May 8, 2022
Well, we’ve been going almost non-stop since arriving in Italy, and have finally settled down to breath, rest and blog.
Paolo picked us up on time at the dock in Civitavecchia and drove us to Rome at a rapid rate of speed. I guess he had some where else to be.
Before we cleared the dock area he stopped because Pino wanted to see us. He was the original driver we used in the before time, and he now hires drivers. It was a nice gesture and we enjoyed seeing him again. He is the one I contact whenever we need a driver in Civitavecchia or Rome.
Mauritsio met us at the apartment, and helped us lug our luggage (that’s why they call it luggage isn’t it, because you lug it) into our Rome residence. It is on the 4th floor, at least that is the button we select on the elevator – I will leave the description of that device to my beloved, who hates elevators. But to come back down we don’t select 1, we pick T. So maybe we are on the 5th floor. Anyway. We have 5 keys. One for the outside door, one for a door that leads to the elevator, one for the elevator, one for our flat, and one for the safe. The apartment is nice, not fancy, but comfortable.
I chose it for its closeness to the train station for Tuesday when we head to Venice, and I could have chosen closer. Saturday we walked up to the train station (Rome Termini) just to judge how long it would take us because of an excursion later that evening. It took us 30 minutes each way.
We stopped on the way back and had lunch/supper of gyros, French fries and coke. I liked it. Mom tolerated it.
Back to the flat for a nap and then back up to Rome Termini where we got on the Metro to go to the meeting place for “Discovering Rome by Night.” I forgot to tell you that we went back up and bought 3 day Metro tickets so we can ride any public conveyance. It’s a little more expensive than an individual ticket, but you buy one and off you go.
Riders of the Moscow and/or Samara Metros will recall the experience. Trying to figure out which line in a language you don’t understand, and then Vladimir (or Guisippe) we are going the wrong way. That’s a joke. A story with a humorous climax.
We were at the meeting place, the Spanish Steps, early because to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is to be left. Well, unless you are the 4th straggler who joined 30 minutes after start time having wandered in the wrong direction, and then left the tour after only two stops. Oh well.
Vijay was an incredible guide. A young man from India who came to Rome 6 years ago to complete his Masters Degree in history but couldn’t find it offered in English and his Italian wasn’t good enough, so he switched to Business and International Finance. And at night takes tourists around the Eternal City. He really knows his stuff and it is obvious he enjoys it. Mom said, “Cute guy.” I have some great pictures – one of Vijay – I’ll try to include in this blog.
Well, two hours into the tour I noticed Bonnie hobbling and asked her if she was through and she admitted she was – you know she was hurting when she said, “Yes.” We told Vijay and he said he would take us to a bus (the 3rd member of the group has bad, unoperated on knees, and she was also ready to call it a night) and ride with us back to Rome Termini. Once back there, he offered to take Mom and I all the way to our flat, but we thanked him greatly and told him we knew where to go, tipped him handsomely and sent him home to his family.
Great young man. Great time.
We walked a total of 6 miles.
Today’s excursion was “Outdoor Rome Pasta and Pizza Cooking Class” and I am ready to repeat this one. And I will turn the keyboard over to Mom to tell you all about it, plus fill in any gaps I have missed.
Love,
Dad/Pappy/David
And Happy Mother’s Day to all who qualify!
Photos, then Mom's blogging:
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| Kitchen |
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| Bedroom -- there is a couch, but it is to the right of the photographer. |
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| Vijay demonstrating public fountain |
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| The front porch of the Pantheon |
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| At the Trevi Fountain. We threw in one coin which means we will come back to Rome. |
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| The elevator is as small as it looks and Mom is not happy riding it. Blog site is changing position of the photos. I'll try again in another blog. |
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Dad neglected to tell you that the metro which we had planned to ride back on from the walking tour had closed early for repairs. That is why we wound up on the bus. You would have “enjoyed” our walk through a large open square area with about 6 or 7 lanes of cars and taxis and buses going in all directions at once that we Walked through. Right through the middle of it all on a diagonal toward the bus stop. Also, we stopped to see Trevi Fountain, no lying, there was about 500+ people at the fountain. I did not even attempt to go down to it, I simply took my coin turned around backwards and threw it over my shoulder as hard as I could. Have no clue where it went. The fountain was very beautiful all lit up at night. Vijay bought us a cup of gelato, yum!!! He showed us things we had not seen on or previous trips and told us some great history. I really learned a lot. We finally got home some time after 11. We were in bed by midnight. Exhausted!!
Trying to buy the metro tickets earlier was an experience. They don’t have a ticket place with a human being but machines. I guess because of covid. They had two kinds one with euros and one with credit card. You couldn’t us a bill larger than a 50 and he had a 100. So we watched a gentleman buy his with a credit card and opted to try that machine. The gentleman was very kind and helped us. Unfortunately Dad didn’t have his card but I did. The first time we tried it didn’t take the card. The gentleman said it had done that to him too and he used a different card. But after finally figuring how to put it in the card reader, it worked the second time. We bought two 72 hour tickets. The time doesn’t start till it is used it for the first time. So they are good till 6 pm Tuesday.
We both slept okay. We got up at 7:30 this morning. He took a shower I did not. Tomorrow I will try the “amazing” shower. If the first person takes a long shower you have to wait 15 minutes for the boiler to heat the water for the second shower. We got dressed and each wore a jacket as it was chilly. We headed out about 8:30 to the “Mikey Bar” for a bite of breakfast. He had an Coffee Americana and a croissant and I had a glass of fresh squeezed OJ, just a little sour, with some pulp and tiny seeds and a cream filled pastry of some kind. It was all very good.
It takes 30 minutes to get to the Metro so after a quick potty break we headed up. We studied the maps and figured out whether we needed the Red line or the Blue line. The Blueline was the one we needed. We followed the arrows and down, down, down and down the steps till we got where we needed to stand . We actually had to ride 10 stops to the end of the line. It took 30 minutes. When we got there at 10:20 we were met by a lady, who did not speak English, holding a sign and driving a van. We went and got in the van with 4 other people and off we went. Remember us telling you about the trolley ride in Pisa, well, believe it or not, this was worse. Old, noisy van and we drove way out into the country riding the last 5 minutes on country rutted dirt roads to a farm like place. Outdoor kitchen and cooking area. Actually very nice. Picnic tables chairs and benches outside and inside tables , some times we stood and sometimes we sat around. There were about 24 people in all. 2 young ladies from Munich Germany, a couple from the UK, some from Italy and others from the US. Nice group.
We started by washing our hands, putting on aprons and helping ourselves to a drink of tea or water or a white wine. We were told to take a small glass and remember we put it because it was ours for the day. I put a little tea, some water and my mio in my glass. Very good. Then Mersad, a handsome young Italian with a bushy beard and an afro style hairdo. He was a hoot. He has a girl friend who is from old USA Georgia and lives in Rome now. He and Dad hit it right off and acted like old friends. He even got to talk to the girlfriend on the phone. He gave a piece of pizza dough which had been raising for more than 24 hours. It was like silky soft dough. He then proceeded to show us how to move the dough and turn it and stretch it out to make a pizza crust. You have to be very gentle. They worked with us in groups of 8. In our group he said I made the best crust and I got to cook mine first. Teacher’s pet. Then he moved our crust down to the table next to the wood fire oven to prepare to bake. Guiseppi, the other instructor an older Italian, was instructing us on the sauce and toppings. The sauce is tomatoes that have been scalded and peeled and blended and cooked with a little olive oil and basil. He showed us how to take a small amount in a large spoon and gently spread it around. I said it needed much more sauce and opps!! I was in trouble. He said, NO!! And we had a good time the rest of the preparing time sparring. Then he showed us how to add the mozzarella cheese, which needs to be very dry. After being shown how to put on the sauce, cheese and some salt we were given a variety of toppings ( salami, cherry tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, onions, garlic powder, hot red pepper flakes). I chose tomatoes, salami, and some hot pepper flakes. Then, he demonstrated how to put it on the long handled spatula thing an put it into the oven. Mine was first and I did it perfectly, yeah me. It was an 800 degree oven and it only stayed in the oven for about 2 minutes. You had to turn it with second spatula and then remove it to a paper covered cardboard circle, which I successfully did. Each person at our table did their own and then we got to go and eat it. YUM. But not enough sauce, smiley face here. If doing it in a conventional oven cheese should be put on in the last 2 minutes.
After that we all 24 of us returned to the tent and we were instructed how to make pasta dough. Some made it with eggs others with just water. Dad and I did the water. You add the water and mix it , then dump it on the table then we had to massage it till it was the right whatever. We went on to learn how to make different shapes of pasta. Very interesting. I didn’t do the best but I did okay. Then, learned how to make noodles with a mandolin (I think that is what it is called) and a rolling pin. Yeah I did it right. The pasta was cooked for 2 to 3 minutes. One kind was put is a green pesto sauce, and the noodles where put in Parmesan cheese and a little pepper. Before eating we had to take off our aprons. Neither type of pasta was to my liking but a tried some of each. I am a red sauce person. For dessert there was a delicious tiramisu and some lemoncello( a light liquer).
After that we headed to the van for a bumpy ride back to the metro. Unfortunately when we were getting out of the van at the metro, your Dad had forgotten his coat.
So trying to explain to the lady who spoke no English about the jacket she finally understood and we waited about 20 minutes while she went back to get the rest of the people and his jacket. We boarded the metro and made our journey back. That was so much FUN!!!
When we got to the metro station which is at the termini train station we went looking on how to find our train on Tuesday morning. Not very easy. The person in the ticket office told us to come the day of the train and 20 minutes before departure they would put the gate up on the board. There are 29 gates!! Really. Two old people, two suitcases and two carryons. This guy was no help. So we watched the board and tried to see if one of the train headed for Venice would help. Finally a young India lad came up and offered to help. He showed us a board to look at which listed all destinations and trains and the gates they used. It turns out it will gate 11 or 12. He was very helpful not like the guy in the ticket office.
So we headed back to the flat and stopped to buy a bottle of coke and to go take a nap. It was 5 when we finally got back into the apartment. We napped and it is now it after 9. We are headed to the Vatican for a 2 and a half hour tour tomorrow. We will again be riding the metro to and from to meet our guide.
So I will say good night. And I hope all the girls had a great day. Love to you all.
Mom, Granny and Bonnie
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