The look of the new room was deceiving - a terrible night sleep because of the traffic noise but that was quickly forgotten when I got a phone call from Wexford telling me my interview had been successful and I have a job for next year. The first thing I did was get onto the internet to check out the holidays for next year, then start planning what I was going to do with the extra money!
I went out for the day, had a tour of the Colosseum, Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum which was very enjoyable but exhausting. So many photos - here are many -
The Colosseum -
Arch of Constantine
Palantine Hill
The Roman Forum
I was starving at the end so walked back past my hotel and down a 'stradini' small laneway and went into a small restaurant that had a few other people in there and had a bowl of yummy pasta. The waiter was making out it was a huge inconvenience that I wanted to pay with a card - I didn't have cash - but eventually he got over the inconvenience and took the card. Cash speaks volumes here.
Then on the way home I decided I wanted some tiramisu. That's when the drama bloody started. I called into the café down stairs and asked for tiramisu and coffee. The tiramisu was half frozen so I told the waiter (who had left me waiting for ages by the way), he took the plate and came back a couple of minutes later with the thing melted. He’d put it in the microwave. So I took one look at it and said no I don’t want it and I’m not paying for it. He tried to tell me tiramisu was semi-fredo – half frozen and I just laughed at him (café was full and everyone (tourists) listening) so I said I would pay for the coffee but not the tiramisu – he just looked at me as if to say ‘what am I going to do now??” and I shrugged and repeated that I wasn’t going to pay for the tiramisu but I would pay for the coffee and how much was the coffee. He spoke to his boss in fast Italian so I didn’t know what he was saying and I said again that I would not pay for the tiramisu but would pay for the coffee, how much for the coffee. He wouldn’t answer and kept saying that I had to pay for the tiramisu, so I left 2 euro on the table and started to walk out so he said to his boss “scarpa” which means ‘she is running’ and I just stopped and turned around and spoke in Italian and said that I was not running, that I was standing right there, that he would not tell me how much the coffee was, there is 2 euro and I am leaving and then he said coffee is 3 euro which I didn’t have so I emptied the coins on the table – about 2.60 euro and left.
They see a non-Italian and think we are all tourists and that they can rip us off, bloody ripper-offerers!
Best/Worst part is every time I leave or come back to my hotel I have to pass the café ... and I still want some tiramisu ...
I then came back to my room, another disaster! I could hear the people in the room next door as clearly as if they were in my room. I could hear the man and the woman speaking about what they were going to do tomorrow and the two kids crying. By now I was almost crying. I went back downstairs to reception and told them about the noise and the receptionist took forever to look on the computer to see if they had another room. She found a room and suggested that I go and see if it would be suitable. I followed the guy up to the 5th floor where the lift stops. Then we came up another set of stairs where he opened a door and I'm thinking he's got to be shitting me, it was next door to the rooftop garden where all the noise on the first night had come from!! BUT - when he opened the door, there was another skinnier set of stairs, so up we went - it felt like we were going into the attic! We get to the top of the stairs, he opens the door and ... silence. Nada. Niente. I looked at him and just said yes! So, back we go to my room while I throw my stuff into my bags, he comes and carries the heavy big bastards up the two flights of stairs and here I am. Last night was as quiet as a mouse and fabulous! I slept until 8 this morning. Lovely. Each room change has meant an upgrade in my view - here's the view from this room -
I have breakfast at the rooftop garden restaurant, they charge 7 euro and it is a great spread. Much better than if I went to a café - and we know that I'm not going to the café downstairs again!
Today I have been to Jonio - a suburb on the outskirts of Rome. I got the bus to Termini and found the metro B line downstairs, got my ticket, and followed the other people and signs down five levels to the platform. Such a dirty place, I wanted to take some photos but if I had I would have put a beacon on my head for gypsies and thieves so didn't get any photos of the subway but got one while I was on the train.
Then Guisso was waiting for me at the station, we walked to his place a couple of minutes for the Jonio station and we had coffee and a chat, then we started to make the pasta. Easy as! 3 cups flour and 1 and a bit cups of water, for me I would use 1 cup of flour and just add bits of water as we go. Then onto a floured wooden board that was his Nonna's tavola per la pasta - her pasta board. He then showed me how to roll the pieces of pasta and when we had enough, we went into the kitchen and made an onion and tomato sauce to go with the pasta. Once everything was cooked, we sat at his table and at our food and drank a glass of wine and after four hours I got back on the train back into Rome. I have a couple of photos but Guisso took some great photos and is going to email them to me so will add some when I get them. He was a really nice guy has travelled a bit, has studied architecture and has just been offered a job teaching at a university for a couple of days a week. He was also saying he would like to do an architecture and food tour of Italy, then we got talking and he realised that he could actually be running tours, especially of Naples because he knew all the places that I should go to when I go to Naples later in my stay in Rome. I wish I had known about him before I booked my tour, I would have gone with him.
Once in Termini, I got on the number 64 bus - I usually get the 40, but got the 64 bus to Piazza Navona because the Christmas market was supposed to have started last night. FIZZER!!!! There was a merry-go-round and about four carnival stalls. No selling stalls of Christmas stuff. I was really disappointed because I will have to get my bauble for my Christmas tree next year somewhere else and I don't really want to just get it from the souveneir shops. I will keep looking. Maybe I will find something up near St. Peters or in Trastevere.
Freezing in Piazza Navona
I have a quiet day tomorrow with nothing really planned so I'm going to look in my book of things I wanted to check out and see if anything takes my fancy.
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