iluvdoco

Landed in Zurich the next morning






Briefly stopped by the ZRH J lounge. Clearly I hadn't yet been fully trained in gluttony, because I was only able to manage this small plate.


...and some tasty ice cream.

iluvdoco

LX 1736
ZRH-FCO; J







The onboard food was quite good! Better than even the transatlantic dinner I just had. Some sort of Swiss beef-pasta salad, blueberry crisp with toasted meringue, Tete de Moine cheese plate.

Note the impressively diced multi-colored peppers.


I was very excited to see the Italian coast.

iluvdoco

As a close student of history (as well as gluttony), this trip was like a dream come true.


My heart skipped a beat as our taxi drove along the Via di San Gregorio and I spotted the Arch of Constantine.


Scenes around the Spanish Steps




Our hotel, the lovely boutique Hotel Dharma




Tried getting tickets to La Boheme, but the orchestra was on strike.


What's left of the Circus Maximus


Are you not entertained?!


Magnificent. Undergoing renovations






One of many locks on bridges. Must be a European thing.

iluvdoco

The Trevi Fountain was unfortunately undergoing extensive renovations.


A highlight of the trip was visiting the Roman Forum.


Made the side trip to Ostia. Very nicely preserved, but not so interesting a city.


Lazy Ostian cat


Although we weren't able to see La Boheme, we were able to get tickets to Barber of Seville at Caracalla.

mromalley

Love the photos of Roma! How did you get the tickets to Barber of Seville?

HLT1904

great pics of Rome, looks like everything was under renovation. That was a serious barricade around the fountain.

iluvdoco

Thanks mromalley! You can get tickets for operas held at Baths of Caracalla at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma boxoffice.

Thanks hickmantitle!

iluvdoco

Early morning trip to The Vatican. Purchased some "cut-the-line" tickets which were totally worthwhile.






Anyone know what the name of this papal statue/relief is?


Gallery of Maps










Pantheon




Castel Sant'Angelo/Mausoleum of Hadrian

roadwarrier

Cannot wait for the rest. Thank You!

Digital01

Another excellent report!

iluvdoco

Thanks roadwarrier!

Thanks Digital01!

iluvdoco

I wasn't very impressed with the food in Rome, or maybe I just missed eating at the authentic places? Even in Ostia, every block seemed to be just paninis, pizza, pasta and/or gelato (usually fake). Not to say that I didn't enjoy eating those, but I thought Rome would be a greater foodie mecca.

Well, even the fake gelato was tasty.

One of the #1 TripAdvisor ranked gelato places was just around the corner from our hotel. It was AMAZING. I wish we had went there everyday. Pretty sure the gelato here was authentic, haha.



You know the gelato must be good here if it goes out the door and stretches around the block...at 11pm at night.


Some ice cream products in the display cases to tempt us while waiting in line. They were quite reasonably priced actually.








The gelato was something like 3 giant scoops (plus a squirt of white chocolate or nutella ganache at the bottom of the cone), topped with whipped cream, for 3-4 Euros. What a bargain. It was insanely delicious.

iluvdoco

Panini


Interesting looking sandwiches


Yet more (authentic) gelato

mromalley

Unfortunately, the area you were staying in (near Termini Station) is known for it's bad tourist type restaurants. There is great food in Rome, just not in that area.

iluvdoco

Even when I walked from the Vatican, along the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, back to the Termini, it seemed like nothing but fast food places. I'll have to get some recommendations next time before I go.