After being to 5 different bed and breakfasts (despite the name they don't always come with breakfast, actually only 1 out of 5 so far) now, I've noticed a pattern about how to outfit a b&b:
Step 1: make a list of all the things you need to outfit your room(s)/apartment.
Step 2: go to IKEA and buy everything on your list.
You are done!
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Day 4: Arrivaderci Roma! Onward to Cinque Terre
Last night we realized that we are definitely not going to see even all of the "must sees" in Rick Steve's book. Getting up early to see some of them probably wouldn't work as we had to make sure to get to Riomaggiore on time for our reservation, so we had to come to terms with missing a few things: seeing the inside of the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, climbing St. Peter's basilica, and some smaller things.
Since we stayed out late, getting up too early was out of the question. But we thought we could make a run to the Basilica and back, but after showering it wasn't looking good. Nicole made us breakfast again and we chatted about heading to the Cinque Terre, and then Luca came in and he checked the train schedules for us which was when we realized we probably wouldn't be able to go to the basilica. Luca also offered to call ahead to our rooms in Riomaggiore to let them know we would be coming but may be late ( although we made all our trains and were early). And then we chatted for a while and Bill came in and we all talked for sometime which was really nice. It made us really regret that we were running around so much and didn't manage to have dinner with Nicole and Luca (and Bill), it would have been a much better evening than the ones we had. Sigh.... Oh well, next time!
We had to go to Termini station to get our train tickets for later and ended up waiting in line behind a German that was taking FOREVER!! I don't think he ended up buying anything... And the machines ended up being super easy to use.
We did make a quick run out to Piazza del Popolo, although our Roma pass had expired, so we had to buy metro tickets. But I tried my Roma pass anyway and it still worked, although I told Katherine to go through the turnstile, so I still had to use one of the tickets. We hadn't needed to use tickets because of the Roma pass so I didn't know exactly how it worked; Roma passes you just put in front of a sensor. I kept inserting the ticket as if it was one of our bus tickets at home (in and out of the same slot) all the while a line of frustrated people was forming behind me (not offering to help even though I obviously was clueless). Finally I realized there was an insertion slot down below and everything was good except for my embarrassment. What's worse was we were getting on at Termini station so there were lots of people waiting and also cramming into the train with us.
Anyway, went to Flaminio stazione to see the Piazza, it was pretty obvious where to go since it was so big. It was actually sunny today! I even took off my sweater and could enjoy the sun. Of course we only had 15 minutes so we sat on the steps of the obelisk Centred in the piazza which was nice and relaxing but so short; all in all I think we experienced half an hour of sun in Rome, and maybe a full day of no rain (but split over several days). So I want to come back when it is warm! And since we've seen a lot of the major sights there might be more time for lounging throughout the city.
Katherine was making sure we left early from the piazza, which ended up being vital as we had an incident at the metro station that could have made us miss our train. So my Roma pass still worked, Katherine's did not, and she tried the other ticket we bought and it didn't work, so she had to buy one but the machines wouldn't take her paper money and we didn't have enough change (20 cents short). We didn't know what to do and time was short. There was a bunch of staff checking tickets on the way out and we tried to buy a ticket from them, but they waved us away to the machines fairly rudely. It seems like you see that a lot, a bunch of staff standing around chatting and not doing much, customer service is not great. Panic was starting to set in at this point, we didn't have a quick way of getting a ticket and we needed to leave, soon! So I tried the ticket Katherine tried earlier and it worked! And my Roma pass still worked so we were good to go! Hurray!
We ran back to the b&b, grabbed our bags, left the keys, and ran to the station. I was getting pretty warm at this point, lots of stress and rushing. I think we made our train with just a few minutes left - it is a good thing the place was so close to the station!!
For the train we had to go to Le Spezia Centrale then switch to a train going to Riomaggiore. We only had a few minutes connection which wasn't a problem except we didn't want to miss our check in. The trip was about 3.5 hours long; not much happened on the train except there were some really amazing seaside views since we were going up the coast. Oh, and we passed by a bunch of lambs/sheep lounging around on a hillside while Katherine was sleeping so I started calling her a sleepy lamb. Anyway, made the connection with a minute or two to spare but we definitely could have missed it if we mistook anything.
When we got off at Riomaggiore, the weather was beautiful and the platform was right at the cliff edge with a great view of the ocean. So it was sunny (that's called foreshadowing).
In the space of time it took to get to the other side of the tracks, get a couple maps and schedules, it had started cloud over and rain a little bit. Weather-wise it seemed like we never left Vancouver and it has probably be worse than average for Vancouver, getting pretty annoyed at this point. Anyway, I led us the wrong way at first because I didn't really look at a map and I though the main road would lead right to the station, as it was we had to go though a pedestrian tunnel through the mountain to the end of the town's main road. A block up we found the place to claim our room keys, with a guy there that seems to always wear jeans, a zipped up pure white jacket, a toque, and a weird colourful effeminate scarf that you only see a wisp of peeking out the back of the neck of the jacket. He was super nice, laid back, showed us to our rooms, and told us to come back to pay later today or tomorrow.
The room is pretty nice, although you might say it is charming and that could go either way depending on whom you ask. But it is pretty big, has a kitchen, and table area: so we can make our own food which will save some money. After settling in for a few moments we went in search of food and groceries just outside on the main street (we're not actually on the main street, but tucked a bit down an alley past the local piazza, so half a block away from the main street but almost everything is that close)
We had some fun looking around some of the groceries, bought some fruit and drinks (Sanpellegrino and something we thought was water or maybe sparkling water but ended up being lemon-lime soda). Oh! We also bought a tiny bottle of something called Camparisoda, that I had heard of the name but didn't know what it was - it looks like old-style red cream soda (it's actually alcoholic and TOTALLY NASTY! I'm glad I sipped it!). We also met this couple from Montreal in one of the stores (oh we briefly met a couple from Nova Scotia at the train station), Angelo and Maria. I started talking to Angelo because he was wearing a Canucks shirt and i let him in on the bad news of them being down 3 games to 0. He wasn't really a hardcore fan so he was bummed but not too much.
Then we went to this take out place and order lasagna and pesto trofie (it's a little noodle that looks like it has been twisted and is designed for pesto to really stick to it), went back to our room and ate. Then we napped for a few hours... Maybe more.
After our nap we went out in the twilight and roamed around the town checking everything out. It was super peaceful although a little scary sometimes in the tiny alleys between tall buildings. But there were a lot of nice views and the town is so hilly that you can get up pretty high. We probably walked around for a couple of hours! The stars were really clear and it made the sky seem closer somehow. We also ran across a cute splotchy black and white kitty that reminded us of Cow. He was pretty timid, which is weird because he's probably used to lots of strangers being around, and normally animals have an affinity for Katherine. We also ran across an orange tiger cat that kind of sat and angry purred at us, so we left it alone. (we found out later that there are a number of these cats in the Cinque Terre and they mostly seem pretty uninterested in the tourists). Oh that reminds me! When we first got to the train station we also saw this cute dog that hangs out at the store there. (Katherine and I are going to share him 60-40!)
Then we went to bed to find our room was freezing, we pulled out two extra blankets from a closet but it still didn't help enough... Vancouver better be warm when we come back or I'll be annoyed as his weather has probably made our trip half as fun. So we had trouble sleeping that first night.
Tomorrow: visiting some of the other towns and hiking.
Since we stayed out late, getting up too early was out of the question. But we thought we could make a run to the Basilica and back, but after showering it wasn't looking good. Nicole made us breakfast again and we chatted about heading to the Cinque Terre, and then Luca came in and he checked the train schedules for us which was when we realized we probably wouldn't be able to go to the basilica. Luca also offered to call ahead to our rooms in Riomaggiore to let them know we would be coming but may be late ( although we made all our trains and were early). And then we chatted for a while and Bill came in and we all talked for sometime which was really nice. It made us really regret that we were running around so much and didn't manage to have dinner with Nicole and Luca (and Bill), it would have been a much better evening than the ones we had. Sigh.... Oh well, next time!
We had to go to Termini station to get our train tickets for later and ended up waiting in line behind a German that was taking FOREVER!! I don't think he ended up buying anything... And the machines ended up being super easy to use.
We did make a quick run out to Piazza del Popolo, although our Roma pass had expired, so we had to buy metro tickets. But I tried my Roma pass anyway and it still worked, although I told Katherine to go through the turnstile, so I still had to use one of the tickets. We hadn't needed to use tickets because of the Roma pass so I didn't know exactly how it worked; Roma passes you just put in front of a sensor. I kept inserting the ticket as if it was one of our bus tickets at home (in and out of the same slot) all the while a line of frustrated people was forming behind me (not offering to help even though I obviously was clueless). Finally I realized there was an insertion slot down below and everything was good except for my embarrassment. What's worse was we were getting on at Termini station so there were lots of people waiting and also cramming into the train with us.
Anyway, went to Flaminio stazione to see the Piazza, it was pretty obvious where to go since it was so big. It was actually sunny today! I even took off my sweater and could enjoy the sun. Of course we only had 15 minutes so we sat on the steps of the obelisk Centred in the piazza which was nice and relaxing but so short; all in all I think we experienced half an hour of sun in Rome, and maybe a full day of no rain (but split over several days). So I want to come back when it is warm! And since we've seen a lot of the major sights there might be more time for lounging throughout the city.
Katherine was making sure we left early from the piazza, which ended up being vital as we had an incident at the metro station that could have made us miss our train. So my Roma pass still worked, Katherine's did not, and she tried the other ticket we bought and it didn't work, so she had to buy one but the machines wouldn't take her paper money and we didn't have enough change (20 cents short). We didn't know what to do and time was short. There was a bunch of staff checking tickets on the way out and we tried to buy a ticket from them, but they waved us away to the machines fairly rudely. It seems like you see that a lot, a bunch of staff standing around chatting and not doing much, customer service is not great. Panic was starting to set in at this point, we didn't have a quick way of getting a ticket and we needed to leave, soon! So I tried the ticket Katherine tried earlier and it worked! And my Roma pass still worked so we were good to go! Hurray!
We ran back to the b&b, grabbed our bags, left the keys, and ran to the station. I was getting pretty warm at this point, lots of stress and rushing. I think we made our train with just a few minutes left - it is a good thing the place was so close to the station!!
For the train we had to go to Le Spezia Centrale then switch to a train going to Riomaggiore. We only had a few minutes connection which wasn't a problem except we didn't want to miss our check in. The trip was about 3.5 hours long; not much happened on the train except there were some really amazing seaside views since we were going up the coast. Oh, and we passed by a bunch of lambs/sheep lounging around on a hillside while Katherine was sleeping so I started calling her a sleepy lamb. Anyway, made the connection with a minute or two to spare but we definitely could have missed it if we mistook anything.
When we got off at Riomaggiore, the weather was beautiful and the platform was right at the cliff edge with a great view of the ocean. So it was sunny (that's called foreshadowing).
In the space of time it took to get to the other side of the tracks, get a couple maps and schedules, it had started cloud over and rain a little bit. Weather-wise it seemed like we never left Vancouver and it has probably be worse than average for Vancouver, getting pretty annoyed at this point. Anyway, I led us the wrong way at first because I didn't really look at a map and I though the main road would lead right to the station, as it was we had to go though a pedestrian tunnel through the mountain to the end of the town's main road. A block up we found the place to claim our room keys, with a guy there that seems to always wear jeans, a zipped up pure white jacket, a toque, and a weird colourful effeminate scarf that you only see a wisp of peeking out the back of the neck of the jacket. He was super nice, laid back, showed us to our rooms, and told us to come back to pay later today or tomorrow.
The room is pretty nice, although you might say it is charming and that could go either way depending on whom you ask. But it is pretty big, has a kitchen, and table area: so we can make our own food which will save some money. After settling in for a few moments we went in search of food and groceries just outside on the main street (we're not actually on the main street, but tucked a bit down an alley past the local piazza, so half a block away from the main street but almost everything is that close)
We had some fun looking around some of the groceries, bought some fruit and drinks (Sanpellegrino and something we thought was water or maybe sparkling water but ended up being lemon-lime soda). Oh! We also bought a tiny bottle of something called Camparisoda, that I had heard of the name but didn't know what it was - it looks like old-style red cream soda (it's actually alcoholic and TOTALLY NASTY! I'm glad I sipped it!). We also met this couple from Montreal in one of the stores (oh we briefly met a couple from Nova Scotia at the train station), Angelo and Maria. I started talking to Angelo because he was wearing a Canucks shirt and i let him in on the bad news of them being down 3 games to 0. He wasn't really a hardcore fan so he was bummed but not too much.
Then we went to this take out place and order lasagna and pesto trofie (it's a little noodle that looks like it has been twisted and is designed for pesto to really stick to it), went back to our room and ate. Then we napped for a few hours... Maybe more.
After our nap we went out in the twilight and roamed around the town checking everything out. It was super peaceful although a little scary sometimes in the tiny alleys between tall buildings. But there were a lot of nice views and the town is so hilly that you can get up pretty high. We probably walked around for a couple of hours! The stars were really clear and it made the sky seem closer somehow. We also ran across a cute splotchy black and white kitty that reminded us of Cow. He was pretty timid, which is weird because he's probably used to lots of strangers being around, and normally animals have an affinity for Katherine. We also ran across an orange tiger cat that kind of sat and angry purred at us, so we left it alone. (we found out later that there are a number of these cats in the Cinque Terre and they mostly seem pretty uninterested in the tourists). Oh that reminds me! When we first got to the train station we also saw this cute dog that hangs out at the store there. (Katherine and I are going to share him 60-40!)
Then we went to bed to find our room was freezing, we pulled out two extra blankets from a closet but it still didn't help enough... Vancouver better be warm when we come back or I'll be annoyed as his weather has probably made our trip half as fun. So we had trouble sleeping that first night.
Tomorrow: visiting some of the other towns and hiking.
Friday, 13 April 2012
Rome is wet - rough first day
We've made it to Rome after a long trip: taking turns sleeping in Seatac, a multi hour layover in YYZ, and the regular flying times to get this deep into Europe. The journey here was a nice little adventure involving a soup that I'm told was a poutine, Sherlock Holmes and MI6, and being airport hobos wherever we could sleep. But after a day and a half of traveling, next time I may pay extra to fly more directly and leave the adventure in my destination.
Speaking of Rome and adventure, we had a pretty easy time in the airport: our bags came first, customs is non-existent (literally we talked to no one but they did stamp our passports, we got on the Leonardo express really easily and luckily did validate our ticket when we weren't sure we needed to - a conductor did check - phew!). So that was a bad segue way, the only adventure in the airport was almost being squished by a woman who has no right to load a luggage cart - it was the most ridiculous 6' stack of what looked like kayaks and snowboards on top of two tiny luggage carts acrobatically squished together to form a shelf for aforementioned stack.
The real adventure starts as we get to Termini station, all paranoid of being pickpocketed and that sort of misadventure, only to find out we don't actually have the address of the place we are going written down! Or at least not on anything we brought with us... Which is totally hilarious (not at the time) because I just emailed the address to my parents before we left - and I found out my phone doesn't store sent messages locally, so.... 20 minutes later of trying to find wifi and a probably pretty expensive roaming call later, we're on our way to the place which is 2.5 blocks from the station!! We knew it was close, but we didn't have the EXACT address.
So now we think we're good and on our way (did I mention it was raining?), we get to the building and find a broken buzzer... Roaming charges later... We're welcomed by our hosts Luca and Nicole - who are probably the best part of our day, super nice and talkative. They offer to make us tea and show us how to get to the Galleria Borghese.
After showing us to our room, we fight off the urge to pass out while unpacking and getting ready to go out. We finally head out to Termini station to catch a bus to find out we can't find the bus stop in this crazy massive bus loop. Did I mention it's raining?! In the distance I spot 910, grab Katherine's hand and we start running, dancing around puddles, trying not to slip on the slippery roadway, and laughing at this mess of trying to make our reservation appointment that is right now.
So we make the bus and find out we don't know how to validate our Roma pass, I say try, I'm pretty sure we failed as this yellow box is blinking red as we try swiping our cards. We successfully steal transit that we paid for only to experience the lengthy weirdness of a bus trying to drive through some tiny streets, looking out the fogged up windows trying to see if we missed our stop, while more and more people cram in, which is totally setting off my pickpocket spidey sense. But we did get off at the right stop after Katherine made a path to the door with an "excuse me" and pushing Romans and tourists left and right (it's a good thing, with my politeness we would have never made it off the bus!)
We get to the gallery and they still have our reservation! So I'm happy. Then we see the throngs of French teenagers on a school trip cramming every space and really classing up the joint with their youthful ah, let's call it exuberance. More shoving to check my bag... Waiting in line And we're in.
Finally! The first attraction! Then we find out amongst all the Rick Steve's audio guides we have, the gallery is not one of them. But it was alright because i had my own little audio guide telling me all about what she read and heard before the trip. :)
There were some pretty amazing marble sculptures there, but the tiredness and constant standing were taking a toll - I almost had a Cheebus Maximus (kath's new roman name) pass out on me as we found a seat.
More shoving through French school children to reclaim my bag from the checkin. By now it is raining even more! We have no umbrellas and no ponchos - but there are loads of brown skinned (no idea what ethnicity) guys hanging around sights and streetcorners with bags of umbrellas for sale - but I'm wary of this so I just keep telling them no.
Stellar planning continues: we don't know where to catch the bus back. So we decide to walk in the rain while checking every couple of blocks if we are heading the right way (trying to find cover to keep our maps and phone dry). It was pretty nice to look around on the way, but would this be so much better if it weren't raining!!
We end up looking for a restaurant Luca suggested, got a little lost but found it. This time it is a large group of English speaking teenagers and their parents clogging up the "Gallina Bianca" (white hen) and convincing us a table will not be found here. So we wander around trying to find a grocery store Luca mentioned near Santa Maria Maggiore which is a massive Basilica in the middle of the city. I got confused about which side we were on and it was hard and annoying to look up the map in the rain and trying to see the street signs. Soooo..... 30 minutes later of wet socks we give up and try to find another restaurant, and then we find out how confused I was and we are almost standing right outside the closed supermarket called Sma. I wish we had pictures of all this but it was difficult with the rain - rain played a big (annoying) factor in our first day!! Grrr....
At this point we are wet, tired, hungry, and pretty frustrated. We're actually really close to our b&b so we decide to eat anywhere we can on the way back. We found a nice looking pizzeria, but again there were lineups. As we've been walking we've been seeing signs for this:
(photo won't upload)
Which looks hilariously like something we see back home, so we end up eating fried chicken for our first real "Italian" meal. But at that point we didn't care and it was funny how similar it looked to Church's:
We make our way back to our home base, and Nicole greets us and offers to make us tea and dinner. We end up having tea and chatting for an hour or more which was really nice, and helped salvage a kind of crappy day.
So that was day 1! Tomorrow: the Vatican.
Speaking of Rome and adventure, we had a pretty easy time in the airport: our bags came first, customs is non-existent (literally we talked to no one but they did stamp our passports, we got on the Leonardo express really easily and luckily did validate our ticket when we weren't sure we needed to - a conductor did check - phew!). So that was a bad segue way, the only adventure in the airport was almost being squished by a woman who has no right to load a luggage cart - it was the most ridiculous 6' stack of what looked like kayaks and snowboards on top of two tiny luggage carts acrobatically squished together to form a shelf for aforementioned stack.
The real adventure starts as we get to Termini station, all paranoid of being pickpocketed and that sort of misadventure, only to find out we don't actually have the address of the place we are going written down! Or at least not on anything we brought with us... Which is totally hilarious (not at the time) because I just emailed the address to my parents before we left - and I found out my phone doesn't store sent messages locally, so.... 20 minutes later of trying to find wifi and a probably pretty expensive roaming call later, we're on our way to the place which is 2.5 blocks from the station!! We knew it was close, but we didn't have the EXACT address.
So now we think we're good and on our way (did I mention it was raining?), we get to the building and find a broken buzzer... Roaming charges later... We're welcomed by our hosts Luca and Nicole - who are probably the best part of our day, super nice and talkative. They offer to make us tea and show us how to get to the Galleria Borghese.
After showing us to our room, we fight off the urge to pass out while unpacking and getting ready to go out. We finally head out to Termini station to catch a bus to find out we can't find the bus stop in this crazy massive bus loop. Did I mention it's raining?! In the distance I spot 910, grab Katherine's hand and we start running, dancing around puddles, trying not to slip on the slippery roadway, and laughing at this mess of trying to make our reservation appointment that is right now.
So we make the bus and find out we don't know how to validate our Roma pass, I say try, I'm pretty sure we failed as this yellow box is blinking red as we try swiping our cards. We successfully steal transit that we paid for only to experience the lengthy weirdness of a bus trying to drive through some tiny streets, looking out the fogged up windows trying to see if we missed our stop, while more and more people cram in, which is totally setting off my pickpocket spidey sense. But we did get off at the right stop after Katherine made a path to the door with an "excuse me" and pushing Romans and tourists left and right (it's a good thing, with my politeness we would have never made it off the bus!)
We get to the gallery and they still have our reservation! So I'm happy. Then we see the throngs of French teenagers on a school trip cramming every space and really classing up the joint with their youthful ah, let's call it exuberance. More shoving to check my bag... Waiting in line And we're in.
Finally! The first attraction! Then we find out amongst all the Rick Steve's audio guides we have, the gallery is not one of them. But it was alright because i had my own little audio guide telling me all about what she read and heard before the trip. :)
There were some pretty amazing marble sculptures there, but the tiredness and constant standing were taking a toll - I almost had a Cheebus Maximus (kath's new roman name) pass out on me as we found a seat.
More shoving through French school children to reclaim my bag from the checkin. By now it is raining even more! We have no umbrellas and no ponchos - but there are loads of brown skinned (no idea what ethnicity) guys hanging around sights and streetcorners with bags of umbrellas for sale - but I'm wary of this so I just keep telling them no.
Stellar planning continues: we don't know where to catch the bus back. So we decide to walk in the rain while checking every couple of blocks if we are heading the right way (trying to find cover to keep our maps and phone dry). It was pretty nice to look around on the way, but would this be so much better if it weren't raining!!
We end up looking for a restaurant Luca suggested, got a little lost but found it. This time it is a large group of English speaking teenagers and their parents clogging up the "Gallina Bianca" (white hen) and convincing us a table will not be found here. So we wander around trying to find a grocery store Luca mentioned near Santa Maria Maggiore which is a massive Basilica in the middle of the city. I got confused about which side we were on and it was hard and annoying to look up the map in the rain and trying to see the street signs. Soooo..... 30 minutes later of wet socks we give up and try to find another restaurant, and then we find out how confused I was and we are almost standing right outside the closed supermarket called Sma. I wish we had pictures of all this but it was difficult with the rain - rain played a big (annoying) factor in our first day!! Grrr....
At this point we are wet, tired, hungry, and pretty frustrated. We're actually really close to our b&b so we decide to eat anywhere we can on the way back. We found a nice looking pizzeria, but again there were lineups. As we've been walking we've been seeing signs for this:
(photo won't upload)
Which looks hilariously like something we see back home, so we end up eating fried chicken for our first real "Italian" meal. But at that point we didn't care and it was funny how similar it looked to Church's:
We make our way back to our home base, and Nicole greets us and offers to make us tea and dinner. We end up having tea and chatting for an hour or more which was really nice, and helped salvage a kind of crappy day.
So that was day 1! Tomorrow: the Vatican.
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