We arrived in Rome at noon. I had been paranoid, prior to the trip, that our luggage was going to get lost. I had even attempted to pack all our clothing in one medium suitcase and one carry-on, but packing light is an art which I have not been able to master. I had no choice but to check-in two medium pieces of luggage. I breathed a sigh of relief when they emerged on the carousel.
Our home for the night was a Marriott hotel in the center of Rome, Grand Hotel Flora. The bellman took our luggage while we went up to our room. And we waited. And waited. And waited. After waiting for an hour, I called downstairs to inquire about our luggage. They told me they would bring it up right away. After 30 minutes, we decided to go downstairs and bring it up ourselves. Our luggage was nowhere to be found. Wonderful. The airline didn't lose our suitcases but the hotel did. Eventually they found them. They had taken them up to the wrong room. God willing, this minor mishap will be the only one.
Finally we could go explore la dolce Roma. We hit the road and began walking down Via Vittorio. The heat was intense, but we were not complaining. After all, we are from Miami. We are used to the heat. When it got to be too much, we just sat in a bar and drank a cold birre. We also ordered a panini with prosciutto and cheese. Then we proceeded with our exploration, this time down Via Tritone. Then we took a side street and ended up in Piazza Spagna. By this time, we were so exhausted, we headed back to the hotel.
Rome is packed with tourists. There are people from every part of the world. I've heard French, English, German, Spanish, Chinese, and of course, Italian. I also heard some other languages that I was not able to identify. It's interesting how we are all different and yet, so much alike. Most people were with family. Parents with children. Couples. Grandparents. Teenagers. No matter what country we come from, we all value family and friendships with the same intensity and passion. It's a shame that we allow our differences to create barriers instead of concentrating on our similarities. The world would be a much better place if we cared for one another with the same intensity that we care for the members of our own family.
At night, after taking a nice refreshing shower at the hotel, we had a delicious dinner at Dal Bolognese on Piazza del Popolo, where I took this picture:
The tagliatelle al Bolognese was exquisite and the prawn carpaccio was out of this world. Italians really know how to eat. I just don't understand how they manage to stay so skinny. It must be all the walking. I would have had enough with those two dishes, but then they brought me a veal a la Milanese that was bigger than the plate, accompanied by mashed potatoes. I was only able to eat one third even though it was divine. My hubby opted for the rack of lamb which was so tender you could cut it with a fork. And even though we couldn't eat another bite, we just had to try the homemade tiramisu which was by far the best I've ever had. And of course, all that was accompanied by a bottle of Barolo. We skipped the coffee because we wanted to make sure we had a good night sleep. Tomorrow, we must be on our feet at 5:30 am, Italian time. And with the jet lag, it's like going to sleep at 5 pm and waking up at 11:30 pm in Miami.
The tagliatelle al Bolognese was exquisite and the prawn carpaccio was out of this world. Italians really know how to eat. I just don't understand how they manage to stay so skinny. It must be all the walking. I would have had enough with those two dishes, but then they brought me a veal a la Milanese that was bigger than the plate, accompanied by mashed potatoes. I was only able to eat one third even though it was divine. My hubby opted for the rack of lamb which was so tender you could cut it with a fork. And even though we couldn't eat another bite, we just had to try the homemade tiramisu which was by far the best I've ever had. And of course, all that was accompanied by a bottle of Barolo. We skipped the coffee because we wanted to make sure we had a good night sleep. Tomorrow, we must be on our feet at 5:30 am, Italian time. And with the jet lag, it's like going to sleep at 5 pm and waking up at 11:30 pm in Miami.
Bonna sera.
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