A quick note about the blog entries for Italy — my daughter will (eventually) be posting her blog entries as well but those are tagged with “Italy Trip June 2016 G” instead of just “Italy Trip June 2016”.
Tuesday into Wednesday and further into Thursday has been one big blur. Stayed up almost all night Tuesday packing and such, finally crawling into bed about 6a on Wednesday morning. Awoke at 8a with the intent of being on the road by 9a. Yeah… that didn’t happen. Eventually stumbled out the door, luggage in tow, just before noon.
As we saved a ton (almost two thousand) booking direct from Charlotte to Rome rather than Raliegh – Charlotte – Rome we had to get to Charlotte three hours before our 6p flight. Luckily we made great time and traffic was light other than the usual trouble spot near Salisbury where I-85 goes down to a two-lane road and, while I appreciate the effort to widen the road, construction.
Got to Long Term Parking Lot #4 just short of 3p and thankfully they had a spot (#1 and #2 being full and #3 apparently… not existing). Hopped on the shuttle bus to the terminal and relatively breezed through check-in and baggage tagging. It being only about 3:30p we went to the in-terminal Bad Daddy’s burger shop and had burgers, shakes, and the like. A strawberry shake really hit the spot after the hectic day we’d had thus far.
Headed to the gate (after turning the wrong way and being on the wrong concourse), stopping for snacks along the way — Life Savers, Chex Mix, Skittles, Cheez-Its, bottled water — you know, the essentials! A thunderstorm had rolled in and delayed our departure as they had to abandon the plane mid-cleaning. We finally boarded around 7p and then waited a long time taxiing to the head of the queue for departure as many earlier flights had been postponed. We get to the runway and start going except we don’t really rev up. Ruh-roh. About half way down we pull off and it turns out that our flight path to the northeast was cancelled due to storms — I’m betting Greensboro / Burlington / Raleigh got some nice ones! Re-queue, get a different flight path and finally lift-off at just past 8p.
American Airlines planes at Charlotte Douglas during a thunderstorm
Looking at the in-flight GPS it looks like our new route took us to the west, due north into southern Virginia then east to just south of Norfolk then out to sea. Addison had the window seat, me the aisle seat next to him, then across the aisle sat Michelle. It was an Airbus 330 in a 2-4-2 configuration. The flight was mostly uneventful, and Addison and Michelle’s meal of broccoli and cheese pasta was a bit better than mine of orange-glazed chicken. When will I learn to always go the veggie option on a flight?!
Entertainment-wise every seat had a screen in the seat back ahead with movies, music, news, GPS, etc. I always find the GPS captivating — though this one had a macabre twist I don’t remember from earlier flights. It showed the location of ship wrecks that were beneath us — Titanic 1912, Monitor 1864, etc. I don’t know if they were trying to remind us that yes, travel can be dangerous, or “aren’t you glad you aren’t going by boat?!” Addison knocked out five movies (and would later wonder why he didn’t sleep on the flight), Michelle watched Fifth Wave and got some shut eye, and I watched Deadpool, gloriously unedited!, for the third time. Love that movie.
Breakfast was a fairly dreadful affair (Addison insists I promised bacon and eggs, I had earlier said “Don’t expect bacon and eggs” — selective hearing for the win) but that’s OK, in an hour we were on the ground in Rome. The airport is a bit of a blur. We were greeted by a prototypical European type of ad, at least.
Ad immediately after de-planing seemed very European — #PLEINPUNK indeed!
We then rode a fast elevated tram to immigration which went really fast. Picked up our luggage and, after a few minutes of walking about, located the driver that would take us to our hotel. The trip was uneventful. Definitely some creative driving going on (particularly when it came time to merge lanes), but nothing of the level I saw in India or Egypt. I sat in the front and chatted with him while Addison and Michelle sat mostly quiet in the back seat. We chatted about driving, budget travel, his family of four including two daughters, etc. He was curious what Americans thought of Italy and I told him that in general it is quite favorable. What else would I say? Of course it is the truth so that was convenient.
Passed through the very impressive ancient Roman walls that surround the old city and went past an ancient Egyptian obelisk. I later learned that Rome has the most obelisks in the world. I immediately thought to the one from Luxor in the Place de la Concorde in Paris that was given to the French in the 1830s and figured perhaps many of Rome’s were as recently acquired. Turns out that eight of them were sent to Rome following its conquest of Egypt about two millennia ago and five were copies made by wealthy Roman citizens shortly thereafter. Most had fallen and been lost in the millennia since, only to be excavated and re-erected in the 14th through 19th centuries (one even being lost, found, lost again, and eventually re-found!). A last obelisk, from Axum — an ancient kingdom in what is now Ethiopia — was more recently “acquired” in 1937 during the Italian conquest of Ethiopia but eventually repatriated in the last decade.
Anyhow, we zipped along tree-lined boulevards that were still pretty spacious. A note about the trees — amazing pencil thin cypresses and almost Dr. Seuss-looking pines really standout here. Finally we entered the heart of the old city as the roads narrowed considerably and even turned to cobblestone. We were let off at our home for the next three days, the Hotel Bolivar. After briefly getting oriented with Peter, the desk clerk, we went up to room 212 (on the third floor to us Americans).
Seagulls are seen flying all over Rome
The room is nice — tile floor, a queen bed and a single, a decent bathroom (with a bidet — had to tell Addison to avoid that haha). Our window overlooks a courtyard with some nice trees and flowers and the like. The day was unseasonably hot in the low-90s, humid, but a nice sea breeze helped considerably. I struggled with the electrical sockets — like in India they are individually turned on and off via an attached switch and the air wasn’t working so I kept the windows swung open wide while — it being siesta time at 1:30p anyway — we collapsed.
View from the Hotel Bolivar, room 212
Michelle and Addison slept until past 7p while I was up frequently with a stupid headache. I mostly paced it off with the help of some Motrin and some bottled water. I used the time productively by setting up Google Maps on our phone to have available off-line maps of Rome, Florence, and Venice.
About 8p we headed to an ATM. It was amusing because it was behind a glass door that we couldn’t figure out how to open. There was a gentleman inside so we waited until he came out and then Michelle darted in. Addison and I remained outside in case she was trapped and we needed help. While she was using the machine someone else tried and failed to get in and waited until Michelle left to go in. The cycle of banking life!
We also saw the very impressive ruins of a tower likely built around 1200 called Torre delle Milizie (“Tower of the Militia”). It has a striking profile only made cooler with the attached 16th century church and a palm tree too perfect to be there by accident. I may have taken many photographs of it.
Torre della Milizie (“Tower of the Militia”), built around 1200
Palazzo delle Esposizioni on Via Nazionale
Finally, on the recommendation of the concierge, we headed to a restaurant on Via del Boschetto called Crisciotti al Boschetto. We elected to sit in the very rear in an open-air terrace that was very nice (if a little warm and humid). For an appetizer we had prosciutto (ham) and mozzarella. The ham was amazing! The bread that also came wasn’t too bad, and I really liked the oven-browned crust very much. For our meal Michelle had lasagna (at a very reasonable 8 euros) while I had straccetti ai funghi (sliced beef and mushrooms with a gravy) and sautéed broccoli (a bit more) and Addison had a beef fillet with large slices of mushrooms atop that he enjoyed. We had after dinner drinks (which I think were meant to be free before dinner drinks but we didn’t let the server know until too late about our coupon for them) that were lemon-y with a very strong (nose-clearing) aftertaste. Maybe they were meant to be after the meal as a digestif? Definitely out of my element there. Addison had a similar red-tinted drink with a fruity taste as well with a much less strong aftertaste. Sorry we don’t know the fancy names for these things!
Via del Boschetto at dusk
On the way back to the room we stopped at a corner store for some bottled water then, farther down Via Nazionale for some gelato. Michelle had chocolate and I had coffee (topped with coffee beans). Delicious! Returned back to the hotel after a couple more pictures.
Feeling restless, I left Michelle and Addison in the room and headed back out into the now-cool and thankfully less humid night. The Hotel Bolivar’s sign looked impressive glowing bright green and the reflecting off of the stone pavers that formed the street. I walked past the tower again and took a few photos of it lit by floodlights and the moon behind peeking from behind the clouds.
Hotel Bolivar sign
Ancient street near the Imperial Forum well below modern day ground level
Crossing the street a hundred foot tall marble column came into view. Trajan’s Column was completed in 113 and has bas relief spiraling around the column telling of the conquest of Dacia (near modern-day Romania — see how it got that name?) over two wars in the prior decade. Surrounding it are columns of the Imperial Forum, excavated centuries ago and re-erected. Beyond lay the Altare della Patria (“Altar of the Fatherland”), a massive white marble monument to the first king of a unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel II, and to those lost fighting the Great War (WWI). In addition, domes of various churches and, far-off, the Coliseum could be seen.
Trajan’s Column floodlit
Imperial Forum columns with floodlit Torre della Milizie in the distance
Altare dell Patria (“Altar of the Fatherland”) at night
Victory goddess atop Altare della Patria backlit by the moon
Wide shot of the massive (nearly 500 feet wide and 250 feet tall) Altare della Patria
Entrance lobby of the Imperial Forum museum in Trajan’s Market
Headed back to the hotel and notified the desk clerk that the AC wasn’t working too well. He managed to get it working, turns out it is just a fan that sucks the hotel’s central air into each room. Regardless, thankful to have chilled air! Wrote the blog until 2:30a and got photos off of the camera and iPhone and backed up to OneDrive. All-in-all a fantastic, if exhausting, day!