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Is there a soul who does not like history, art or spaghetti?
If there is, let him stay at home and not visit Italy. This trip
was memorable and all too short.
We took Alitalia non-stop to Rome. Booking on the internet was
not easy. Most of the "cheap" itineraries required a stopover that
would waste at least six hours in an airport. I went to Alitalia
offices on Fifth Avenue to buy tickets that were priced somewhat less than
that advertised on their website.
Arriving early morning at Fiumicino Airport we had no trouble finding
the train to Rome main rail station, Stazione Termini. After
we bought tickets to Venice, we looked around for a cash machine.
An ATM is the preferred method of obtaining local currency and they exist
throughout the world wherever there is a bank. The exchange rate
is usually fair and you can get just the amount you need and you do not
need to carry large amounts of dollars or travelers' checks which
can be stolen. All the ATMs in Stazione Termini were out of
order forcing us to exchange money at the local exorbitant unfavorable
rate.
The rail systems in Europe are all subsidized and the trains are clean,
reasonably priced and run on time. We amused ourselves during the
train trip to Venice (and throughout the entire trip) by learning Italian
phrases and grammar and comparing the construction with Spanish.
There are enough cognates with English and Spanish that we could communicate
by means of nouns and modifiers?although verbs were a different story.
Our little Langenscheidt Italian-English dictionary was invaluable.
Venice
was all that we have been led to believe. It used to be a major center
of shipping commerce, but now is mostly a center of tourism. No matter
where you go, you end up in Piazza San Marco. We stayed two nights
at a charming hotel overlooking a canal (almost everything overlooks a
canal) with a room clerk who snootily informed us that he did NOT speak
ANY Spanish. Of course, we took the obligatory overpriced gondola
ride at dusk.
We took a short train ride to Florence.
At the station, Donna's reading of the map suggested that our hotel was
just around the block, so being ones who are not inclined to waste money
on taxis, we walked?and walked. Fortunately, we travel light (one
carry-on sized bag and one little shoulder bag each) so nothing was lost?save
a few drops of perspiration. We found Ken, Vicki and Elise sitting
at a table outside their hotel. They had just arrived from a trip
through Scotland and the Netherlands.
Ken and Vicki had done an apartment exchange with a family in Pescara,
an Adriatic seaside vacation community, and one in Rome. We rented
a car in Florence and drove down to Pescara with a stop at Assisi.
After two days we left Pescara and drove across the boot to Rome
- First days taking up residence at a charming flat in the center
of the city and just off the famous Campo de Fiori. It was
a few steps from Chiesa Sant'Andrea della Valle and Palazzo Farnese
and a mile from Castel Sant'Angelo?locations where Puccini's Tosca took
place. We ate several times at a local restaurant called Costanzo's
where we learned that "al fresco" means inside where the air conditioning
is.
After a couple of days we took the train to Pompeii
where we were careful to remain inside the station at Naples having heard
terrifying stories of the murder and robbery in broad daylight there.
We returned to Rome - Last days
again for a few more days to take in other tourist sites which are not
only obligatory but also worth the effort. I cannot describe the
thrill of seeing The Colosseum at the end of a busy road.
Would we return? In a minute!
