boyfriend?'. much as i wanted to gather up as many of these items for the 'Sex and the City' crew back here in Vienna, the prices were as outrageous as the cries from the dress shop attendants, and therefore not for those on the verge of unemployment (ya, ya, no need to point out the obvious - being that one on the verge of unemployment should not be on a shopping tour in Italy anyhow!).
At this point i took a break and stopped mid-way for an overpriced cappuccino to fuel up and head up Via del Corso. got about one block up and decided it was time for an emergency pizzeria intervention and headed into the side streets to find something appropriate. which took some doing, as this was the historical center after all, so i had to lower my expectations of finding one of those little non descript family run trattorias offering homemade food at a decent price....
so I set out different expectations I hoped could be met:
1. avoid the very main places, such as right in front of the Pantheon, or directly in the Piazza Navona.
2. avoid anywhere the margherita pizza costs more than 6 euro and 50 cent.
3. avoid anywhere that has the menu in more than 2 languages (I hoped for only Italian initially, but that seemed near impossible, so i'd settle on somewhere with just Italian and English. or at least without German. Hah!).
4. further to 3, the majority of customers should be Italian (and you can tell...you can just TELL who is and who isn't..)
5. In this weather, and after the long cold winter, outside seating was a MUST.
After one hour of searching, I'd abandoned at least part of this, and just chose a pizzeria not far from the pantheon and quickly ordered something involving tomato sauce and sausage...why sausage, i don't know. it must be something this country is doing to me, as i NEVER ate sausage before. hmmm....anyway, i'd rate this one as mediocre, but with good service. However, even the mediocre pizza in Italy is far and away better than anything i get outside Italy. I finished it off and promptly went in search of gelato, ordering a double cup of mint and nutella with cream on top, realising I'd be up at least a size if i were to continue shopping.
Which I did, however, everything seemed too small, the shoes too uncomfortable and/or expensive. I called defeat and made my way back to my lodgings via Il Vittoriano and the foro di Cesare, and fully feeling the brunt end of the toilet issues i'd have all weekend in Rome - meaning they are random, few and far between and operate fully under the principles of Murphy's Law - the greater the need for a toilet is inversely proportionate to the availability of the toilet.
So I walked. quickly.
And in the evening decided to set out for San Lorenzo, an area out of the centre and meant to be mostly inhabited by students and full of cheap eateries. Unfortunately out of the centre also means out of the guidebooks and maps. One of the books mentioned it, another even listed a restaurant in it, but the directions were vague 'bus to Via Tiburtina'. Well...Via Tiburtina is a long street. like, incredibly long. longer than the walk I'd had to do on Friday. and has tons of buses running down various stages of it. So I was missing a lot of key information here (which of course i realise only when i am already on the metro) - such as, which bus? and from where? and to which part of Via Tiburtina?
So, I thought, oddly enough, to get off at Tiburtina station, figuring this would be a start. However, after walking up a few streets, they were not yielding anything really, and although it was nice to wander around somewhere NOT central, my stomach had other ideas. so I came back and found a bus that had stops on Via Tiburtina. And although my radar for public transport seemed to be off, my orientation wasn't and I quickly realised this bus was going in the wrong direction.
got off bus.
waited for bus back to station.
hunted for new bus.
no success.
took metro back to Termini and called defeat at 9pm.
by this time, I was worried about finding a restaurant before its kitchen closed, so i hit the guidebook - and chose what sounded like a nice Trattoria near the Opera house and made my way there - only to find..they had closed for a wedding. grrrr!
So back to the drawing board, and came up with a second choice - whose owners were thankfully not off celebrating nuptials. Il Cuore di Napoli was, as described, an 'unpretentious trattoria', and seemed full up of...you got it, Italian customers. Good enough for me, and I even took a healthy (gasp!) start of Insalata Verde, followed by a fantastic linguine with pesto sauce, pumpkin and crayfish (I thought of my poor friend Janith, who orders crayfish and usually it seems to have run away), and of course some wine...a glass of wine, i'd ordered. but it seems either they don't do glasses, or it was the presence of Geralyn, Frau nur viertel (Miss 'only a 1/4 litre, not 1/8 litre of wine, thank you!') through her guidebook that made them bring me a small carafe instead!
I didn't complain. Feeling that spirit of Geralyn I texted her after asking, would it be wrong to, after a full meal, stop by the pizza place outside Termini station, AND hunt for an open gelateria? can't recall the entire response, but i know the words 'oink oink' were in there...
Pizza place by Termini was shut by this point, but the book did note that gelaterias tend to stay open til all hours, so off I went. While I'd been in the mediocre pizzeria that day, i'd spotted the 'Gelateria San Crispino' across the square and for some reason had it in my head that this was somehow good and aimed for it. Got asked for directions along the way (apparently I blend a bit down there and this is common). Worse, I was able to give them (although only in english, hehe).
And you know your quest for gelato has reached a manic level when you see the number 70 bus pass bound for 'Via Giollitti' and you read that as 'Via Gelato' and nearly get on...
San Crispino was fantastic. I went with a cup of the hazelnut, which I ate by a fountain overlooking the Pantheon. La dolce vita indeed! (I did, for the moment, resist jumping in).
Sunday got a bit of a later start, and upon discovering how pink I was after Saturday, went into Upim to get suncream before heading out.
Shopping on Sunday was a privelege; even though at this point I'd resigned myself to the fact that goal was not likely going to be reached (although the eating was coming along fantastically). However, the want of a pizzeria kicked in once again - as did the need for a toilet (I found that a busy Burger King is a viable option). However, this time - more searching.
I headed in the direction of Piazza Navona, hoping for luck in some of the side streets, (Vicolo di Montevecchio 8) and found it - Osteria del Pegno was nestled in a little side street with a small sidewalk terrace and homey dimly lit interior. The staff were friendly without hovering too much and I was not made at all awkward for sitting on my own. Save for one German couple, again full of Italian customers. The bruschetta was simple and one of the best I've had, and I had no problem polishing off that, a plate of proscuitto e melone, as well as an entire salami pizza (yes, the girl who famously never finishes her food in a restaurant).
I went after to hang out in the Piazza Navona amongst the craziness there, very happy I hadn't chosen one of those establishments for a meal (10 euro for the margherita pizza!), but wanted to go there as its referred to in a few books I've read, including of course, 'Eat Pray Love'.
After this I headed back up in the direction of Piazza del Popolo, to sit by the fountain and relax, recalling its fountain would be in direct sunlight for at least a couple more hours, and also unlike the ones in Piazza Navona, you could sit by it.
By this time it was hot. and if its hot by my standards, one can expect rivers to start boiling, literally.
And then I took advantage of something I find great about Rome, especially at this time of year; the entire city is fed by spring water, which travels from the mountains, and throughout the city there are random water fountains which contain potable water! these were a godsend, as i continuously filled my water bottle. And then I had also come across a more modern fountain by a museum. Which, despite the sign telling us it was forbidden to go into the fountain, was full of all types of people splashing and frolicking about, and I did not hesistate to join them!
Had a great moment then, the kind of thing that transcends language barriers when 2 of the blondest looking Italian women I'd seen were giggling because they had decided to cool their beer off in the fountain, which in that moment I also found hilarious (could it be the phenomenon in Australia they call 'going troppo' from the heat?), and we were laughing together for some time, even after we realised we had a total of 10 words in common language. I ended up giving them directions to San Pietro and the Vatican (again with the directions thing!), and continued my relaxation until a mass horde of schoolkids arrived, and i made a clean getaway (self being cleaner from being in the water that is).
At Piazza del Popolo, I also could not resist the temptation to get into the fountain, however it was a solo act this time around, and then continued to enjoy the late day sunlight and ponder dinner, as well as continue reading 'Eat Pray Love', at which I had to laugh at a few things:
1. reference made to Piazza del Popolo - as I was sitting in it!
2. reference made to Gelateria San Crispino (aha! that is where I got it from..good call!)
3. this phrase, in the bit about reasons for learning Italian: "The German engineer says, "I want Italian because I love the dolce vita" - the sweet life. (Only, in his stiff Germanic accent, it ends up sounding like he said he loved "the deutsche vita" - the German life - which I'm afraid he's already had plenty of.)
that last one had me laughing out loud, and for those who know me will know exactly why, and those who have had similar (ahem) 'experiences' to those of myself and my 'Sex and the City' crew here with men of the aforementioned nationality will also require no explanation here!
My quest for dinner this evening brought me to Trastevere - having a hideously early flight the next morning, I hadn't wanted to stray too terribly far, and I knew Trastevere had a multifaceted variety of eating places, and off I went to hunt one down. Again, avoiding the larger eateries with menus featuring the entire cast of official European Union languages, I wandered for ages, determined to find somewhere that could fulfill my instant craving for a quattro formaggi sauce. And (now this was a really high hope here) somewhere without a blaring television screen showing the European Championship football quarter finals. Living in one of the host cities for this event, I'd been slightly looking to escape it a bit...
no such luck. However the place I'd gone into (only for the fact the menu contained quattro formaggi) was clearly not big on solo eaters and had stuck me in a corner while people glanced over with looks of a person told not to tease the caged animal. However, fine by me - and to be honest, as I am not at all into football, but I am definitely into watching people, I have to say, watching Italians watch football is far more entertaining than the sport itself could ever be.
And, I was there to eat. The bruschetta at this place was not up to par of the other place, and the pennette noci e gorgonzola (sounded a bit more interested than quattro formaggi after all..) was nothing to write home about. After the initial snooty guy who stuffed me in the corner, my waiters were quite nice though, but I had wondered...I'd obviously hooked up with a good thing earlier, should I just have gone for second rounds there?
and of course this necessitated a stop off at Gelateria San Crispino, which was extremely convenient; it was near to where i'd need to switch transport anyway, and with it not being a long trip to begin with, I could conceivably do this all on my one remaining metro ticket.
and i did. and the cinnamon and ginger is heaven in a cup. I went back to the same fountain to eat it (though i'd gotten over jumping in) and had a wee chat with some people who'd come from California to sing in churches all over Italy (and obviously pick up their own gelato in the process!).
Making it home shortly past midnight meant i could get a few hours sleep before the airport taxi called round (it was early - wasn't sure whether or not one could trust an Italian airport taxi that showed up..early?!?), but he got me there in more than enough time and didn't rip me off so all was well on that front.
The problem with early flights though, is nothing is open. including - now this was just an outright tease - the airport branch of San Crispino!
I mean, come on people, 6am is a perfectly reasonable time to eat gelato!
