It's been 28 years since I've been in Rome. Hell, most Caesars didn't rule that long. I wasn't exactly walking the streets in a toga, but they were still using Lire back then. Those were the days when I could get 1500 lire to the dollar. Pizza cost less than $1 a slice. Dinners were about $4 and a leather jacket was $10. Not any more. The Euro is at about $1.40 to one euro. So I'm curious to see just how weak my dollars are.
We are renting an apartment in Trastevere. It sounds wonderful and I think we'll have a much more memorable stay than in a hotel. We've used this service VRBO three times before and we've always been very happy with it.
We are taking a few trains around for day trips. We are going to Firenze, Venezia and Napoli. Man, when I think back to my train trips in 1983, I cringe to think about how we traveled. It was a very fine art back then, and one that I must say that I was the master in. I would find out on what track the train was pulling in . I would leave the luggage with my traveling companions on the platform and I would jump on the still moving, arriving train and push my way into an emptying compartment. Then I would disrobe the 5-6 layers of clothes that I had put on and throw them in the seats to make them look occupado. I'd open the window, wave to my friends , who would hand the luggage up to me through the open window and then they would shove their way to the compartment. Voila! I had a seat for every ride in Europe!!
Now this time around we are traveling first class with reservations. It will be a completely new experience for me. I just hope it is as much fun:)
VRBO is a go way to go - we stayed in a neat place in Jimena de la Frontera in Spain last year.
ReplyDeleteHow weak is your dollar? Weak, particularly so in La Cittá Eterna. Eating (on God, don't get me started) - it's practically all good, but I remember a place in the north of the town called La Mangiatoia (the trough) - great bistecca fiorentina & perhaps the best goulash I've ever had.
Trains - my first attempt to board a train went something like this: I was wanting to board the 8:10 to Napoli, & so I was going to step on the train that pulled in just before 8:10, when a native cautioned me that it was actually the 7:48. "The 8:10 always pulls in precisely at 8:37." I later mentioned the common American phrase about Mussolini (started back when he was actually very popular in the US in the 1930s), & about how he "at least made the trains run on time". That always drew a big laugh - no Italian had ever heard that phrase; "the trains have never run on time!"