Mick here:
In yesterday's thrilling instalment we dealt with our last day in magical Venezia. Today we'll hear about the trip to Rome, our new digs and our first day in the Eternal City.
With only 7kg packing is easy and quick. A final trip on vaporetto 1 - the slow trip down the Grand Canal saw us arrive in very good time. We had booked on the Italo treno at 11am - a first experience on the newish private railway. We were on the Naples train, via Bologna, Florence and of course Rome. The four hours passed quickly and comfortably. Finding out how to access the free wifi was something of a challenge but we managed it eventually. Due to some unauthorised persons on the tracks outside Florence we ended up being 30 minutes 'in ritardo'. We were able to text our new host, Eleonora to let her know.
On arrival at Termini we found our way underground to the Orange metro line. Trains come every 2 or 3 minutes and we were at Ottaviano station in no time. We rang Eleonora who met us at the door of 30 Via Francesco Caracciolo, a ten minute stroll from the metro. ( And pretty comfortable with our light luggage.)
We are on the 5th floor of a building rather newer than our digs in Venice. We were reacquainted with Italy's remarkable microscopic lifts, shoehorned into stairwells in odd shapes. This one is almost triangular. The three of us and our luggage got to know each other very well on the quick ride to the top!
The flat has been recently renovated from the looks of things. Our balcony gives panoramic views across to snow capped mountains and we are ten minutes walk from the Vatican museums. Unlike Venice just a few thoughtful touches were absent. Instructions for various equipment, decent knives, some starters for laundry and dishwasher detergent etc. Before she left Eleonora let slip that she has apartments in Paris and Miami... well, don't we all?
The neighbourhood is fascinating. We are just out of the main tourist orbit of the Vatican. Just across the road is the Trionfale Market, reputed to be one of Rome's best. Lots of "real" shops around - unlike Venice. We have a supermarket about 6 doors down, and while it's holdings are a bit eccentric, they got us started with the basics.
We had put off having pizza in Venice, before our reliable guide Luigi had told us it's not the best place for it, so cut loose with our first meal in Rome at a place around the corner called PummaRe'. It didn't disappoint. Anne had a most interesting one: Battipagliese - with yellow dates (yes folks!) sardines, fior di latte, capers, basil leaves and olives. Pronounced delicious. Mine was a more pedestrian Capricciosa- also excellent, particularly with a bottle of Barbera. Lovely ricotta mousse with raspberries for dessert.
That just about did it for the day. Off to bed. My cold has been improving by microscopic degrees, and last night was comparatively cough free.
One of the delights of this form of travel is making sense of daily life. We had to complete our shopping for the next few days, including catering for a visit from our ex Italian teacher, Nives (ex-teacher, not Italian) and getting dishwasher tabs, laundry detergent and other staples. We put off getting fruit until later - planning to go to the market. It took visits to two different supermarkets and one mini mart to put together the necessities. We could then arc up the washing machine and head to the market.
It was as advertised. A virtual cornucopia- not only of fruit, but of deli products, butchery, kitchen equipment, wine (fill your own containers) and more.
Our major search was for vanilla. No one had the essence or even the flavouring in any of the shops. We eventually got the flavouring at one of the market stalls. Why- to make pavlova for Nives as an Aussie touch. So we had to work out what cornflour was as well- certainly not what Google translate suggested! We could have made a major error and tried to use the ingredient for polenta and our pavlova would have not been light, and would have been yellow!
A major purchase was a couple of hundred grams of porchetta. It took a deal of waiting at the one supplier, but on return to the apartment it made a delicious sandwich!
The afternoon's adventure was to retrace old steps. When Anne and I were last here we did a course with Nives in a school quite close to where we are staying. So we wanted to walk from here to the area around Campo dei Fiori where we stayed last time. It is amazing how the walk came back to us as we cut past the Vatican, rediscovered a cafe in which we had a break each afternoon of the course, walked past the school and then down to the Piazza Navona ( now guarded by soldiers with sub machine guns) past our old apartment and into the Campo - with its own armed military guards- see the pictures- and then on to our "local" the Bar Ai Banchi Vechii. The whole walk from the Campo to the bar looked more touristy than 6 years ago but the Bar - while looking more prosperous, still had the same prices and the same clientele- locals. 2 euro for a cappuccino (Anne won't bow to Italian norms) and an espresso (I'm happy to conform).
We kept a somewhat slower pace for the walk back, being amazed all over again at Romans' cavalier attitude to parking. Any vacant space is a fair go: footpath, pedestrian crossing, intersection, double and triple parking, driveway, roof ... well ok, not roof! Even the police double park here.
The last quest for the day was to get a whisk so we could make the pavlova. We were almost home when we found a kitchen store which had a "frustra" for sale.
Anne here: the pavlova was a wonderful challenge as we didn't have all the right equipment but made do with a large saucepan as a bowl, the cardboard with the price tag for the whisk as a spatula and three small aluminium containers to cook them as we also don't have the correct tray. We need to leave them in the oven overnight, and tomorrow when Nives comes here for lunch we will whip up the Greek yoghurt with some honey and add fresh raspberries from the market which we will get in the morning. We don't want to add cream. I can't believe we are literally across the road from this amazing food market. I'm in heaven. It's open from 6 am till 2pm Monday- Saturday.
Dishwasher is on, the red is not finished....watch this space.