High-speed to Rome

Packed it in with our farm stay, had a great time and really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. Tuscany is great. Lots of lush green hills loaded with vineyards and terra-cotta homes. Every hill has a mansion with Italian Cypress evergreens lining the driveway, a scene straight out of “Gladiator”. Weather was warm but not too hot, and there were a few mosquitoes, maybe more than a few. In all a highly recommended trip for those who enjoy a little slower, relaxed vacation.

But that was then, this is now, on to Rome!  Full day ride on the train to get there from Siena. We returned our rental car back to the Ferrari rental agency and caught an early morning train to Florence. Having been to this station about 5 times, we know our way around. We have about 2 hours before our connecting train so we found a little café and had, yep, had coffee and a pastry. Lunch will be on the train, Collette made sandwiches the night before so that’s all set. Even though we are traveling 1^st class, the trains have gotten into the airline game with their seating levels.

1^st class used to be 1^st class, now that’s not the case, now there’s Business class, Business “Quiet” class and Executive class. And of course, each level has a bit more dinero attached to it. 1^st is fine for us, free coffee or juice, comfy seats and plenty of room to spread out.

This is a high-speed train, travels at about 190mph top speed so getting from Florence to Rome is only about 1.5hrs. Certainly cuts down on the “did you see that” comments. Loaded up the suitcases and settled in for the ride.

We arrived in Rome around 3pm, 85F but not as humid, and just in time for the afternoon rush. Excuse me, my mistake, there’s a rush all the time, not just at 3pm. What a difference from the quiet, slow pace of Tuscany. When we went to the taxi stand to hail a ride, it looked like everyone was trying to get out of town. Cars, trucks, taxis, bikes, mopeds, people, all going in every direction on the compass. No form or organization at all! Fortunately, we did not rent a car here.  The taxi was having enough trouble just getting out of the station, can’t imagine what we would have done.

Made our way through the streets of Rome to our little apartment on Via Giulia (pronounced, “Julia”). This area is the central district for foreign embassies except the US embassy which is all the way across town. The French embassy is right across the street from our apartment and so are the armed guards and armored personnel carrier. Don’t know if we should feel safe or threatened but any case, here we are.

Paolo Spaziani, the owner, met us at the apartment and walked through how everything works. He also left us a carton of milk, orange juice, some marmalade and basic spices. Nice place, air conditioned, quiet, clean and comfortable, just as advertised. Left unpacking our things till later, right now we needed to find the grocery store and stock up for our stay. Not really stock up, here in Europe it’s shop every other day because the fridge is dorm room size, but we did need a few things so out we go.

Living room

Dining area (in the living room)

Courtyard view from living room

Fontana del Mascherone – Fountain of the Mask. Flowed wine instead of water during celebrations

Standard European shower & bath

Master Suite

Via Giulia 189

Via Giulia street

Found a little market just around the corner with all the necessities, veggies, fruit, eggs, bacon (pancetta tesa affumicata), bread and wine. We are good to go.

Back at the place to put things away, unpack and relax. Tomorrow we’re going to explore the area. We’re close to the less traveled tourist sites like Castel Sant’Angelo (Hadrian’s mausoleum), Campo de Fiori (great open-air market), Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, etc. so that’s where we’re going to start.  Weather should be good, forecasted temp is 81F, no rain for a couple of days then it’s going to cool down to the low 70’s. On Monday we buy our monthly transportation pass for October and we’re good to go.

Until tomorrow….Ciao.