Saturday, May 19 - Ciao Roma!

Drive into Heathrow went smoothly, had time for tea at Hampers again. BA flight to Fumicino was uneventful and we were glad we had pre-arranged for a driver (Alberto) to pick us up. Little things like that took a lot of the hassle out of the trip.

We were actually supposed to have been picked up by Gino, but he was stuck in traffic so Alberto showed up.  All went swimmingly we thought until we arrived at the apartment building on via Pastini just steps from the Pantheon.  Alberto went into the souvenir shop and returned with our contact, Eni, and left.  As Eni was helping us with luggage has confirmed that we were the 'Zimmermans'.  Uh no. 'You are sure?'  Quite.  Eni wasn't our contact at all.  He represented a small hotel on the first floor of the same building our apartment was in but wasn't our guy.  He did however, help us track down our agent, Italo.  We grabbed a table at the cafe next door while we waited for him to arrive.  

We were thoroughly enjoying the moment, but it was terribly crowded on our little via Pastini.  We couldn't imagine what was going on until this beautiful bride in a knockout dress strolled by - hints of Pippa yes! Quite stunning.

When Italo showed us the flat he was embarrased to find it had not been cleaned (Tom is surprisingly calm throughout this) and then there is confusion about how much the flat actually costs.

In the end all was fine and Tom and Italo worked out the details. Italo made sure the apartment would be cleaned while we had dinner.  This is not the flat we had chosen which was determined to be unsuitable by the agency at the last minute and they 'upgraded' us to this one. It is very baroque;  but surprisingly quiet given that we are just steps from the Pantheon.  Let's get going, we are in Rom!


We were carried away with the moment and had a glass of wine and beer in the piazza dello Rotunda (the Pantheon) for a mere 37 euros (about $50) - boy did we get taken.

 Counterpoint; there was a huge protest going on  piazza as two ten year old children had been shot to death by the mafia in Brindisi earlier that day.


We stopped in to see our friend Alfio at Tre Amici down the via from the Pantheon.  I was surprised he remembered us right away, after 12 years - even though we are all sporting grey mops.  He then fed us until we thought we would die.  Truly.  We started with antipasto of artichokes, chicoria, peppers, mozzarella and olives; then he brought plates of prosciutto and dry sausage from Calabria, his home; then the primo piatti of spaghetti in tomato/olive sauce, and another primo piatti of mostaciolli with scallops; I thought we were done when he served what looked like dessert (a little triangle of something with a gorgeous chocolate sauce) turns out it was swordfish with a rich brown sauce (kind of odd); we're not done yet... then he served up plates of prawns, mussels and white fish only to finish with a plate of chicoria; unbelievable.  What could we do???  Alfio uncorked two bottlse of wine to ease the pain and of which he drank half.  He was so happy to see us...and even happier to serve up our bill.

Friends of Alfio sat next to us.  A Norwegian, very matronly, rather tall, and probably in her early 80s.  Both her italian and english were exquisite - she was incredibly elegant -  and she engaged us in some dinner conversation.  These are the moments we remember and covet.

We tried to walk off the dinner and enjoyed this street cellist for a moment, but frankly we couldn't move a limb. Such was our first night in Rome.