Day 16: Returning Home

Day 15: Shopping in Rome

Breakfast

Walked toward the Spanish steps for shopping

We ended up around that building we had seen from Palatine Hill

It was a hot day- if I came again, I would bring a little wooden fan to cool down with

All the musicians

All the hawkers

Shopping

Miserable McDonalds, packed, hot

Then H&M

Ate at a pasta place for lunch

Then gelato

Then metro home

Man sitting at the steps

Well dressed, slumped over and resting his eyes. At his feet was an empty pasta bowl and next to it a box of cards with Mary on them.

As I watched him, I wondered what his story was. What was he doing, did he do this every day? Did he make a living doing this? Is he financially stable? 

Everyone has a story, just like all these hawkers. Whatever they came from, they would rather be on the streets of Rome selling selfie-sticks, roses, and bracelets. People look right through them. In that sense, I would think the No;s would be better than the stares that look right through you.

Anyway, I digress. 

From there, we returned to our apartment where I took a fabulous almost-two-hour nappy-nap, and I woke up just in time for dinner. We returned to Al Tettarello Hostaria, where we were greeted by Ivory, the same young woman who welcomed us the day before. I stuffed myself full of foccacia bread, more pasta and then T and I split a cheesecake and cappuccino at the end. At the end, we said our goodbyes, and Ivory said, “See you next time,” and T replied, “Maybe in a couple years,” and she said, “Maybe with a baby then?” Her smile was so sweet, I couldn’t tell what prompted her to say that. I was happy for a second, since T and I are trying to have a baby that maybe it was a good omen. But then insecurity crept in, and I thought maybe she said that because she thought I was pregnant. I was upset with myself for letting a good natured comment make me sad.


Breakfast

Walked toward the Spanish steps for shopping

We ended up around that building we had seen from Palatine Hill

All the musicians

All the hawkers

Then H&M

Ate at a pasta place for lunch

Then gelato

Then metro home

Man sitting at the steps

Well dressed, slumped over and resting his eyes. At his feet was an empty pasta bowl and next to it a box of cards with Mary on them.

As I watched him, I wondered what his story was. What was he doing, did he do this every day? Did he make a living doing this? Is he financially stable? 

Everyone has a story, just like all these hawkers. Whatever they came from, they would rather be on the streets of Rome selling selfie-sticks, roses, and bracelets. People look right through them. In that sense, I would think the No;s would be better than the stares that look right through you.

Day 14: Returning to Rome

Today was our last morning in Florence.

T and I woke up early, got showered and dressed, and planned to head to the market again for more bracelets and to see if we could exchange the belt he bough the day before for a different size.

Since our checkout was at 10 and our train departure at 10:48, we left around 8am. This was our first time getting out this early in Florence and along the way to our usual restaurant Caffe de Fossi, we found that every restaurant we passed was opened. We were worried the cafe wouldn’t be open that early, but we took the other restaurants being open as a good sign.

We made there in 5 minutes walking, and ordered the same meal as we had before. Me, a crepe, juice, and a cappuccino, and T, an omelette, juice and a cappuccino.

Once we finished breakfast we headed on to see if the market was open. I had read online it would open at 9 am, so I was hoping either they’d be there when we arrived early at 8:50 or at the least we’d get there early and be able to wait until they were ready.

Seeing the market from the early morning hours is different from the hustle and bustle of the late morning crowds. Instead of charm and attention grabbing gimmicks, we got to see the softer side of the vendors. As we wove through their moving carts, each moving their stock from storage out into the open place, they weren’t greeting us. They knew we were there, but instead they were focused on the task at hand. It was quiet. It was different. And it felt like we had gotten a special pass into seeing another side of their lives.

We found our bracelet stand quickly, but some young girls were had taken over its corner, debating on their desired colors. We opted to run and see if we could find the belt vendor. We circled the back of Mercato Centrali, and squeezed through a small opening between two carts. This man stand was all and only belts, so he was a little bit easy to spot among the other booths with knick-knacks, leather and scarves.

We saw his booth before we saw him, but luckily he was just around its corner. As soon as he saw T, he recognized him from the day before. T’s red beard and signature Raybans come in handy like that. The merchant was kind. I pulled the yellow bag from my purse and gave the belt to T who turned it over to the merchant. Helooked at the belt, and knew which one it was immediately. He pulled its twins from his stand and let T try on a 120 instead of a 125 and it fit perfectly. He even said if it didn’t fit he could make the adjustments to it right there to accomodate the needed size. We were so thankful he was so laid back and let us exchange the belt. In retrospect, we are also thankful it was the same man, because it could have easily been another employee manning the booth, because that’s exactly what we encountered at our bracelet booth.

When we returned to my favorite booth, it was bittersweet. The man that had helped us both yesterday and the day before wasn’t working. Instead it was a different man, and he had no smile to offer. Maybe it was better this way. I didn’t have to say, “Hello again, I’m back for a third time!”and there was also no chance in getting caught up in any casual conversation. Quickly, we bought B her requested bracelets and then I bought mine, and just as quickly as we had arrived, we were walking back to the airbnb, treasures in tow.

We met T’s parents back at the apartment, grabbed our things, and started on the 15 minute walk to the Santa Maria Novella train station. If you are walking to the train station, plan to pack only a carry-on sized lugggage. I repeat, pack only a carry-on size luggage. Otherwise you will have a hard time hefting a heavy suitcase up/down stairs and over cobblestone streets. It can be done, but it’s exhausting.

Santa Maria is a smaller train station than Termini, so it was easier to navigate. We purchased our tickets online. If you buy tickets there, remember to validate them at the train station, meaning, get them stamped with a date/time, or you will be fined when the train service person walks around checking tickets. Also note that trains tend not to show up before 10-15 minutes before their departure time. So if you’re at the train station early and don’t see your train under departures, don’t panic. 

As soon we our bin (gate) number popped up on the screen, we were off. We found coach 5 and settled in. Another reason not to bring big luggage is that there’s no real convenient place to put it. T’s dad stood in the cabin entrance for the first 15 minutes. You’re supposedly able to check luggage somewhere, but who knows how that goes and our cabin was so full that there wasn’t anywhere to squeeze it in between the seats. Our smaller carryon luggage was easily shelved above us in the luggage rack above our seats.

I didn’t get sick on the train before, but I felt nauseaus by the end of this ride. It might have been because it was a speed train. Or maybe my body is just like, hey, we’ve done more traveling in the last two weeks than in the last two years and I’m done. I popped some chewable Pepto, drank some water, and closed my eyes. Luckily when this happened we only had about 15 minutes left of the ride.

When we arrived at Termini, we headed for Mercato Centrali again. We ate before heading out on the walk to our apartment. I got my final Ragu ball and T got a cheese and sausage wrap. After we all ate, we grabbed our luggage (emphasis: pack carry-on size if you’re walking and not spending the money on a taxi) and took on the cobblestone streets in the Roma heat.

We passed hawkers and panhandlers again. Oh, good ol’ Rome, alive with people trying to sell me selfie-sticks and other items I don’t need. We made it to our place finally where the host let us in.

We relaxed for a little bit before eating dinner across the way at al Tettarello Hostaria, heading the Colosseum to see it lit up at night, and a gelato night cap. I got milk cream and T got mango and pineapple (or ananas).

Day 13: Accademia Gallery

Day 12: Vecchio Bridge

Day 11: From Paris to Florence

Day 10: Palace of Versailles

Day 9: Louvre & Eiffel Tower

Highlights:

• Slept in
• Breakfast 
• Young lady moved for us 
• Croissant and latte
• Back to air for tickets 
• Then uber to louvre
• The change and his wife 
• Then stressed about uber
• Made it with time to spare
• Let us in 5 minutes before 

Day 8: From Venice to Paris

We left the apartment about 8:30 and walked to the bus station. This is where it is essential to bring as little as possible, because of the walking and having to walk up and down bridges.

We made it within 15 minutes. Pop had talked to the bus clerk and she told us to be at station 1 for Bus 5 and that would take us to the airport. I wasn’t sure what to expect. There was no where to put our luggage like there is with our big buses, so we grabbed seats quickly and held the luggage between us. It took about 30 minutes with stops in between to finally get to our location.

When we arrived we didn’t know where to go, though the airport is accomodating and has its signs posted in different languages. We self-checked in, but still had to go in line for the airport employee to look at our passports and check both our large suitcases and small carryon bags. We left the carry-ons with her to check, and only ended up taking my purse and T’s backpack.

Security was a little bit different than America’s. We walked through metal detectors and I got buzzed. I think it’s because I forgot to take off my belt. A woman patted my hands and my sides with those pieces of papers that identify certain chemicals and then let me know to grab my bag and met her colleague off the side. There, he asked if I could open my bag and I did, and as he scanned it and tapped it with another slice of paper, he asked me where I was going. I let out a nervous squeak, “Uh...Paris.” And he nodded and let me know the search was over and I could proceed.

Once we made it through Security, we found our gate and sat for a second. Luckily T noticed our plane was boarding. My ears just didn’t pick up the language indicating that, so luckily he was paying attention to the others boarding.

The attendant reviewed my ticket and asked for my passport, and then we were on the way. Once in the plane...

We sat for three hours. The pilot and staff told us multiple times there was something wrong, but they weren’t sure how much it would delay us. As it turns out, it wasn’t fixable after those three hours and they told us that we would have to disembark and go back to the airport. This was all very difficult to understand since they told us in Italian and then follow up in English, but they then everyone was talking when they updated us in English. It was a little frustrating to not know the language and just have to follow everyone else.

They started unbelting, so we unbelted. They started leaving the plan, so we left the plane. They boarded the shuttle, so we boarded the shuttle. We all headed back to the airport where an employee was updating us in all languages. Once we picked up our luggage, we would have to go back upstairs to Departures and try and get on another flight. There were no more non-stop flights, so we’ve got a layover in Frankfurt because we head to Paris.

This time going through security they did not pull me aside—wooohoo! I took off my belt and tucked everything but my iPad into my purse (which by the way, broke this morning) as we were walking to the bus station). It’s really intimidating to not know if whoever pulls you aside speaks any of your own language. After we made it through security, we took our dinner vouchers to a cafe, where no one spoke any English and somehow with handgestures and nods, they gave us our food. It’s really isolating and I think I take the feeling of safety for granted.

Day 7: St. Mark’s Basilica & Vaporetta Ride

We started the day by eating at La Lista where I ordered a caffe americano and vegetarian omelette. T ordered pancakes with fruit and a caffee o’dorzo with ginseing. After breakfast, we perused the shopping strips in search of the perfect sourvineers. I knew I wanted something small since I didn’t have a lot of exta space in my carry on, and found a couple pairs of Murano glass earrings. One day, if we go back, I would love to visit either Murano or Burano and see the glass makers making glass.

We stopped at a pastry shop where we ate pistachio bread and something that tasted like a strawberry lemonade cookie. We walked to St. Mark’s and got a little lost along the way, but nothing like the night before.

Highlights:

• Breakfast
• Pastry
• Shopping
• Rialto Bridge
• St. Mark’s Basilica
• Pizza by the slice and a ball
• More pastries
• Back to the apartment for a break
• Stopped by the park along the way
• Then bought gelato stracciacielle
• Bought out bus tickets from the bus station, over the glass bridge
• Bought two-way tickets for the vaporetto
• Boarded
• Got on the back
• Toured the city via canale at sunset and stayed on till night fall
• Ate dinner at La Lista, pizza brocolli and sausage pizza
• Then stopped one more time for gelato cherry and stratecciale

Day 6: From Rome to Venice

We made it to our train! Hallelujah!

We packed up our stuff and had one more breakfast at the hotel, then we asked the concierge to request a shuttle for us.

We talked with Maurizo about the weather in Roma and he also warned us to watch our suitcases and backpacks at Termini. The shuttle arrived and it took only a few minutes to get us to the station. Once there, a couple of men offered to help us for a fee, and we kindly declined. We found that the trains don’t arrive or show up on the board until maybe 15 minutes or so until they’re scheduled to take off.

Now we are on the train, eating snacks and watching the passing scenery.

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We made it to our train! Hallelujah!

This morning, we packed up our stuff and had one more breakfast at the hotel, then we asked the concierge to request a shuttle for us.

We talked with Maurizo about the weather in Roma and he also warned us to watch our suitcases and backpacks at Termini. The shuttle arrived and it took only a few minutes to get us to the station. Once there, a couple of men offered to help us for a fee, and we kindly declined. We found that the trains don’t arrive or show up on the board until maybe 15 minutes or so until they’re scheduled to take off.

Now we are on the train, eating snacks and watching the passing scenery.

We’re not sure where the big pieces of luggage were technically supposed to go. Where we ended up placing ours was on our car in a section upfront with a belt to wrap stollers, etc. The conductor didn’t come until twenty or so minutes into the ride to check our ticket and because we had reserved seating, all she did was check to make sure 5 names were in 5 seats.

The train ride went by quickly. For the most part it was pretty comfortable, but there isn’t a lot of leg room if you purchase tickets for the seats that are facing each other. And the train wiggles more than one would think as getting up and staying up proved to be more difficult. Hold on to the railings atop the seats when moving from place to place for security. T ended up taking drammamine for his motion sickness during the ride. He didn’t anticipated getting sick on a train ride.

Once we reached our stop, we excited the trian and got our barrings. Our Airbnb host had given us walking directions from the train station. When we walked out of the train station, it was almost sensory overload. There were so many people, I had Google maps open to try and help navigate, there were panhandlers and foot taxis for luggage everywhere. Just sternly shake your head or tell them no, otherwise they will take your baggage and ask for a fee for helping. Once we made it through the crowds, we overshot our place just by a little and ended up turning around and finding it down a small alleyway. Getting lost time #1.

Our host was at the home, waiting for our arrival. He welcomed us, gave us a tour of the beautiful space, took pictures of our passports as is customary for traveling internationally. 

No more than one iPad

Don’t take lots of cash, use an ATM so you don’t get ripped off on exchange rate

No hydroflask, not in countries where no ice, plus adds to the weight of what you carry

Day 5: Vatican City, Sistine Chapel & St. Peter’s Basilica

This morning we woke up and met downstairs for our usual breakfast. I am absolutely loving being spoiled with a cappuccino every morning. And after a hearty meal, we navigated to the subway. It was definitely easier this time around. 

Highlights:

• Breakfast
• Walking to the Vatican
• Asking for directions along the way
• Waited for our time
• Cheri touched the egyptian tablet “there’s no glass”
• Saw hall of statues
• Sistine Chapel
• Got turned around
• It was hot in St. peter’s square
• Finally made it in to the Basillica
• Saw St. Peter’s tomb
• Left for the subway
• Then ate at dinner
• Then ate dessert
• Siesta
• Then ate second dinner across the street
• Then ate gelato
• “Late night party in the Rome hotel”

Day 4: Villa Borghese, Spanish Steps, Navona Square & Pantheon

This day start out a little rough.

We had gotten the Roma Pass to cover the Borghese Gallery, but did not know that in addition we had to make a reservation. Well, it was too late by the time we realized it, so we opted to visit the Villa Borghese Gardens.

After eating breakfast at the hotel, we set off. It was a long walk to metro, because three of us were working on directions and that ended up being bad because we were looking at different ways and didn't realize it. So after a frustrating 30-min-should-have-been-5-min walk, we got on the metro.

We had a little trouble getting through the gate, because one of us didn't walk through when the gate opened. We learned the hard way. Luckily the guards let us through after we told them what happened.

What happened next was rough. We also learned the hard way that public restrooms are sparse. There were two mobile ones that were trashed and because no one spoke English, we just followed where they were pointing, which did not help because we never really understood if we were supposed to turn somewhere else. It was a nightmare, and no one would wait on me to see if I could find anything.

T's parents were able to feed the birds by hand at the restaurant where we finally found a restroom. After walking aimlessly and at high speeds for an hour in the heat, we abandoned the park. I only got one picture—the tree with the pink flowers below. I would love to come back here one day with T and have a different experience of the park. Everyone was so lively; there were rollerbladers, children, carts. If our circumstances had been different, I think we would have really enjoyed it. But it was kind of like what would happen to us at Palace of Versailles later on—that we just went through so much, that we were just over it and couldn't enjoy it.

From there, we walked to the Spanish Steps. It was crowded, but what a sight to see.  There was a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts and when T's mom asked a woman who bought some what they were, she offered a few for us to taste. She was so sweet! She said it was something that reminded her of Portugal.

From there we ate lunch, which was probably my least favorite food experience, and then ate some gelati.

To use our Roma Pass, we went to Museo di Roma, which was close to us. I loved being able to experience that with T. We walked through that whole museum together, which looked like it was once a home because I noticed fireplaces in it.

After the museum, got an espresso (the most expensive the whole trip) at Navona Square and watched the street vendors. There was a silver cowboy who stood completely still. We watch curious children walk up and touch him. We also saw the art and listened to the music. After we had our moment to chill, we visited the Pantheon which was another favorite experience. We didn't get to go inside since we didn't make it in time, maybe we will go back one day. The outside was stunning. Something I started doing in pictures was placing my hand on the marble of wherever we were, so I could remember that I actually touched these things.

From there we made it back to the hotel and relaxed for a little bit before stepping out for dinner. This was probably my most favorite meal for the whole trip. It was probably my favorite restaurant, too. The waitstaff was amazing, even with only having two servers for the whole restaurant. The food was amazing. It was just awesome.

a cat just watching people pass by

the only picture i took at the park