Roma - June 3rd, 2010

More trains today. The ride from Florence to Rome took us four hours. There was a two hour train, but that one was considerably more expensive. So we plugged in headphones to Elly's laptop and got our dose of American TV for the day.

We took a (crazy, nightmarish) taxi ride to our hotel, which is pretty cute. For whatever reason, the hotel has only rooms with a single bed, or a "triple" bed, which is a double and a single. So we have a bed just for our luggage. At least it will sleep well tonight.

We went out for a walk, using Google Maps to try to get to a specific shop to buy some stuff. We didn't actually make it. About half way there we got caught in the rain. Umbrella salesmen, people running around shrieking and laughing, umbrellas blown inside-out by the wind, streets running like rivers... Elly and I had one coat and one umbrella between us. We both ended up soaked, but it was fun and a bit romantic walking back to the hotel in the warm Roman rain.

Then we went out for dinner, and accidentally picked a restaurant. Most restaurants have a menu posted outside. We've found that you can eat REALLY well for under 10 Euro per plate, but it is basically impossible to tell the difference between an 8-Euro-a-plate and a 30-Euro-a-plate restaurant without seeing the menu. Well, we were walking close to the entrance to one restaurant and a little old man swooped in, asked us where we were from, sat us down, handed us menus, and wheeled over the buffet. We were both a bit flustered, but we decided to just go along with it. Apparently we made a few mistakes pouring wine, ordering food, etc. etc. etc. which they were quick to point out.

We were both under-dressed and out of our league. The prices weren't insane but were still pretty expensive, not quite double what we usually pay. Still, we had a delicious meal, and wine, and dessert. Not at all worth the difference in price, but it was still kind of fun and wild to be so far out of our element. Each table in the restaurant had its own waiter, who did nothing else.

After turning down secondi, and caffe, and "schnapps", we were each poured (not offered, just poured) an "on the house" dose of liqueur called "amaro". Turns out "on the house" means they bill you six Euro under "corrispettivo non pagato" which means "fee not paid". A bit frustrating. Twice now in Rome and once in Florence we have clearly been given the "American discount". It is sad and frustrating, but I'm not letting it get me down. Our dinner was still quite nice, and even with all the byzantine check gymnastics it came out to be about what I would have expected to pay for a similar meal back home.

Tomorrow we're going to suck the marrow out of the last of our trip. We're hitting up a couple of Roman ruins and squeezing in a bit more shopping before we call it quits. Then the day after that we're checking out early to bus to the airport to get on an 11:45 flight home.

Photos