Ladee's Travels

Rome, Italy - Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica

Espresso and Panettone Milanese

Yea!! The “Espresso Master” is making the best home brew. Three espresso pots were found and we can make espresso faster than we can consume.

The Panettone purchased last night was thought to last for a week, but we have revised our estimate since we ate half of it this morning. And the guess that “burro traditionale” was butter, was right on. Yummy stuff.

Wow, today was the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. We left the apartment as scheduled at 8:30 and started our Monday tour, down two flights of stairs at the apartment, and turned left on Corso Emmanuale Vittorio. We crossed the bridge, watching for traffic. The police control the traffic signals and it was fun to watch all of the motorcycles filter to the front of the group of cars stopped for the light. When the light changes to green, the cycles take off! We walked the cobblestoned streets and gasped when we saw St. Peter's Square. It is really great to be here in the off season and be one of the few hundreds in the square, instead of one of thousands. We looked around the square, then turned right to follow the wall of the Vatican to the Vatican Museum entrance. Oh, and we were able to get water from the fountains along the way! We had empty water bottles and filled up as we went. What fun!

We were about 45 minutes early for our time, but with no crowds it wasn't an issue. We turned in the internet tickets, got our little souvenir tickets, and followed the signs. Our first stop was to step outside for a wonderful view of the Dome.

We walked through the Vatican Museum, ohhing and awwwwing at each turn. Sara was an art major in college, so she is a wealth of information about the different periods represented in the art collection. I was very excited to see all of the marble statues. This view shows a look down the long hallway FILLED with marbles.

This statue is the Laocoon (Click here for info on the statue) and it was thrilling to see this in person. I was walking through the courtyard, and this popped in to view. No huge crowds. No big signs...Just another one of the many wonders of this collection.

Lunch time was in the Museum cafeteria Pizzaria. Pretty tasty. These were mushrooms, zucchini, and eggplant, and some sort of meat and cheese. The staff spoke English enough to facilitate ordering. We took a little break, enjoyed a Pepsi and Pizza.

There is a series of rooms that are called "Raphael Rooms". The walls are all painted with huge murals. ()
The rational theme of the ‘School of Athens’, is where Raffaello represents the ancient philosophers; in the centre Platone, who is pointing at the sky with his hand and Aristotle answers him pointing to the earth. Pitagora on the left is giving lessons and Diogene is reading on the stairs; finally, at the bottom, Eraclito is in the act of writing on a piece of paper leaning on a marble block, in which many recognize are the traits of Michelangelo, who in those days were intent to work in the Sistine Chapel. (from the website listed below).

Click here for Raphael Room info

Our original plan was to find a recommended pizza restaurant, but we were all tired and decided to come back in the direction of the apartment.

We had dinner at a restaurant across the street from the apartment.

Ristorante Pizzeria da Carlo

C.so vittorio Emanuele II, 333

Chianti Classico 18,00€ for our wine. We each had Bruschetta Mozz+Pomodoro (tomatoes) for 4,00€.

Pappardelle F.Porcini 14€

Totrellini 4 Fomaggi 9€

Spaghi Carbonara 9€

Scaloppine 12€

Spinaci Limone 5€

Rome, Italy - Wide awake at 2AM

I had a solid 8 hours sleep and woke at 2AM. I've been charging all of my devices, and added a little more content to yesterday's blog post. Thanks for the comments!! It's a joy to know that someone is reading them. Kalen is awake too, although he got a few more hours of sleep because he crashed on the couch.

Rome, Italy - Piazza Navona

Great and smooth flight. I didn't sleep much and watched three movies (Salt, Letters from Julia, Avatar). US Airways gave us a cup of coffee and a little croissant. The flight was smooth, and the pilot came on to tell us that we were going to begin our descent in to Rome. Five minutes later, he said that we were cleared for land and swoosh, we were coming down fast. The crew didn't even get to my seat to take my coffee cup. But the landing was good and we pulled our big plane up to one of the terminals. They wheeled a stair case up to the plane (WOW!) and we had to drag the luggage down the steps. We were all pretty cool with our carry-on luggage, but Sara wins for having the least.

We walked past the luggage belts and out of the international doors. There were several drivers with name cards so we knew that we were in the right place. Yea! We looked around and finally found a young girl with "Ledee K Rickard" on a card. Close enough. She was a really nice guide and spoke English so that was very helpful. She led us down to the Tourist Information so that we could buy our Roma Passes and then out the front door to meet Stephan, our Italian English Speaking driver. He loaded the van with the luggage and off we went, to Rome! The sky is a little overcast, but the air temperature was really nice. We chatted with him about the weather and other things and were at the apartment in 40 minutes.

We rang the doorbell and the attendant for the apartment rang us in. We put the luggage (and me) in the elevator and the others took the stairs to the second floor. We toured, selected rooms, and got ready to have a really late breakfast...or a slightly late lunch. Off we walked east on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.We went through a few side streets until we got to Piazza Novona. The Piazza is filled with booths with Christmas gifts and decorations. We decided to eat on a little side street, and went to a small place that was large on atmosphere. It was in La Scaletta, antica trattoria, that we had our first meal in Rome! We decided to eat large, and that maybe this meal would also cover dinner.
La Scaletta
Via di Santa Maria dell'Anima 56
Piazza Navona Tel: +39 06.68.80.18.72
http://www.lascaletta-roma.it/

Here is what we ordered. The numbers are prices in euros. Multiply by 1.35 to get an idea of the dollar cost.
Ladee and Kalen split Bruschetta. 7€
We had a wonderful bottle of Italian wine that is only served in November and December. 16
Sara had spinach ravioli 11€ and tiramisu 7€ for desert.
Kalen had fetticine with seafood 13€, I had gnocci (so yummy) with eggplant pieces 11€. Karl had veal saltimbucca 14€ and a side of spinach 5€ and Americano coffee (Espresso with hot water added) 2.5€ and cannoli 7€ for desert.
Kalen and Ladee finished the meal with cannoli and espresso 2€.

Anna was our waitress and she was very personable and extremely fluent in English. Frank Sinatra was singing in the background (Francesco!!)

After dinner, we walked around Piazza Navona and took fountain pictures. This is Bernini's Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (or Fountain of the Four Rivers). I bought three umbrellas for $2 each (I drove a hard deal!!). We then headed to Corso Vittorio Emanuele II to look for the hop on hop off bus. We couldn't find it, it was raining lightly, so we stopped at the grocery store to buy some milk and sugar, panetone (can hardly wait for breakfast tomorrow!), and other odds and ends. Then we went back to the apartment, all very tired and ready to go to sleep at 4:30 PM! Beware, Rom, Wild tourists are here!

Karl fussed with the drip coffee system, and then discovered that the glass was broken and it generally did not work. That was the best thing that happened. He found several espresso makers, those metal two tiered gadgets that sit on the stove, and proceeded to learn how to use this device. I googled step by step instructions and by the time I heard "It worked!!" from Karl, we had awesome espresso.

We had an espresso and Americano to stay awake the best we can until 7PM, and then we are going to crash!! The Vatican is on the agenda for tomorrow. We gathered at the dining room table, spread out the maps, plugged in the laptops and opened the Rick Steves books...what a team!!