Wednesday July 30: A Day in Roma

6am alarm to drag ourselves and all of our bags to the car. A stop at the Bar Gelateria Nazionale to pick up 4 cappuccini (2 for each of us), cornettos, and some gas. Then, a 2 hour drive to Naples.

Returning the car was easy enough, but we hit a spot of bad traffic right before arriving at the train station. We ended up booking a 9:30 train to Rome. Arrived in Rome around 10:45 and just as we were about to exit the train station, Phil said “do you want nuggies?”

And so, McDonald’s was our brunch meal. Yes they were delicious. It seems the main notable taste difference for us is the lack of oily aftertaste that you get with the fries and nugs in the US. The train station was crowded especially by McDonalds so we ended up standing up to eat this quick meal.

Next, a cab ride to the hotel. It was surprisingly difficult to grab a taxi. Uber didn’t work and then when we found the cab line, there seemed to be a lot of confusion. I almost gave up and suggested walking but I’m glad I did not because I think I would have cried if I had to drag my bag around for 20 minutes in the heat.

Arrival at our one night stay: Black Rooms Colosseo was quite annoying. There is absolutely no signage, we find the right building but no indication of where to go. Not only are there multiple floors, there are two sides to the building. As we arrive around noon, I was also on the phone with United trying to move our seats up for the flight home tomorrow. Two frustrating situations at the same time.

I check the emails from Black Rooms while on the phone, no instructions, no indication of where to go. Phil ends up walking up and down both stairs to finally find a door labeled Black Rooms on the 3rd floor. We dragged our bags up, hot sweaty, and I knocked. Some lady answers and then calls the guy. They leave us standing there in the hallway another few minutes. The guy arrives in a very chipper mood which we did not return. Of course the room isn’t ready yet so we leave our bags in the hall outside the room which seemed a bit unsafe but I was getting stressed that we had wasted so much time here already.

But the good news is, we were inside wondering which way to the Colosseum and the view from the front door made it pretty obvious.

We walked around a bit wandering the touristy center. It was super crowded as expected but it is also “the year of the Jubilee” which is a religious thing and this week must have been a youth group special because there were groups of 20-25 teenagers/early 20s everywhere we turned.

Also lots of people trying to sell you things. A very friendly man from Tanzania played the “here is a gift” and gave us items and then asked for money. He was nice but we gave the items backed and laughed as 5 more tried to do the same thing throughout the day. Their line was “Are you from Africa sir? We look the same”. Very funny and funnier to me that they all were using the same selling method.

Roman Forum, Vittoriano, Trevi Fountain. We did a little bit on foot but I had also booked a Big Bus Tour which is not typically my style but since we only had one day I thought it might help us see more and get around. We took it for one stop but a lot of the streets are pedestrian only so it didn’t help too much.

After the Trevi fountain I remembered that there was a famous gelato place nearby, Giolitti. We were behind of group of jubilees and I was so hopeful they wouldn’t get online and they did not!

Blackberry and Passion Fruit with whipped cream for me. Phil had Banana, Pineapple, and Amaretto. Very funny combo. My blackberry was the best. Unfortunately I did get a drop on my new linen pants. Hoping that will come out!

Next stop, Pantheon. We bought tickets online while standing outside instead of waiting on line.

Then a little bus ride, a couple of piazzas and fountains, a walk along the river, and a longer ride on the bus during which I fell asleep.

Back to the room around 5, I couldn’t wait to take a shower. Got ready and headed out to dinner at a place called Ambrosia Rooftop which we had a 7:30 reservation for dinner. It was about a 20 minute walk but I wanted to stop at a little specialty food store along the way.

I found a few things at this cute shop but most of them were over 3oz so I ended up up not buying too much since I didn’t want to check my bag.

Ambrosia was in a fancy hotel, we got up to the roof and had a laugh about the skyline of Rome being pretty ugly it turns out. Lots of satellites on the rooftops.

On the walk to Ambrosia, we passed a sushi place with Michelin stickers in the windows. Suddenly both of us were craving sushi. We continued on to our reservation but it was clear we both wanted sushi. And so, we decided on two dinners. A shared dinner at Ambrosia and sushi for dessert. It can’t possibly be more food then we’ve already been eating and it’s the last night of vacation.

Yummy bottle of wine at Ambrosia while the sun was setting. I will say that the gentle breeze up high with the sun setting was lovely.

As the waiter was opening our wine, someone came to bring bread but seemingly didn’t want to interrupt him so they left the bread at the table next to us. However when he walked away, he didn’t see it. So we just sat there, about 3 feet from the bread, unsure if it was rude to grab it.

Finally another waiter walked by and said “did you guys not want the bread?” And we said very much we would like the bread!

First course: steak tartare which came sandwiched between two cheesy cookies over a yellow saffron sauce which was the best part of the dish.

Next, a “burnt tomato” risotto which seemed to have a sort of tomato butter flavor to it. This was amazing and creamy and packed with tomato flavor. Very impressed with this item.

Finally, a charred eggplant which was good but not great. I think it was inspirational because we both felt that we could make eggplant in this way at home but with more flavor.

Despite that meal, we both were ready for sushi time.

We retraced our steps and found the little 10 table restaurant and they only had space at the sushi bar which was fine. Two gin and tonics and some sushi please! Phil thinks I just like sushi as a vessel for soy sauce. He may be correct.

We had a little salad with a soy based dressing, then a tuna roll, and a salmon roll, and the yellow thing is called a tamago—it’s a sweet egg type thing that is my favorite piece. I must have started eating this as a kid and now I can’t have sushi without it.

It was probably 10:30 by the time we finished and we had to be up early for the flight. I want to hate on Rome for being basically Italian New York but there is something charming about the history at every corner, whether is ancient ruins, a fountain, an obelisk, or a church. There is so much to see and I would return especially during the off-season.