Rome Trip Day Four: March 8 2006
We got up at 7am again, and went to the same place for breakfast. Our mental capacity for surprises, nice or nasty, is small at the beginning of the day. Adventures can wait till later.
We took bus #571 to Piazza Venezia, "the heart of Rome". We are now looking at Vittoria, "Altar of the Nations", squarely in the facade. This is a striking piece of architecture. Rising from the ground, more than 200 steps of long wide stairs led us up Monte Capitoline. I noticed this structure on our first day, standing outside of the Colosseo. I had repeatedly asked R what it was, but he didn't know either. All of the tour books avoided mentioning it, even though it's right next to the heart of Rome. The few references we found called it a "monstrosity" and nicknamed it "typewriter". It was built at the beginning of last century. I guess it is just too new to be less controversial. I myself love it. If the Roman don't want it, let's move it to Jersey City.
By the way, since the wheelchair access in Rome is disappointing, we have now perfected our technique of carrying the stroller up and down long flights of stairs. The cobblestone streets of Rome are also trying on the stroller, but it happened to be made in Italy: it withstands the torture so well that it appears to be designed with the surface condition in mind.
Because of the road conditions, very few women wear stiletto heels in Rome. I've only seen 3 such brave souls in 4 days.
There are also very few babies to be seen out and about. This is very different from the US.
We went into Musei Capitoline, a big museum by Roman standard. I saw the smallest elevator ever. The two of us and Max's stroller barely fit into it. It had 3 doors and a large mirror on the fourth wall, presumably to create the illusion of a larger space. Counting of floors starts from 0 in Rome, very C-style.
I felt very tired and sat down on some steps. I put my forehead on my knees and slept for 10 minutes. Before we left the museum, we stood on a terrace with a nice sweeping view of Foro Romano, the Roman Forum.
We walked into Trastevere for lunch. It's a sunny day. We went to Lana, the one that was closed on the second day. We finally get to order the famous Code Alla Vaccinara, or ox tail in tomato sauce. It was so good that I vowed to eat it at least 5 times in the rest of the trip.
We walked back to Foro Romano and wandered in it. The ruins were lovely, but pushing a stroller around was very hard. At about 4:30, we left and went to Fortana di Trevi, a grandiose sight but a little crowded. We taught Max to threw a coin into the fountain, thus ensuring his return to Rome, Why didn't the two of us throw coins? I don't know.
We then visited two churches. one baroque, one gothic. We had "the best cappuccino in Rome" at Cafe Eustachio, Two cups each. It's the best and the cheapest cappuccino I've ever had. Only Euro1.3. I bet they take tremendous pride in that fact.
We wanted traditional food for dinner and decided to sweeten the expectation with a long walk to Testaccio, "an up and coming neighborhood". We arrived at the restaurant of chose at 8pm. It was totally empty. R wondered what this meant, but we were informed by a cook that the place is all booked. We went to another one in the "top 10 restaurants" list, and was told to come back at 10:30. We reread the list and found that 4 were on the same road, so we went there. The road is in a shape of a big "U", around a hill. the neighbourhood seemed deserted. There were some bars, but not opened yet. We tried everyone of the four, but none of them have a table for us. All booked. How could they be so popular? After a frustrating 10 minutes of walking, finally we got to the other end of the road. In despair, I went into a random restaurant and asked for a table. They had one for us. We were grateful, but suspicious at the same time. They turned out to be not a traditional restaurant, offering no pasta or ox tail. When I was totally full, I stared at the door and read the restaurant name again. I realized it's also one of the top 10. We had initially ruled it out since it offers "mostly pastry-based items". This fact helped heal my trauma.
Later we learned that the deserted road would become the liveliest nightlife scene in a few hours. No wonder all the restaurants near it were booked, and the reservations were for a late hour.
We took #3 bus home. R was eager to learn the outcome of the Champion's League games. The most important one was between AC Milan and Byron Munich. When I started to try to make a prediction, he bursted into laughter. He said one team is going to have bad luck now. So I said something vague. I said Byron would score at least one goal.
After we got off the bus, we went into the neighborhood cafe to buy some croissants. The radio is very loud. Passionate but incomprehensible Italian commenting on the game. The owner of the cafe, with surprisingly good English, told us "Milan four to one! It is too much!" Italians are so modest.
We took bus #571 to Piazza Venezia, "the heart of Rome". We are now looking at Vittoria, "Altar of the Nations", squarely in the facade. This is a striking piece of architecture. Rising from the ground, more than 200 steps of long wide stairs led us up Monte Capitoline. I noticed this structure on our first day, standing outside of the Colosseo. I had repeatedly asked R what it was, but he didn't know either. All of the tour books avoided mentioning it, even though it's right next to the heart of Rome. The few references we found called it a "monstrosity" and nicknamed it "typewriter". It was built at the beginning of last century. I guess it is just too new to be less controversial. I myself love it. If the Roman don't want it, let's move it to Jersey City.
By the way, since the wheelchair access in Rome is disappointing, we have now perfected our technique of carrying the stroller up and down long flights of stairs. The cobblestone streets of Rome are also trying on the stroller, but it happened to be made in Italy: it withstands the torture so well that it appears to be designed with the surface condition in mind.
Because of the road conditions, very few women wear stiletto heels in Rome. I've only seen 3 such brave souls in 4 days.
There are also very few babies to be seen out and about. This is very different from the US.
We went into Musei Capitoline, a big museum by Roman standard. I saw the smallest elevator ever. The two of us and Max's stroller barely fit into it. It had 3 doors and a large mirror on the fourth wall, presumably to create the illusion of a larger space. Counting of floors starts from 0 in Rome, very C-style.
I felt very tired and sat down on some steps. I put my forehead on my knees and slept for 10 minutes. Before we left the museum, we stood on a terrace with a nice sweeping view of Foro Romano, the Roman Forum.
We walked into Trastevere for lunch. It's a sunny day. We went to Lana, the one that was closed on the second day. We finally get to order the famous Code Alla Vaccinara, or ox tail in tomato sauce. It was so good that I vowed to eat it at least 5 times in the rest of the trip.
We walked back to Foro Romano and wandered in it. The ruins were lovely, but pushing a stroller around was very hard. At about 4:30, we left and went to Fortana di Trevi, a grandiose sight but a little crowded. We taught Max to threw a coin into the fountain, thus ensuring his return to Rome, Why didn't the two of us throw coins? I don't know.
We then visited two churches. one baroque, one gothic. We had "the best cappuccino in Rome" at Cafe Eustachio, Two cups each. It's the best and the cheapest cappuccino I've ever had. Only Euro1.3. I bet they take tremendous pride in that fact.
We wanted traditional food for dinner and decided to sweeten the expectation with a long walk to Testaccio, "an up and coming neighborhood". We arrived at the restaurant of chose at 8pm. It was totally empty. R wondered what this meant, but we were informed by a cook that the place is all booked. We went to another one in the "top 10 restaurants" list, and was told to come back at 10:30. We reread the list and found that 4 were on the same road, so we went there. The road is in a shape of a big "U", around a hill. the neighbourhood seemed deserted. There were some bars, but not opened yet. We tried everyone of the four, but none of them have a table for us. All booked. How could they be so popular? After a frustrating 10 minutes of walking, finally we got to the other end of the road. In despair, I went into a random restaurant and asked for a table. They had one for us. We were grateful, but suspicious at the same time. They turned out to be not a traditional restaurant, offering no pasta or ox tail. When I was totally full, I stared at the door and read the restaurant name again. I realized it's also one of the top 10. We had initially ruled it out since it offers "mostly pastry-based items". This fact helped heal my trauma.
Later we learned that the deserted road would become the liveliest nightlife scene in a few hours. No wonder all the restaurants near it were booked, and the reservations were for a late hour.
We took #3 bus home. R was eager to learn the outcome of the Champion's League games. The most important one was between AC Milan and Byron Munich. When I started to try to make a prediction, he bursted into laughter. He said one team is going to have bad luck now. So I said something vague. I said Byron would score at least one goal.
After we got off the bus, we went into the neighborhood cafe to buy some croissants. The radio is very loud. Passionate but incomprehensible Italian commenting on the game. The owner of the cafe, with surprisingly good English, told us "Milan four to one! It is too much!" Italians are so modest.
posted by moira at 4:03 PM
1 Comments:
SC: What surprised me was your ability to produce such long articles even when you are in Rome.
More surprised me is the non-ability of producing a single line after you come back.
I am not asking you to write Day Five or so. Save it for our meeting with XiaoYing, and in Shanghainese.
Post a Comment
<< Home