When in Rome

Piazza Navona, the pantheon and more...

The beautiful Trevi Fountain. Apologies to all those people who we had coins for. 

Tripadvisor - a blessing and a curse?

Sometimes I think the advent of tripadvisor is both of these. I see those damn stickers on restaurant windows everywhere. I am sceptical about the reliability of the reviews, as they could all be done by clueless tourists who love nothing better than really awful food. S thinks statistically you are bound to get a true result. Hmmm. Last night we went to a place called Da Tonino which has two different sets of reviews on tripadvisor. On one they were glowing stating that Da Tonino was the best restaurant in Rome! The others said it was awful, rude service etc. I only knew that when I walked past it looked 'authentic' and there were lots of Italians in there. Last night when we went there there were lots of Australians. The food was okay. Jack's ravioli was good. Simon was nonplussed about his balls.

Afterwards we went to a gelateria that always has a big queue and coincidentally features on tripadvisor. The big deal about this place is that after you order they dip your gelati in chocolate or as S said, ice magic. It was okay, Jack loved it, though it was his messiest gelati ever. I tend to agree with the reviewer who said, people come for the chocolate but underneath it's just  average gelati.

foosball fever

In anticipation of the world cup final an area has been set up around the Castello with snack bars and tv screens and foosball tables. Obviously if Italy were in the final (Ha!) it would be a bigger deal but it's pretty cool. Last night we played a few games after I'd swapped some money with a tourist so we could have the 50 cent pieces we needed. I chose the most American looking person I could see, tall backpack with a camera and a bit dorky and he turned out to be italian but very nice and he and his family readily handed over the change. Not a bad location.

Roma!

S kept on exclaiming about the drivers in Milan and Florence. I would chuckle and tell him to wait till we got to Rome. The cab ride from the station to our apartment was definitely an eye opener, especially the last bit where a shoe horn was required to squeeze our taxi into this little street. We are in a great area surrounded by vintage shops, restaurants and very close to the Castello Sant'Angelo. Now to find somewhere for dinner.

Casa

Apart from that view, our apartment in Florence was what would be referred to in AFL circles as specky. It was on the top floor of a 17th Century Palazzo and was just wonderful. We found all our places on Air BnB and have been pleasantly surprised by all our apartments though this one was probably the best (did I mention the view?). We also had little porthole windows as we were up in the eaves looking across the way into other portholes and down a long way to the street below.
I have to admit that even though Florence was packed with tourists I was sad to leave our apartment and the panini shop and gelateria. We had a dinner with friends for our last night in Florence. I'm not normally a big mushroom fan (as I kept telling everyone) but we has porcini mushrooms that were so good. Or as they say here, "Era Squisito!"

PIzza!