A Taste of Italy…Mimi & Brad's adventure: First stop: Roma

May 10, 2011, Day One

Our first destination was to the capital of Italy, the dynamic city of Rome. We landed at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport, also known as Fiumicino (FCO) Airport which also has a train station. We had many family and friends who gave us helpful travel tips including being extra careful of petty theft as they are rampant in these crowded areas. Gypsies, sweet-talking con artists, well-dressed pickpockets and thieving gangs of children at the ancient sites, Rome is a gauntlet of rip-offs. Brad wore an undershirt murse aka man purse where he stowed our passports, cash and credit cards. So, if you notice photos of him with a bulge, it isn't from all the food he's been eating.

To get to our hotel, we had to take a train via "Leonardo Express" to Roma Termini Train Station, a bus ride, and a couple of blocks of walking. The Termini reminded me of Grand Central Station in Manhattan during rush hour except all of the signage is in Italian.

We did a ton of research to prepare us for this trip and stumbled upon this website created by this American-now Italian resident who provides great tips when visiting Rome www.roninrome.com including how to get around the airport/train station and many other helpful information.

Throughout Italy, when using the public transportation system, ie, train, bus or boat, you must always validate your ticket before using or if busted, pay a hefty penalty! We witnessed a couple of "non-educated travelers" get fined.

The bus ride was quite stressful because we couldn't find anyone that spoke English and the bus driver just grunted when I asked him in my terrible Italian to let me know when our street was coming up so that we'll know to get off the bus. The street signs are terrible as they weren't posted on every corner and if they were, they were either engraved on the wall (not visible to drivers) or just plain difficult to read…this was frustrating. In the end, the bus driver came through as he looked my way and pointed to the door which I took as "time to get off". I had to yell out to Brad who was on the back of the bus to make sure he knew that this was our stop….wouldn't want us getting separated in this foreign land with a mere Italian phrase book in our hands! Although Brad does have a bit of Rosetta Stone Italian education under his belt. Lol!

Our hotel, located in a nice residential area called Trieste-Salario, was lovely especially since we got an upgrade to a suite because we were honeymooners…sweet! Relais 6 has 33 rooms and has a 4-1/2 star rating on Trip Advisor. http://www.relais6.com/inglese/hotel.htm

Rated 4-1/2 stars in TripAdvisor

hotel lobby

Upon checking in, I immediately noticed one of the employees because he looked Filipino who later confirmed he was when I asked. So strange cuz he spoke Italian fluently! Nems was very friendly and chatty...he was real eager to know where we're from and I, too, was curious to know about him (how long he's been in Italy etc). He didn’t seem comfortable speaking English so we primarily spoke in Tagalog with Brad nodding in support and chiming in with "salamat" and two other Tagalog words he knows.

I’ve heard that most hotels (at least those within our budget) tend to be very small kinda like hotels in Manhattan, so it was a nice surprise to start our trip with a large room. As nice as our room was, it doesn’t compare to our typical American hotel rooms at the Westin, W, or Sheraton where there’s carpeting and the beds are heavenly with pillow-top mattresses, multiple plush pillows, down blankets and 300+ thread count linens…and lots of towels. None of our Italian accommodations were such but I will say that every mattress we had was nice and firm and provided the comfortable night’s rest that we needed.

yay, a bidet!

After we had checked out our room, we quickly and excitedly headed off for our first Roman adventure! With the map marked up by the hotel concierge with notes as to which bus or subway to take, we were off to Piazza di Spagna to see the Spanish Steps. While on the bus, I came across 3 Filipinas...I was quickly realizing there are a ton of pinoys in Rome...which they all confirmed as the case. I don't know why I'm amazed by this but I was! I always thought that we mainly migrated to SoCA, Saudi Arabia or Dubai…my bad. I found it so cool to hear them speak Italian so fluently...I wished I could speak as well as them.

Although Piazza di Spagna seemed smaller than I imagined, it was beautiful nonetheless. With the Fontana della Barcaccia (Fountain of the Old Boat = because it's in the shape of a half-sunken ship with water overflowing its bows) sitting front and center made it even more fun to just sit and watch people go by as we admire the Steps and the fountain, snapping pictures of each other and enjoying the beauty around us.

designer shopping stores just across the street…sorry, girls, this ain't my thing

Before the trip, I wondered if I'd ever have any photos of me and Brad together...will I trust my camera to a stranger given the horror stories I've heard of gypsies dressed as tourists so they can blend in and bam…run off with your camera! So, I learned that when someone asks me to take their picture, entrusting me with their camera that clearly costs 3x more than mine, I surely can trust them to hold my camera for a couple of minutes.

I spot the infamous Roman police, wearing their Armani uniforms and Gucci sunglasses. I see one of them walk over to the fountain for a drink of water.

Of course, I had to send Brad for a photo opp.

The Romans are very proud of their potable water spouts which you'll find throughout the city and some of them release ice-cold water...nice!

When we were ready to move on to our next site, I asked Brad to take a photo of me while I fill my bottle up with some of this precious liquid and two steps away from the fountain…swoosh splat! I slipped on the wet stone and landed smack down on the ground for everyone around the fountain and the Spanish Steps to see! You can hear a collective gasp from the crowd... “Oooohhhh!”

Oh, how embarrassing! My very first moments in Rome and this happens. Fortunately, I landed right on my ass and thanks to sufficient junk in my trunk, I was fine...no pain no bruises, just humiliated. People around me were extremely nice and helped me get up. Brad hurries over to check on me and when I asked him if he "caught it on film", he replies with "no, I wanted to make sure you're ok". Aw, how sweet, right? But I told him that a good photographer would've snapped quickly then run to my rescue. Truthfully, I would've wanted that for my memory book. Oh well, my husband is sweet and caring...I shouldn't complain. As we walked away, I bid everyone a farewell with a princess wave. I'm sure when we cross paths with one of these tourists, they'll point and say, hey, there's that Asian American who slipped by the fountain. Oh shame!

While walking to our next stop, we stopped at Piazza San Lorenzo and shared a speck & pecorino panino from Teichner Ristorante 3.5 stars and our first gelato of the trip at Ciampini Gelateria 4.5 stars.

stracciatella (Choc chip) and zabaglione

visciole (Italian cherries), crema and gianduia (chocolate)

Our next stop, the Fontana di Trevi aka Trevi Fountain! Wow! This was much bigger than I imagined! Here we see how Rome takes full advantage of the abundance of water brought into the city by its great aqueducts. Needless to say, another terrific spot for "people watchiing".

panoramic shot…i took this! unfortunately, it's too darn big and i couldn't get the bottom of it

of course we each tossed a coin for wishes to return!

An estimated €3,000 are thrown into the fountain each day and the money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy.

At this point, we've worked up an appetite for dinner…down the street we found Antica Trattoria Tritone which was busy with locals so we decided to stay for dinner.

Antipasto Romano - a traditional bruschetta with tomatoes and one with dried beef with cheese, fried zucchini flower stuffed with ricotta, rice croquette, mozarella cheese. 3.75 stars

Lasagne with artichokes and cream sauce 4 stars. Artichokes is one of our favorite veggies and because they were at the peak of its season, we knew we had to get our fix.

During dinner, a singer and a guitarist serenaded the diners. I thought it was the restaurant's entertainment until they started to extend out a plate for €. How romantic…not.

Karen, our Weight Watchers Leader, would be proud. Brad and I shared both plates and stuck to our guns and didn't allow the peer pressure of traditional Italian eating where one orders antipasti, a primi, a secondi, a contorni or two, and a dolci. We committed to ourselves that we would eat to taste and savor the regional and seasonal offerings without gluttony.

The bus ride back to the hotel was less stressful than the earlier trip from the train station, except it was dark and we missed our stop by about 2 extra blocks which caused us to build our appetite for more gelato and how convenient that there just happens to be one down the street from our hotel which stays open until midnight! Honestly, there were gelaterias everywhere…how can one resist all this temptation?