Italy trip: Rome

Ok. So Bob posted all the pics for our Italy trip on his blog, so I'll be writing up some details of our trip in case anyone's interested in where we specifically went or want our travel tips for certain places, etc.

First of all, we bought the Rick Steve's (from now on abbreviated as RS) Guide to Italy for our trip which was very useful and we downloaded a lot of his free audio tours for the places we were going to as well. We highly recommend it.

Another thing that would have been really helpful on our trip was a good compass (especially in Venice!!). We couldn't find Bob's (since we still haven't finished unpacking), so we borrowed a keychain one and it was totally unreliable so we gave up on it.

I think I'll split Rome up by area of the city and the sights & foods we had in each...I've also bolded our favorite sites & foods...

Vatican City

• Hotel Michelangelo
• Having our hotel near the Vatican City was really inconvenient because we had to bus over to the main part of Rome practically everyday and coming back was tough because there were a lot fewer buses at night. We would never do that again! Find a hotel in the city! Preferably walking distance to the Pantheon or Piazza Navona where there's a good night life in the square.
• Otherwise, it was a very nice hotel and they upgraded us to a jr. suite because they couldn't find our reservation at first. :) This was one of the hotels through the Costco package and it was really nice that breakfast was included everyday.
• pizza al tasso (pizza by weight/slice)

• We needed lunch before taking in any of the sights and happened upon this pizza place in an alley off of the street from St. Peter's Square to the Vatican Museum. It's probably about halfway down and to the right...right next to a gelateria. We were drawn there by the people sitting on the sidewalk and munching on their pizza and were well-rewarded. 
• Ordering was a bit confusing because everything was in Italian and we were literally fresh off the plane. Also, the counter was pretty crowded and there wasn't an obvious line, so you kinda had to push your way to the front...wait your turn and quickly get in your order. In the end, I just pointed to 2 of the freshest pizzas (we saw the guy bring them out from the back) and that turned out to be just fine. 
• One of the pizzas was a creamy white sauce with broccoli and chicken...mmmMMMmm and the other was an eggplant one which was just ok.
• Vatican Museum (& the Sistine Chapel)
• We happened to go on World Tourism Day, so admission was free (saved us 30 euros)! But it also meant that there was a super long line and we had to wait ~1hr to get in.
• Super long & confusingly laid out so it was pretty hard to find the rooms and things RS had in his guide. But we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel and it was totally worth it.
• We listened to RS audio tour of the chapel and that was really great because we could just stare up at the ceiling while he described stuff to us. (RS also has a map for each of his audio tours so you can follow along by track #.) 
• In general, Michelangelo was a sculptor, so this was outside his area of expertise, and yet he still excelled at it and he did most of it lying on his back!! 
• From the Sistine Chapel, RS told us about a secret passageway to St. Peter's Basilica to avoid the long walk back through the museum and out the way we came. The signs said it was for tour groups only, but we pretended ignorance and followed behind a group. =D The guards didn't stop us, so YAY!
• St. Peter's Basilica

• Also used RS audio tour for this.
• Loved Michelangelo's Pieta! So life-like. It's amazing and awe-inspiring.
• And the dome was done by Michelangelo after he studied the dome of the Pantheon and Brunelleschi's Il Duomo in Florence. Can you believe Michelangelo was such an accomplished sculptor, painter AND architect?! He's just crazy talented.
• My goodness how things have changed since I was last here 9+ years ago! When did they add security checks to get into the church?? Thankfully, they go pretty fast though.
• Inside the church, there were more changes. They blocked off the center so whereas before, you could walk over the demarcations of how other famous churches around the world compare to St. Peter's, now they're protected (and much harder to read!)
• We also weren't able to get close to the altar because there were services or something going on both times we tried.
• Climbing the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica

• well worth paying the extra few euros to take the elevator imo. :)
• The mosaics at the first level after you get off the elevator are amazing. Can't believe how detailed they were. and how each piece was fitted together to make the picture. You don't get to stop here on your way down, so make sure to look your fill before continuing on to the top!
• It was fun to climb the stairs to the top, especially when it got really narrow and you knew you were actually walking inside the dome!
• The top was crazy crowded and had to wiggle your way to the edges for pictures and then enter the pack of sardines headed back down the stairs.
• Necropolis tour
• There's a special tour that takes you under St. Peter's Basilica to see Peter's tomb and other things found buried down below. But you have to book it way in advance. By the time we decided to go and nailed down our dates and tried to book it, there was no more space (a little less than a month before). :( Ah well! Something for us to do when we go back! =D

Ancient Rome

• Palatine Hill
• 1 combo ticket gets you into the colosseum, forum & palatine hill
• since the line at the colosseum was super long, we went over to palatine hill first and got in fast & easy
• explored the grounds/ruins of the homes of ancient emperors
• and took the path that led straight into the forum
• Roman Forum
• used RS audio tour here and that was cool
• impressed by the historical significance and realizing that some of the most powerful ppl in the world had stood where we were but hard to completely appreciate because lots of it was gone completely so it was hard to imagine it as it was

• we'd borrowed a book from Bob's parents called Rome Then & Now that helped us try to picture it, but it was still hard
• Curria House was also closed/under construction so we couldn't go in to see where the senate met
• Exited the Forum @ Capitol Hill and got a panini from a streetside cart...and it was DISGUSTING. Like cardboard. Definitely don't recommend it.
• Colosseum

• Reminded us of the Hunger Games with Rome as Panem and each fighter representing the district they're from with their armor/costume and weapons which really brought it to life for us and made it our favorite site in Rome.
• Awe-inspiring to think of size of building and amount of brick/marble needed.
• Ingenious pulley system for underground lifts.
• Listened to RS audio tour.
• Lunched nearby at a RS recommendation - Caffe dello Studente, up on the hill across the street from the Colosseum. Enjoyable and cheap!
• Pantheon

• It's the largest dome and was preserved because it was always in use as a place of worship
• designed for the worship of all gods, it was influenced by Emperor Hadrian's travels
• Raphael was buried here for his contributions to Rome
• RS audio guide was great for this site as well.
• Gelato! There were 3 recommended gelato places close to the Pantheon and we tried them all!
• San Crispino has organic and natural flavors. We tried the honey cream and the ginger cinnamon (better of the 2)
• Cremeria Monteforte with their super creamy sorbets. We had peach (liked better) & pear.
• Giolitti is Rome's most famous gelato place and ended up being our favorite too. We got the amaretto, hazelnut and chocolate which was SOoooo good and soo big!
• Mamertine Prison
• totally AWFUL, hokey, rip off. It used to be free with donations encouraged and now they remodeled it with a cheesey presentation that includes talking rocks. The only cool thing was seeing Peter's small prison & chain column which was only 5 mins of the 35-40 mins tour. So lame.

Other Rome Stuff

• Piazza Navona
• especially lively at night cuz it's a very popular hangout spot for tourists and vendors/entertainers... a really fun place to enjoy an evening stroll with gelato. Wish our hotel was closer to here
• Fountain of the river of the four gods is here
• Lots of restaurants around here too

• Ciccia Bomba - traditional trattoria. Good but not great. Very hard to translate the specials with our travel lang. book. We tried this veggie dish called cicoria sauteed in olive oil, garlic and pepper...it was kinda similar in flavor to gan-lan/chinese broccoli.
• Pizzeria da Baffetto - crowded and always gotta wait, but only ok
• We tried the tartufo ice cream that's supposed to be a Rome specialty at the place where it was supposedly invented. Super rich, dark chocolate ice cream covered in a hard chocolate shell. 
• Campo di Fiori
• fun in the day time with all the shops/vendors in the square and a good place to get fresh fruit for a snack
• Trevi Fountain
• crazy crowded at all times of the day...but better late at night
• gotta do the coin toss!
• Spanish Steps
• fun to sit and people watch there, but can't eat anything on the steps!
• fun photo op with the fountain at the bottom of the steps
• avoid all the rose sellers if you can!
• Il Gabrielo

• RS highest recommended restaurant for a nice dinner in Rome
• Claudio's Extravaganza = 5 courses each person!! Crazy lot of food. The standouts of the meal were the smoked seafood antipasti (tuna, swordfish & shrimp), ravioli in cream sauce, pasta w/lobster and turbot with potato. The veal in orange sauce was gross. The whole dinner took 3 hours!! 
• Cappuccin Crypt
• bones that monks had made into artwork. couldn't take pics of it but we got a souvenir card with descriptions in english. Bob really liked this site and it's pretty close to the Trevi Fountain...
• Church of San Clemente
• neat to see this church because there's 3 different worship places stacked on top of each other, but quite dark which made it tough to read all the descriptions...many of which were not in English at all...
• The church itself is a medieval one built in the 12th century
• Just below it is the ruins of an earlier church from the 4th century
• And below that is the eerie remains of a pagan temple to Mithras and Roman buildings from the 1st century.
• house wines @ any of the restaurants - cheap & good! This pretty much goes for all the restaurants in Italy really.
• olive oil w/bread - flavorful and no need for balsamic vinegar...much better with just the oil so you can enjoy the flavor by itself without it getting masked. We later came to realize that we prefer the olive oil from southern Italy vs. Tuscany...but by then it was too late to buy a bottle to bring home!

Trasteverre

• Did RS audio guide at night...would rec'd doing it earlier though
• Santa Maria church has cool artwork at the altar that's totally worth lighting up
• dinner at Galeassi in the Santa Maria square was SO GOOD
• we got the osso bucco (delicious!!) and the shellfish risotto
• we also made fun of the pathetic Egyptian mummy street performer who dressed up all in metallic and stood very still like the SF performers, but when you gave him money, all he did was bow. How boring!

Appian Way

• kind of out of the way, but not that hard to get to...took the metro & bus straight to entrance of catacombs
• Catacombs of San Callisto - decided to go this one because it's bigger and more prestigious
• very humid in the catacombs and probably bad for claustrophobia
• 4 big levels of tombs one on top of the other that once held 500,000 Christians!
• possible because of all the lava rock that is easily dug, but hardens to cement when exposed to air
• Appia Antica Caffe - good salad!
• Biking to the Aqueduct Park
• the cafe also rents bikes, but they were reserved for a group already
• wish we could've done this, but just something else to save for next time!