I got into Rome a few nights ago. It was 10pm.
First off, when our plane landed, we taxi’d for a long time. They have a lot of taxi-ways torn up, so you
wind up sitting and waiting for other planes to move around. Then we finally get to the gate and disembark
– but wait, it’s not that easy. Once we
get down the jetway, they made us walk down stairs onto the tarmac to some
waiting buses, which then bus us to another terminal on the other side of the
airport. They dump you off and you go
into the building to go through passport control. Since I am a U.S. citizen, I had to go
through the non-EU line, which was actually faster. The woman barely glanced at my passport and
stamped it, sending me onward to baggage claim.
Rome’s main airport is an old, tired facility. It really needs a facelift badly. I walked was seemed like a kilometer or two
to baggage claim, where I then had to find the right carousel. It reminded me of something out of the 70s
(which is probably when that terminal was built…early 70s). I waited again for a good 20 minutes, and
finally my bag arrived. Then I went to
go through customs, which was just a bunch of guys in military-like garb
standing around, and they didn’t even look at me, so I went through to meet my
driver in Arrivals.
My driver spoke very little English, but he did understand
me, and what limited Italian I know. We
get in the car (a Mercedes minivan - you
won’t see those in the States!) and wind our way out of the airport. Fiumicino seems like a long way from Central
Rome (it really isn’t), but we were on the autostrada for a good while. Once we hit surface streets, everywhere you
look (even though it was dark) are ancient Roman structures, mixed with everything
up to the modern era. Very surreal! When stopped at a light, I noticed a “working
girl” standing on her corner. All I
could do was laugh; the world’s oldest profession can be found everywhere!
The driver gave me a little tour as we drove through the
streets towards where I was staying. He
pointed out different structures and buildings, which was very nice to get a
mini-tour. Once we got to the area where
Annie’s apartment is, we drove around these narrow streets in circles looking
for it. We could not find 11 Piazza de
Grillo to save our lives. He called his
dispatch, and they were no help. He
called a few other people, again, not help.
We drove around for over a half hour and I finally texted Annie, who
quickly called me. Turns out the house
number was wrong on the sheet given to me, and the driver. It was off by a digit. Finally we pull up to the correct place, and
it’s nearly midnight in Rome (and I haven’t really slept in about 24
hours). Annie meets us downstairs and we
thank the driver (I tipped him extra for the aggravation).
Annie’s apartment is in this older building on the top floor
that is near the Forum. It’s been
completely remodeled. I will post some
pictures when I get back to Rome, but it’s a quaint apartment. My bedroom faces towards the Forum. She gave me the nickel tour and I took a
quick shower and crashed.
The next morning, Friday (yesterday), I woke up before the
alarm and got repacked in my carry-on for the weekend. Annie and I grabbed a taxi down the street
and headed over to the train station (Termini) to wait for our train. Apparently, all over Europe, they have this
habit of posting terminals, gates and platforms at the last minute, so we had
to keep watching the board to know where we needed to go. We grabbed some coffee and croissants at a café
and talked, and people-watched. It’s
always fascinating to see the people coming and going through a station.
Finally we found out which platform and headed over. We were on the high speed line to Bologna,
making only stops in Florence and one other place. We finally pull into Bologna (late by 20
minutes) and try to find the car rental place.
A security officer politely pointed out the way. We get the car and start to drive out of
town. We used some Google directions,
which were a bit confusing and wound up taking a wrong term. I finally got the GPS fired up, and got us
headed in the right direction.
Italian drivers make Angelenos seem sane! But, strangely, it works. Haven’t seen an accident yet. We eventually get to the A1 Autostrada and
made our way out of Bologna. The
countryside you pass through is beautiful.
It’s very reminiscent of the Central Valley in California, only greener.
MUCH greener.
At one point, we accidently took an exit we didn’t intend to
(exit lanes come very quick with little warning), so we tried to U-turn when we
got off the ramp. This rental Annie got
is a standard. She couldn’t quite make
the full turn, and tried to put it in reverse.
She and I both tried! We followed
the pattern, to no avail. Finally this
older gentleman who saw us struggling as traffic was building up came over to
help us. He got it into reverse for us
(and I thought I understood what he did).
So we got on our merry way again.
Finally we arrived in Parma.
I figured it would be this quaint, tiny town. Umm…NO.
It’s not a huge city, but it’s bigger and more developed than I
imagined. And more modern. Oh, and with lots, and lots of traffic
circles (ug!). After dicking around with
the map and the GPS, I finally saw a sign pointing to our hotel (the
confirmation gave one the name, no address).
It was right on the edge of the central core. We got checked in, dumped our bags, and
headed out as we were starving.
Parma, while an old city, feels very contemporary. The central core of town is all the older
buildings. As we walked around and
checked things out, I was struck by the architecture; tightly packed buildings
of older apartments and retail space next to ones built during the
Renaissance. The cobblestone streets
were beautiful, but not fun to walk on.
We found the Duomo (old cathedtral), which was just
reopening after siesta, and stepped inside.
Wow! It was amazing! The ceiling was covered in frescos, the walls
were very ornate, the woodwork sublime.
It was dark in there, and the flash didn’t work well, but I was able to
grab a few photos that turned out okay, and they turned the lights on briefly
so I was able to get some of the frescos.
I was just stunned at the fact that I was standing in the middle of a
church built over 500 years ago.
Annie and I walked on.
Most of the shops were still closed for siesta. We wanted to look in the Salumerias, but we
would have to wait. We walked down one
narrow path and found a small bar/café open and walked in. The workers were very friendly and this young
man working the counter introduced himself: Felip. He was 19 (just a baby!) and graduating high
school. He served us some lambrusco (red
sparkling wine) as we chatted. I don’t
know if any of you have had lambrusco before, but the stuff we get in States is
crap! This stuff was so good. It was
from a small local vitner who refilled the bottles for the café. Felip made us some small sandwiches on this
lovely brown bread with prosciutto (the area’s claim to fame). It was just so incredibly delicious (and
simple!). For the two of us, the wine
and sandwiches were less than 10 euros.
It was a steal! We tried to go
back later, but we couldn’t find it since we lost track of the many little
streets we had walked down.
We continued on, looking into stores that were open and checking
out the town. We made our way down to
the Piazza de Garibaldi, where the streets in the surrounding area were very
high end. After checking out the area,
we stopped at another café on the Piazza for some more lambrusco and
snack. The waitress brought us some
potato chips, olives and peanuts – apparently the norm in the parts. We sat and talked and people watched, enjoyed
our lambrusco and rested up. We then
walked down to the river that runs through the town. Unlike in the states, the rivers here in
Italy aren’t overly developed. They keep
them pretty natural.
We then started our journey to the now open salumerias We also wanted to find that café again with
Felip to maybe think about dinner there.
We stopped in one shop that had the local hams and cheeses. Annie bought a big wedge of parmesan and a
few other things, and I bought a lovely blue cheese – very creamy. We hit a few more shops and found a little
more high end salumeria, but still with good prices, and picked up a few more
snacks and a couple of bottles of really good balsamic vinegar (also from the
area).
After shopping all over town, and unable to find that little
café we wanted to, we headed back to the hotel to drop stuff off and get some
recommendations. The hotel gave us a
couple of recommendations and a map. We
set up down Strada della Republica and couldn’t find the place to save our
lives. We kept looking and looking. Mind you, I can’t remember the name of the
place today and haven’t had a chance to ask Annie, but it was a well regarded
restaurant. Eventually, we stopped a
taxi and ask him to take us there. We
never would have found it. Annie and I
have discovered that asking people for direction in Italy is often
useless. They might think they’re
telling you the correct way, but it always seems to turn into a bust and we
have to struggle.
We did eventually get there and were able to have a nice
dinner. I had ordered a parmesan flan as
my starter. It was so incredibly rich,
and parmesan is this region’s specialty.
It was definitely the right choice.
For my primi, I ordered a handmade pasta filled with beef and cheese,
and served in a broth. It was absolutely
sublime. Very subtle, but very
flavorful. Between that and the flan, I
was filled up. If I get the name of the
restaurant, I will try to post it here.
We went back to the hotel to crash. It was a long day, but a very good one.
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