RomeFromHome
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The tragedy of a dropped laptop in Security at Gatwick meant I couldn't report in 'real time' on our latest trip to Rome so here is the story of our 14th visit to the Eternal City.
Thursday 8th March
The EasyJet flight from Gatwick to Fiumicino went smoothly and we landed half an hour ahead of schedule. For the frst time ever we had travelled hand luggage only so sailed through the airport and headed to the train station. We anticipated problems as we had landed on a national strike day but to our delight the F1 train was running. Pretty soon we were at Stazione Ostiense from where we walked to San Paolo to pick up our weekly travel passes. Some buses appeared to be running too but not wishing to push our luck we decided to walk to Testaccio.
First stop was Linari where we had our first espresso fix. The weather was lovely so we were able to sit outside on the sidewalk. Next port of call was Mercato Testaccio where we stocked up on the essential vino sfuso!
A theme that we had chosen for this trip was 'pizza pilgrimage' as inspired by an article that Katie Parla had written for Eater magazine. Katie visited the top pizza venues in the city in one day - we had the luxury of eight. Our first stop on this pilgrimage was Trapizzino for lunch. We sampled the chicken cacciatora, unusually in a white sauce rather than red, and pumpkin, almond and pecorino cheese fillings.
We rang the apartment owner and arranged to meet. After showing us all the essentials we settled in and decided to revise our plans for late afternoon/evening as the apartment owner had cofirmed that the city was gridlocked with a big demonstation and the aftermath of the transport strike.
Instead of visiting Galleria Doria Pamhilj ( which had reduced entry fees on the occasion of Festa della Donna) we revisited the Protestant Cemetery and sought out some of the memorials that we had missed on previous visits.
For many of our trips our routine for the first evening was to take a bottle of fizz and enjoy it on the Spanish Steps whilst watching the sun go down. Since the restoration of the steps the 'no eating or drinking' rule is strictly enforced so for our past few visits we have taken ourselves to the Orange Garden on the Aventine Hill. However when we reached there this time the gates were firmly padlocked, in fact it had been closed since the snowfall earlier in the month. Instead we decamped to the little park next door which has an equally good view.
Our first dinner was at Piatto Romano, an old favourite and, it being Thursday , of course we had to have gnocchi, We couldn't pass on the fried artichokes either.
We ended with a shared Mont Blanc.....
.....which we 'walked off' with our short stroll across the piazza to our home in Rome.
Thursday 8th March
The EasyJet flight from Gatwick to Fiumicino went smoothly and we landed half an hour ahead of schedule. For the frst time ever we had travelled hand luggage only so sailed through the airport and headed to the train station. We anticipated problems as we had landed on a national strike day but to our delight the F1 train was running. Pretty soon we were at Stazione Ostiense from where we walked to San Paolo to pick up our weekly travel passes. Some buses appeared to be running too but not wishing to push our luck we decided to walk to Testaccio.
First stop was Linari where we had our first espresso fix. The weather was lovely so we were able to sit outside on the sidewalk. Next port of call was Mercato Testaccio where we stocked up on the essential vino sfuso!
A theme that we had chosen for this trip was 'pizza pilgrimage' as inspired by an article that Katie Parla had written for Eater magazine. Katie visited the top pizza venues in the city in one day - we had the luxury of eight. Our first stop on this pilgrimage was Trapizzino for lunch. We sampled the chicken cacciatora, unusually in a white sauce rather than red, and pumpkin, almond and pecorino cheese fillings.
We rang the apartment owner and arranged to meet. After showing us all the essentials we settled in and decided to revise our plans for late afternoon/evening as the apartment owner had cofirmed that the city was gridlocked with a big demonstation and the aftermath of the transport strike.
Instead of visiting Galleria Doria Pamhilj ( which had reduced entry fees on the occasion of Festa della Donna) we revisited the Protestant Cemetery and sought out some of the memorials that we had missed on previous visits.
For many of our trips our routine for the first evening was to take a bottle of fizz and enjoy it on the Spanish Steps whilst watching the sun go down. Since the restoration of the steps the 'no eating or drinking' rule is strictly enforced so for our past few visits we have taken ourselves to the Orange Garden on the Aventine Hill. However when we reached there this time the gates were firmly padlocked, in fact it had been closed since the snowfall earlier in the month. Instead we decamped to the little park next door which has an equally good view.
Our first dinner was at Piatto Romano, an old favourite and, it being Thursday , of course we had to have gnocchi, We couldn't pass on the fried artichokes either.
We ended with a shared Mont Blanc.....
.....which we 'walked off' with our short stroll across the piazza to our home in Rome.
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