4/3 Coliseum, Forum & food

 Today was a fabulous day.  Everything went well.  My back still twinges when I stand, but I can walk, sit and sleep comfortably.  I’ll look on the bright side.

We started early and took the Metro to the closest stop  to the coliseum.  Checked out the meeting spot and then went and had breakfast.  I had cappuccino and plain croissant, B had iced latte and Nutella croissant.

We had skip-the-line tickets.  When we saw the line we were REALLY HAPPY.  We explored at our own pace and B found the elevator so I didn’t have to climb the thousand steps.  We have a zillion pics of the coliseum, but I’m only showing a few.

Our tickets also included The Forum complex.  B really liked exploring through the ruins.  We came across a group with a young man down on one knee and I rushed over to ask if it was what I thought it was?  YES.  I said I took bride pictures all over the world and could I take one of them?  So here they are.

We were walking to a side exit when a French couple asked if we knew where a WC was.  Amazingly, we could tell them because we had used the one close by earlier. Across the street from our exit was a pleasant looking restaurant, so we had our late lunch.  I had pasta with scampi and lime and B had a margarita pizza with burrata. 

We walked a different route to the Trevi Fountain gelato place.  This time I had the small cup with mint and chocolate with nuts.  B had the medium with Oreos, Nutella and chocolate. Then we walked home again. This time sunny all the way.  We stopped at the same grocery store and got a very different foccio because we are having bread and salami for dinner again - and still haven’t finished it. Pics next.

4/2 c Rome pics

 

4/2 b Rome pics

 

4/2 Wandering Roma

Today was hard to qualify.  It started stressfully.  I tried to buy train tickets to Florence on line.  Everything worked fine until the last step of confirming the purchase.  Soooo, I didn’t know if it had gone through or not.  I decided that we had to go to the train station to find out and also to buy those tickets and ones to Venice. In all of this, something tweaked in my back.  It hurts when I first stand up and then is stiff for awhile but loosens up when I walk.

We had the adventure of our first metro ride - turned out to be easy.  A short walk to the station and then a straight shot to the terminal.  Rome only has 3 lines so it’s easy-Peasy after Paris.  

We went to a ticket office where I got a number and waited to be called.  The official spoke English, but when I was explaining my problem, it wasn’t good enough.  He handed me over to a young woman who listened to my sad tale of woe and then said, “We don’t have a train that runs at that time.” Bummer, it was the other train company.  Since I was there, I bought the tickets for Florence to Venice because they had more time choices.

Then we went to the other office at the end of the station.  Great, no line! A very friendly young man listened to my tale and searched his manifest and said he couldn’t find me, so chances are the purchase hadn’t gone through.  I rebought and he was very helpful in explaining how we were going to get the train.  He also said I should probably keep checking my credit card just to make sure.  Sooo, problem solved.

While I was doing this, B mapped out a route to the colosseum and we were on our way.  The day was lovely and sunny and warm enough that I took off my fleece jacket.  On the way, we saw a cute outside place for lunch and had Margarita pizzas. 

Found the colosseum and spotted the place we are to meet tomorrow for our no wait in line tickets.  From there we wandered through old picturesque streets to the Trevi fountain (Where the rest of the world was already gathered.) We sipped from the fountain because Alec assured us it was safe.  Then we bought gelato from the best place in Rome.  We each had 3 scoops.  I had limoncello, melon, and chocolate.  B had Nutella, coffee, and chocolate.  My eyes were bigger than my tummy, but I managed to finish. Then we strolled back to our apartment.

It was delightful.  Some how we found ourselves on a pedestrian walk that was strangely reminiscent of the 3rd street promenade.  We went into Ferrari to see the cool clothes you could get to wear while driving your Ferrari and LEGO to check if they had anything different. (No) There was a sandcastle artist and bad musicians.

And on we went over the river and about 10 blocks from home when a hailstorm with thunder drenched us.  We took some shelter in a door way, which worked for awhile, but we got wetter and the hail went from corn kernel size to large pea size.  Then we spotted a bigger doorway and moved there. A kind man had driven up and I guess was waiting, but came and opened the door and let us stand inside.  We waited until the hail stopped and the rain slackened and then hurried the rest of the way.  I was hanging onto B so I wouldn’t slip and fall because the pavement and streets were covered with hail stones.

Of course we were soaked when we got home, so we both stripped at the doorway and our clothes are on a rack on a bath mat.  We took warm showers and put on our jammies.  We had already decided we weren’t going to be hungry so would just have leftover salami from last night.  Pictures will be in a following post.

4/1 b dinner

 We had a lovely dinner at Vostrosteria.  They poured us each some sparkling wine as a welcome and brought a small piece of bread with melted cheese and ham and a foccio.  Our eyes were bigger than our tummies an the portions were big.  We ordered the bruschetta and a salami plate.  The bruschetta had 4 breads with different toppings.  Then B had pasta with the house ragu and I had it with wild boar ragu.  We were stuffed but since B loves tiramisu we had that.  It came deconstructed. The waitress put a blob of whipped cream on the plate then drenched a cookie in expresso and put it on top.  Another cookie another blob.  A third drenched cookie and the whipped cream covering all.  Then chocolate sauce was drizzled on and last but not least a huge amount of cocoa powder was sprinkled on.  YUMMY!

4/1 Rome

 B got up early and ready quickly so that she could run out and get us some cheese soufflé rolls for breakfast.  She discovered she loved them and has gone back by herself to get some.

Had a good flight on Easy Jet to Rome.  We left from Orly which was the airport before Charles de Gaulle.  It has really been upgraded sine I saw it last.  The only problem was that Starbucks couldn’t make coffee.

Taxi to our apartment.  It is quite cute with a lovely garden.  Matilde the host met us and showed us grow everything worked.  She had stocked up the fridge, too.  I have the large bed and the one in the living room opens up.

We walked around the neighborhood and made a dinner reservation at a place that looked good. Then went home to rest.

3/31 c dinner

 Our last night in Paris.  The hotel made taxi reservations for tomorrow morning and then suggested le Florimond for dinner and made a reservation for us.  It was a two minute walk and there was a tour group there when we arrived.  They were noisy, but on dessert so didn’t stay long.  After they left it filled with quieter groups.  Everyone was very charming and the two young men helpers were quite taken with B.  One of them even winked at her to acknowledge her request for more water. 

She started with a savory crepe filled with black pudding (the main waiter was VERY impressed with her adventuresome palate) and then had duck confit.  The orange blob is BBQ sauce.  I had white asparagus with burrata and dandelion greens, and then stuffed cabbage from grandmas recipe.  Chocolate cake for dessert.

3/31 b Notre-Dame

 After lunch we walked around Notre-Dame so here are some pictures from all sides. There is a bleacher set up in the front so people can watch what is going on.  The front with all the statues is the cleanest I have ever seen it.  It looks like they built temporary housing in the garden in the back for the workers. I think every mountain climber in France has a job, because the need people who can work while on ropes and not afraid of heights. Then we had coupes at Bertillion.  I had pear and chocolate sorbet.  B had vanilla and chocolate (boring).

3/31 scenes from Paris

 Today is our last day in Paris.  We took the metro to isle St. Louis for lunch, Notre-Dame and Bertillion ice cream.  The sweetest interaction in the subway.  The little girl in the stroller was really grooving to the music, so the man squatted and played just for her.  The ladder going up the building is how furniture is moved into upper story apartments here.  Lunch at Brassiere isle St. Louis.  B (not autocorrect Brandenburg) had ham and cheese omelette with frites and I had my two most favorite things here: onion tart and frisée salad with bacon.  B loved the tart and helped me eat it.  Said she would have ordered it if she had been able to pre-taste.

3/30 c dinner

 Pasco is just down the street and looked nice but low key.  I was still stuffed from lunch.  Branwen had baby duck and I had cauliflower soup with a herring foam and salad.  B had lava cake with ice cream for dessert.

3/30 b

 We explored the fancy jewelry stores, saw the construction project that is the Opera and went to Galeries Lafayette for the view and the lovely dome.  They have redone the bathroom.  Then we went back to our hotel and went to the local laundromat for a more mundane adventure.  

3/30 Angelina for lunch

 Angelina (famous for hot chocolate) was our plan for brunch. We had a late start so ended up with a late lunch.  I had croque monsieur and hot chocolate and Brandenburg had the full brunch which had little pastries, eggs Benedict on avocado, crepe and hot chocolate.