Rome - Day 2 - free day

Day 2: 

Booking the underground tour was a pain....
We woke up late.  I called the Colosseum tour again and asked if they could put us in tonight, since the representative said I could only book over the phone and not in person.  After 5 minutes of waiting, an agent finally picked up and said the underground tour cannot be booked on the same day.....ACCCkkkkk I blew up.......I called long distance so many times before and they kept saying the schedule was not out (even the week before)?  After a bunch of crap, I finally was able to book an underground tour on Friday (Sept 21) at 12:40pm....

Our cheap little breakfast from vending machines:
We bought 3 sandwiches from the hotel's vending machines for breakfast (only 2,50 Euro each ~ Tuna salad, Egg salad and Shrimp...nothing too fancy...but quite good).  We also bought mocha and cappuccino from the vending machine too...

We didn't have much plans and we just decided to stroll around Rome.  Weather was quite bad, very cloudy and gloomy.  We walked on Via Nationale and checked out some of the leather shops.  We took some photos of some ruins, Altare della patria & Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio (Piazza Venezia).  That was like the centre of Rome, well for us it is.  Whenever we got lost, we just had to look for the Piazza Venezia.

We walked to the Spanish steps and the shopping district (high end fashion brands like....Prada, Chanel, Gucci......) We walked into this fast food place and had some pasta.  The bottle of white wine was only 3,70 Euro and it was quite good.  

Food court lunch - casual and cheap :)

After lunch, we went to do some shopping and suddenly it was pouring rain...so we went into the McDonald's and had some mcnuggets.  It was packed inside..many tourists went in and waited until the rain stopped, the server got quite rude to other tourists.  The McDonald's was quite trendy though.

Finally, the rain stopped.  The spanish steps....not as many tourists as I expected... It looked nicer at night time though (night shots at another pose) :)

Parking in Europe is quite impressive.....they leave so little space in between the vehicles.....it was quite amazing to see some of the parking jobs.  In Canada, we leave lots of space when we park.

Since our hotel had a very nice terrace, we decided to just relax and chill for the night.  We bought some freshly made sandwiches and opened the complimentary bottle of red wine we got from Florence.  The hotel's roof garden was quite nice.  It was still raining so bad, and it felt very peaceful just chilling at the covered patio :)

Day 1 - First Day in Rome

First day in Roma - part 1

Lasagna, Pizza, Beer and Italian orange soda

After checking in the hotel, we walked out and tried to look for food nearby.  We stopped by the Piazza della Repubblica.... and had our lunch there.... Nothing special, but the orange soda was quite refreshing.  So many birds will come to you when you eat at the outdoor terrace :)

After lunch, we basically just followed the map and walked to the Colosseum.  I researched on the underground tour for the colosseum online and talked to someone over the phone....I never got a proper reply back.  So we were heading there to see if we could book there.

Nope.  We couldn't book at the counter, we had to do it on the phone.  It was the most annoying thing ever to deal with that.  I wanted to book their official underground tour because they were the only tour that allowed their tourists to go to the "prohibited areas and the underground".  Apparently I had to call again to book.

It was about a 20 minutes walk....walking downhill?... We took a lot of photos there..just the outside of the colosseum.

When you thought the cobblestones were from ancient time...nope I just saw some were newly paved.. not sure about these ones

Tah dahhhh....finally arrived to the Colosseo ..... just going to take some photos from the outside for now

lots of ruins everywhere in Rome..

Just a day of exploring rome by following the tourist map :) we walked everywhere...

This auditorium looked like Colosseum

Some fountain in the middle of the road

Random Italian Restaurant in some back alley - Beef Carparcio 

Trevi Fountain finally :):) it looked bigger than I thought.  Night time wasn't crowded

Rome at night was quite peaceful :)

Florence -> Rome & Updates

Some really good pastry from the cafe right next to our hotel in Florence :)

First class train ride to Rome:

We took first class train to Rome.  It worth every penny to upgrade to first class.  Super comfortable ride to Rome.....We'll talk about our Rome hotel later. ...

Cobblestone steps near the Colloseum 

Some updates about myself:

I haven't been updating lately and I'm trying to get myself writing again.....please don't mind me :)  I would like to update that ever since this Euro trip 2012..... I hadn't stopped travelling....I would love to share all my thoughts in this blog..... 

After this Euro trip 2012, I had also travelled to :

Hong Kong 2012

Thailand 2013 - Bangkok

Germany 2013 - Frankfurt, Berlin, Rothenburg, Munich

Poland 2013 - Warsaw, Krakow

Hungary 2013 - Budapest

Austria 2013 - Vienna

Czech Republic 2013 - Prague

Hong Kong 2014

Los Angeles 2014

China 2014 - Shanghai

Australia 2014 - Melbourne, Phillip Island, Halls Gap, Adelaide, Kangaroo Island

Florence - First Dinner in Firenze

Our first dinner at Florence:

We walked around the Duomo and we decided to have an early dinner right behind the Duomo.  The waiter was waving us over, so we sat at the outdoor terrace.  We were the first guests there as I guess it was a little too early for the tourists and locals to have dinner; it was around 5:30 pm.

Pappardelle with mushroom

We got a bottle of white wine and some fresh bread to start with.  We ordered only two pasta dishes as we weren't that hungry, we just want to sit and chill.  This time we ordered a type of pasta we never tried: pappardelle.  This type of pasta is large and broad, similar to lasagna...I'm not a big fan of this.  I would probably prefer lasagna better.

Risotto with Lobster

I ordered this pasta dish: risotto with lobster.  It was pretty good, quite creamy but not very special.  Overall we were not super satisfied with the food quality, but the location was good.  It was quite a nice place to chill around the Duomo, aka: tourist trap.  It wasn't super expensive though, probably 15- 18 Euro per pasta dish.

Florence - Arrival

Train: Venice to Florence:
We took the first class train to Florence's Santa Maria Novella Station.  We arrived to Florence at 11am.  Once we arrived to the Florence train station, we went to the customers assistance to ask for directions to our hotel.  She said it was very close by, it should be only 5 - 10 minutes walk.

1 Euro per person to use the washroom
Both of us needed to go to washroom, so we went to the W.C., it costed 1 Euro per person to use the washroom.  They had gates to take money, just like how the gate takes money to enter the subway.  Most people had trouble figuring out how to exit (by pressing a button).

Awesome hotel location:
We looked at the big map in front of the train station to check where our hotel was.  After 7-10 minutes of walk, we found our hotel: Best Western Premier, it was probably the easiest hotel to find throughout our trip.  The hotel was super close to the Duomo and everything.  But it was too early to check in, we couldn't check in until 2pm.  So we walked towards the Duomo and we had lunch at the outdoor cafe with a nice view of the Duomo.


First lunch in Florence:

I ordered: Black Truffle Mushroom Ravioli

Lasagne

We ordered a big bottle of water (4 Euro) and some beer.  Alcohol is way cheaper in Europe than water.  I fell in love with black truffle during this trip.  The ravioli was quite good.  Lasagne was pretty good, simple but nothing special.  Pasta is usually not the main entree, that's why the portion is quite small.

Dessert time: Tiramisu & cappuccino

Finally, I got to try tiramisu in Italy....Yummm...along with a cup of cappuccino.  The texture of the tiramisu is very soft and creamy, taste of coffee/expresso was not that strong.  It was quite different from the ones I usually had in Canada.  The presentation didn't look that great either, but it still tasted good!

It was a nice day, weather was good.  Even though we were walking on the ancient cobblestone roads, the streets we were at were quite commercialized.  Brand name stores and shopping stores were everywhere.

Venice - Italian Meal Structure

Hosteria al Vecio Bragosso: great view and romantic ambience

We came here for our first dinner in Venice, it was close to our hotel, to other shops and Macdonald.  It was nice to sit at the outdoor terrace, beautiful night with perfect ambience.

We weren't that hungry from the late lunch, so we just went to have some late snack.  We looked through different menus, and we decided to eat at this restaurant.  While we were waiting, there was a basket of different breads, buns and bread sticks.  There was this brand new pack of bread sticks, I opened the pack, which I later found it was charged 8 Euro for the bread. :S So next time, I learnt that it would be free to just eat the bread/buns in the basket, but if you open any packs of bread sticks, it will be charged on the bill.  Or it could just be cover charge, I don't know...but why cover charge?

Beef Carpaccio as secondo, along with Murano candle holder

In North America, beef carpaccio is usually the appetizer, but in Italy, beef carpaccio seems to be the second main entree.  So it usually is more expensive on the menu, especially its a dish with meats.

Italians enjoy eating well and therefore Italian dinners usually have many courses; here is a sample of the Meal structure for the traditional Italians:

    1). Aperitivo (Appetizer) : alcoholic/non-alcohlic drinks as wine, champagne, with small amounts of food: olives, crisps, nuts...etc

    2). Antipasto (heavier starter): heavier starter such as salami, cheese

    3). Primo (first entree): non-meat dishes (include pizza, risotto, pasta, lasagnas..etc)

    4). Secondo (second entree): usually the heaviest course (include different meats and types of fish (include turkey, sausage, pork, steak, salmon, lobster, lamb, chicken etc)

    5). Formaggi e Frutta (cheese and fruits)

    6). Dolce (desserts): my favourite is the homemade tiramisu, the style and texture of tiramisu is different from cities to cities

    7). Caffe (Coffee or expresso): Italians usually drink expresso after every meal.  The locals only drink beverages with milk in the morning, because they believe drinking milk later in the day is thought to be bad for the stomach.  If you order a cappuccino or caffe latte after your meal in dinner time, it would be a giveaway that you're a tourist :)

PS:  If you want a latte, make sure you order a caffe latte (meaning expresso with steam milk), otherwise you might just get a glass of milk, because latte in Italian means milk.