Rome, Lazio, Italy, Saturday, October 13, 2012

Vegetable Antipasto

We can’t believe that we are about to visit our last city. And it is one that we have been to before. Carol threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain almost two years ago and it worked, because we are returning to Rome today.
In order to make our train in Naples, we have to catch the 0826 train from Sorrento to Naples. This only leaves us time to grab some croissants and a couple of pepperoni ham rolls they put out today. They go in the pack and out the door we go. No Cappucino for Carol which she always thinks is extremely sad.
We board the train which is supposedly one of the few express trains from here and cuts the ride to 45 minutes from 70 minutes. We stop at every station for the first 25 minutes and then skip one. Not much of an express so far. It really doesn’t matter as we will make our train with no problem either way. At about the 35 minute into our journey mark, the train really does become an express zooming by every station we see. It makes it to Naples in 50 minutes, very good for Italian standards. Getting off the local, we go by the food stand where Carol had the Spinach Ricotta Pie the first day we came through here. We were going to get some when we left Naples the other day and they were all out, so we do not miss this opportunity to have them for breakfast. It is so incredibly good and very cheap as well. One thing about Naples is that the food here is the cheapest we have seen in all of Italy.
We walk to the main station and find a seat to wait for our train to Rome. They usually do not put the track number on the electronic board until about 10-15 minutes before departure time. When the time gets closer, I go to validate our tickets and our track number is on the board. We head on over as it also usually means that the train is there. We have mandatory reserved seats on this train and find our car number, hop on and look for our seats. When we get there, some people are sitting in them so I say excuse me we have those seats reserved. Two English speaking people get up from different seats saying they are in the wrong place. Our seats are by the window and I say excuse me, those are our seats. One fairly big Italian girl, tries to tell me to take the other seats but I again say the window seats are our seats. One person moves and Carol sits down while this girl is still staring at me. One more time, that is my seat, point to my ticket, and she moves, cursing me a little in Italian. I guess she felt she could intimidate me to sit elsewhere and was not happy when it was not working.
The window seats are nicer because one, they are by the window, but they also have little tables that fold up against the window where the other seats do not. Anyway, we are in our seats and depart on time. It is a two hour ride and the intimidator talks non stop forty five minutes. We are happy at that time when she and her cohorts get off the train. About 45 minutes from Rome, it starts to rain. As we approach Rome, it is cloudy but not raining. Reaching the main station called Termini, we take care of a few items. We buy our tickets for the airport express train and we buy some metro tickets. The metro is the Roman subway line and we are taking it to a stop near our BNB. We are supposed to meet the BNB guy between 1300 and 1400 at the BNB and it is 1250 so we are good time wise.
When we get off at the metro stop, it is raining lightly. According to the directions I have and the map I looked at yesterday, it is just a short walk to the BNB. We don’t put any rain gear on and following the directions walk about 2 and a half blocks and turn right on Via Alba. That is all the directions say so we figure it is down this street and marked. It is now starting to rain hard so we put our rain coats on but not the pack covers as we think we are real close. Down the street we walk until we get to the end of this street and we did not see any signs. There is no street address on the directions so we decide to backtrack and check the names on the buzzers at each address for the BNB name or a Francesco. Carol takes one side of the street and I take the other. We walk all the way back and do not find any indication of the BNB. We then find an overhang where it is dry and I get out the IPad to look at the actual reservation for an address. It lists Via Mortaro 2. That is nice except we are not on Via Mortaro. The written directions say Via Alba, no address, and the snapshot of the google map I did shows it on Via Alba.
We walk halfway down the street again looking to see if any of the intersection streets of which we only see two are called Via Mortaro figuring it might be a corner property. No luck. Somehow on this journey, it seems the only time we have had any real trouble finding places has been in the pouring rain. This is turning out to be another of those times. At the beginning of the street address # 2 is a commercial building so I go across the street and ring the buzzer at # 1. The door opens and there is a lady in a cage at the entry of the building. I ask her if she knows Orlando Innamorata BNB, guy named Francesco. First a no and then ahhh si. I ask her if she knows the address and where it is. She says trenta cinque which is 35. New information and a new quest so we walk along the street to number 35 which is gated but looks like it has apartments in it. Ring the buzzer several times but no answer. I see a guy getting off a motorcycle and ask him if he knows this place. He points across the street and says he thinks it is number 45. Alright maybe I heard the lady wrong. Number 45, no answer on several buzzers and no indication of an existing BNB. Frustration definitely kicking in and not being helped by the fact that we are now like drowned rats, pants and shoes totally soaked. I see a small bar so go in there to ask. No one has heard of the place so I say Via Mortaro? One guy says What I think is via Mortaro, takes us to the door points to a piazza and says by the piazza. Back into the rain we walk to the piazza and the third street says via metare which we think is it. We walk along to find that number 2 is a car dealer and is closed for siesta so we can’t even ask anyone. A guy walks by and he can not help us. Back to getting the IPad out and looking things over again. The address is on via Mortaro and we are on via metare, so close but no cigar. The guy at the bar must have assumed I said it wrong or it sounded like this street so pointed us here. Looking at my screenshot map that I used the Mortaro address on, it shows a little ways up via alba. I am not convinced that google maps did not belch when I did my search so I ask a lady walking by if she speaks English. She does but does not know the via Mortaro street, just via alba. I ask if she has a phone I can use to call the BNB guy but she doesn’t.
It is now 1350 and there is a possibility the guy may not be there if we don’t find it close to 1400 time. We decide to race back to Via Alba and try again. There is a guy getting out of a car, no English and does not know the BNB or via Mortaro as I have now written it all down to show people. A little further up a guy is about to get into his car so I ask if he is Francesco as it is now 1400 and it could be him leaving. No. I ask if he knows BNB, no!. Then I show him the via Mortaro address and he says si and points up the street and says see the signora, sinistra which means go left where a lady is walking. Having renewed hope we walk up and there is a small unmarked alley. Hidden from view on Via Alba is a doorway and on the buzzer is Orlando Innamorata BNB. We have found it, Hallelujah! Buzz, an answer, come up to 6th floor. Unbelievable, we have been in the pouring rain for an hour. We get up to the BNB and Francesco greets us and we explain why we are a little late and how hard it was to find without any signs on the street. I do not think it sinks in that there should be a sign but I just don’t care to discuss it further at the moment and let it go. He is very nice, showing us our room and making us coffee which helps to improve our mood.
Settling into our room we discuss our options for the rest of the day. We were going to do a little sightseeing today but between the later check in, rain, ordeal of finding the place, and my somewhat sore throat decide to just stay put and go out later for dinner. Good plan!
We rest and I look up some restaurants that the BNB had listed that we’re close by. Only one is in trip advisor and did not get good reviews. He had mentioned another one that was supposedly good and had very cheap 3 course meals. It is around the corner so we decide we will probably just eat there as the next closest one I had on my original list is about 1.2 miles away. At about 0615, we go out to find it and see when it opens. We find the street with no problem but the address that we have is not a restaurant but a cafeteria and is totally closed up with no indication of hours. It is not raining so we decide to just walk to the place on our list. It is an easy walk along the main drag and ends up pretty close to the colosseum. We check out the menu at Trattoria Luzzi, look at some dishes people are eating and decide it will work. Table for two inside and we are seated. The prices are great, 5-6 for pastas, 4 for a whole liter of red wine, and reasonable antipasto.

Inside the Restaurant

We order and the place starts to fill up and soon there are no tables which we take as a good sign. The antipasto of lightly fried mixed vegetables is great. Eggplant, onion, potato, zucchini, red peppers, and olives. Next, our pastas, one amatriciana with pancetta and the other a fettuccine bolognese. Both are very tasty, and the wine is very good as well. All this for 22E is hard to beat. We ask when they open tomorrow as we may be back.

Another Small Elevator

                                 The walk home is nice and we pass a hugh building that may be a church but it is closed. We go through a Roman gate which now accommodates several lanes of traffic as well. Almost home, we stop and get a gelato to finish off the day. Tomorrow is supposed to be the nicest day of our stay here so our activity will be outdoor. For a big city, we are already enjoying walking around. time for some rest.
CNC
“You do not travel if you are afraid of the unknown, you travel for the unknown, that reveals you with yourself”- Ella Maillart

 

Expenses
8E – 2 train tickets to Naples
46E- 2 train tickets to Rome
4E- 2 spinach and Ricotta Pies from Naples Train Station Idea Cafe
3E – metro ticket to BNB
22E- antipasto Misto, pasta bolognese, pasta amatriciana, liter of wine, bread, 1E coperto at Trattoria Luzzi
89E- Orlando Innamorata BNB

Miles Walked – 6.7, mostly walking in circles looking for our BNB