|
|
Post by paul on Oct 7, 2023 7:29:39 GMT -5
Enjoy your trip paul.  Thank you. It’s been fun so far save for the few hiccups I’ve mentioned. |
|
|
|
Post by paul on Oct 8, 2023 4:06:42 GMT -5
The past two evenings I've done two walking tours of Rome.
On Friday night it was a tour of Ancient Rome. For once I didn't get lost on my way to the meeting point which was the Palazzo Venezia. I knew how to get there because my cab on the way to The Vatican that morning drove past it. The Palazzo was used by Mussolini for his private residence during his reign in power. Specifically, the meeting point was right underneath the balcony where he gave many of his speeches. Our tour guide took us around some of the major sites and shared some funny and scandalous stories of the prominent ancient Roman leaders. While it was informative and interesting it was definitely not a tour to bring the kids to due to all the tales of sex, violence and murder. I was glad the tour ended at The Colosseum, it was cool to see it lit up at night, because I was easily able to grab a taxi back to my hotel.
On Saturday night I did a street food vendor tour. Not to sound like a broken record but I got lost on my way walking to the meeting point. Eventually I gave up, went back to my hotel and asked the front desk to call me a taxi. At this point I'm starting to think that Google Maps is just giving me crappy directions as their instructions led me to a dead end yet again. I'm wondering if Google is in cahoots with the taxi companies and is giving tourists bad directions in an effort to get them to take more cab rides. If you don't hear from me again Google has likely determined that I now know too much!
The tour got off to a slow start as the first 45 minutes involved us walking around the area near Tiber Island getting a history lesson. While I've enjoyed learning about the history of the city I was looking forward to shutting my brain down for the evening and just enjoying some food. I was really close to kindly asking the tour guide when we were going to get to the FOOD portion of the food tour.
Anyways, after 45 minutes we got to the first stop where we tried a dish that consisted of hot pastries filled with rice, tomato sauce and cheese; I forget the name of it but it was good. We also stopped for gelato, pastries, cheese and some great pizza. At the pizzeria one of the other guests asked our guide if she had ever tried pineapple on pizza. She hadn't but she said she wanted to just to see what it was like. You could tell by the look on her face that she felt pineapple had no business being on pizza, which to be fair plenty of people in North America share the same view. We also had a fun and light-hearted conversation about the differences between pizza in Rome and North America. The Roman style consists of thin crust, mozzarella, tomato sauce and minimal toppings. It would be fun to see a Roman trying the North American style with our deep dish, stuffed crusts, double-stuffed crusts and variety of toppings. It would probably be quite a culture shock for them.
Despite the portions of food being small at each stop I was pleasantly surprised at the end to have a full stomach. While it was a fun evening I feel that if they had eliminated the history lesson and had the meeting point near the first food stop they could have easily shaved an hour off the tour and had the same result.
Once again I was glad the tour ended near a taxi stand and my ride back was certainly interesting. In order to avoid all the traffic my driver decided to drive along the light rail train tracks for a few minutes. While this got me back to my hotel substantially quicker I was still thinking: "Dude, what the hell are you doing?" At one point we passed a cop car and I was wondering if the cop was going to pull the driver over and ticket him which he didn't. We also had numerous close calls with other vehicles and pedestrians but based on what I've seen during my stay this type of reckless driving is common among Roman motorists.
|
|
|
|
Post by Vegas on Oct 8, 2023 4:26:29 GMT -5
Very cool, I'm taking some mental notes for my own trip to Rome in two months.
I actually had pizza yesterday too and ironically it had pineapple on it as I had a Hawaiian Hitman pizza at Pizza Rpck in downtown Las Vegas where me and some coworkers had lunch yestrday after being among 1,000s of teachers who marched down Freemont Street and then rallied at the Federal Building yesterday morning as we continue seeking a new contract.
I am fine with pineapple on pizza, but I do not usually order it. However, the Hawaiian Hitman pizza is one of the pizzas from Pizza Rock (located right next to the downtown Mob Museum) that I had not tried yet and it was really good.
Are you going to Pompeii?
|
|
|
|
Post by paul on Oct 8, 2023 5:59:54 GMT -5
Very cool, I'm taking some mental notes for my own trip to Rome in two months. I actually had pizza yesterday too and ironically it had pineapple on it as I had a Hawaiian Hitman pizza at Pizza Rpck in downtown Las Vegas where me and some coworkers had lunch yestrday after being among 1,000s of teachers who marched down Freemont Street and then rallied at the Federal Building yesterday morning as we continue seeking a new contract. I am fine with pineapple on pizza, but I do not usually order it. However, the Hawaiian Hitman pizza is one of the pizzas from Pizza Rock (located right next to the downtown Mob Museum) that I had not tried yet and it was really good. Are you going to Pompeii? Thank you for the kind words, Zeke. I hope my posts have been helpful for your own trip. When I get back home I'll PM you with all the knowledge I've acquired so that you'll have it all in one place. I'm also ok with pineapple on pizza. While I normally go with meat based pies every now and then I will order Hawaiian. Yes, I am going to Pompeii on Monday actually, funny you should mention it. I'll definitely make sure to post about it here. I hope the tour doesn't run overtime as we're supposed to arrive back at Statione Termini at around 7:00. My tour guide on Saturday night advised me that Termini has some pretty sketchy people hanging around there after dark and that I should exercise caution. Thankfully they have a taxi stand and there will likely still be regular people around so as long as I can make it to the taxi hopefully everything should be all right. |
|
|
|
Post by WTIC on Oct 8, 2023 7:36:11 GMT -5
Very cool, I'm taking some mental notes for my own trip to Rome in two months. I actually had pizza yesterday too and ironically it had pineapple on it as I had a Hawaiian Hitman pizza at Pizza Rpck in downtown Las Vegas where me and some coworkers had lunch yestrday after being among 1,000s of teachers who marched down Freemont Street and then rallied at the Federal Building yesterday morning as we continue seeking a new contract. I am fine with pineapple on pizza, but I do not usually order it. However, the Hawaiian Hitman pizza is one of the pizzas from Pizza Rock (located right next to the downtown Mob Museum) that I had not tried yet and it was really good. Are you going to Pompeii? Thank you for the kind words, Zeke. I hope my posts have been helpful for your own trip. When I get back home I'll PM you with all the knowledge I've acquired so that you'll have it all in one place. I'm also ok with pineapple on pizza. While I normally go with meat based pies every now and then I will order Hawaiian. Yes, I am going to Pompeii on Monday actually, funny you should mention it. I'll definitely make sure to post about it here. I hope the tour doesn't run overtime as we're supposed to arrive back at Statione Termini at around 7:00. My tour guide on Saturday night advised me that Termini has some pretty sketchy people hanging around there after dark and that I should exercise caution. Thankfully they have a taxi stand and there will likely still be regular people around so as long as I can make it to the taxi hopefully everything should be all right. Hi And pictures! Post some pics of the Coliseum at least! I would LOVE to see them! If I ever go to Rome, I'd yell out at the Coliseum: "LET THE GAMES... BEGIN!" Todd C WTIC |
|
gamtime247
Fighting Titan
The End of All Things
Posts: 294
|
Post by gamtime247 on Oct 8, 2023 9:33:32 GMT -5
Hope you’re enjoying your trip, Paul. I visited Italy in 2014 and really enjoyed myself. I got lost over by the Trevi Fountain but learned a little Italian before I visited and was super glad when the cop I asked for directions understood me.. I went to Rome, Florence, Naples, and Sorrento. It was really eye opening to see things that are from soooo long ago. While Pompeii is a somber experience, seeing Vesuvius was awesome and something I still remember pretty vividly. Naples can be a little sketchy but if you keep your head on a swivel, you should be alright. Enjoy!
|
|
|
|
Post by paul on Oct 9, 2023 13:54:36 GMT -5
Hope you’re enjoying your trip, Paul. I visited Italy in 2014 and really enjoyed myself. I got lost over by the Trevi Fountain but learned a little Italian before I visited and was super glad when the cop I asked for directions understood me.. I went to Rome, Florence, Naples, and Sorrento. It was really eye opening to see things that are from soooo long ago. While Pompeii is a somber experience, seeing Vesuvius was awesome and something I still remember pretty vividly. Naples can be a little sketchy but if you keep your head on a swivel, you should be alright. Enjoy! Thank you. Glad you enjoyed your trip to Italy. I've passed by The Trevi Fountain a few times since I've been here but haven't been able to get a good look at it, let alone toss in a coin, because of the crowds. I've heard Florence is beautiful. If I ever make it back to Italy I plan on checking it out. Yes, Pompeii was an interesting but somewhat depressing experience. I'll provide a write-up about my trip there in another post. Mount Vesuvius was certainly impressive and I took a photo of myself standing in front of it. Hope all is well with you. |
|
|
|
Post by paul on Oct 9, 2023 13:59:51 GMT -5
Thank you for the kind words, Zeke. I hope my posts have been helpful for your own trip. When I get back home I'll PM you with all the knowledge I've acquired so that you'll have it all in one place. I'm also ok with pineapple on pizza. While I normally go with meat based pies every now and then I will order Hawaiian. Yes, I am going to Pompeii on Monday actually, funny you should mention it. I'll definitely make sure to post about it here. I hope the tour doesn't run overtime as we're supposed to arrive back at Statione Termini at around 7:00. My tour guide on Saturday night advised me that Termini has some pretty sketchy people hanging around there after dark and that I should exercise caution. Thankfully they have a taxi stand and there will likely still be regular people around so as long as I can make it to the taxi hopefully everything should be all right. Hi And pictures! Post some pics of the Coliseum at least! I would LOVE to see them! If I ever go to Rome, I'd yell out at the Coliseum: "LET THE GAMES... BEGIN!" Todd C WTIC Thank you for the kind words. I'll try to post some photos here if I can figure out how to I hope you get a chance to visit Rome & The Colosseum one day yourself. It's quite the site to see. Hope all is well with you. |
|
|
|
Post by paul on Oct 9, 2023 14:47:33 GMT -5
Just got back from Pompeii and Naples and it was a long but overall enjoyable day.
I had to be at the train station by 7:30 to meet the tour guide before we left at 8:00. The public transit workers were on strike today and as a result bus and light rail train service ceased to operate for a few hours. Figuring there could be an extra demand for taxis because of this I grabbed a 6:30 cab from my hotel to allow for extra time in case there was a delay. I got a cab within 5 minutes of the hotel concierge calling and arrived at the train station just before 7:00 so that part all worked out in the end.
After finding where the meeting point was I went upstairs to the food court to grab some breakfast. When I got there I saw a coffee shop named: PAUL. Naturally I was drawn to this and when I saw that they had my Monster Ultra White drink available that sealed the deal. The only thing missing from the experience was a white light from the heavens and a Hallelujah chorus. Had two croissants and two strawberry tarts as well which held me over until lunch time.
The train ride to Naples took about 1 hour 15 minutes, the car ride to Pompeii took about a half hour and we got there around 10:00. The tour lasted around 2 hours and it was interesting to see how people lived thousands of years ago. Particularly interesting to see was the brothel and the erotic drawings that adorned it; pornography was definitely a thing back then. The red light district even had an engraving of the male reproductive organ on the ground directing people to where the brothel was.
On a more serious note I took a few moments to think about how frightening it must have been for people that day when Mount Vesuvius erupted and the painful deaths they must have experienced. Seeing the plaster casts at the end of the tour showing the positions and facial expressions of people at the moment of death really hit me hard. Nobody should have to die like that.
After the tour our group had lunch at a pizzeria. While it was good I've officially eaten too much pizza the past few days and am now tired of it; there's something I never thought I'd say. It will likely be a few weeks before I can eat it again.
Afterwards we went back to Naples but didn't see much of it. We had some opportunities to take some photos, stopped off at a cafe for a quick snack and then had about an hour of free time to explore the city ourselves. For me Pompeii was what I really wanted to see so I was OK with the limited time in Naples.
Where things really took a bad turn is on the train ride back. Because of the transit strike our train was delayed by over an hour. Even though the high speed train we were on was run by a private company the transit buses also operate out of Termini Station. The buses were set to start running again around rush hour so I'm thinking they may have held our train for a bit to prevent a massive crunch of people all at once at Termini. Because of the early start to the day and all the walking we did I was exhausted and just wanted to get back to my hotel which didn't happen until around 8:30.
Tomorrow the taxi drivers are scheduled to have a one day strike. Thankfully both of my activities for the day are within 20 minutes walking distance of my hotel so as long Google Maps doesn't give me bad directions, that's a big if though, I should be OK.
|
|
|
|
Post by TTX on Oct 9, 2023 14:50:16 GMT -5
Sounds like a fun time. Glad you seem to be mostly enjoying yourself.
|
|
