(picture 1: the disco ball in the bathroom at our hotel in Rome
picture 2: the coliseum)
It's been nearly a month since the second ten day break ended and due to a combination of obscene amounts of school work and general laziness, I haven't really updated much. So, this is my recollection of the end of the 10 day trip with mom and dad:
Rome
We made it to Rome on time (a miracle for Italian trains, I think) and I introduced mom and dad to the Metro system of Rome at rush hour (an excellent idea, mind you, when 3 very large suitcases, 1 lacking a handle, are involved). We jumped on the subway and rode it out towards the Vatican where we then walked for about 10 or 15 minutes to find our hotel. The hotel itself was very cool--it had a music theme which was very well executed (the check in desk was a drum, the nightstands were snare drums, each room had a top of the line tv/sound system, there was a disco ball in the bathroom, etc). There were a few restaurants right across the street from the hotel so we arbitrarily picked on called Casanova since it looked like it had an expansive menu. It also happened to have a huge tour group and a piano player/opera singer thing going on up on the "stage" so that was a little strange. The waitress quickly informed us that if we could all three order the same thing, it'd make her life a lot easier since the chef was all in a bad mood over having to prepare so much food for the tour group. Mom and dad ended up getting roasted chicken and potatoes while I got scampi risotto--not a very Italian meal for them, but we were all so hungry that it didn't matter. While we were there, some very suspicious looking Italian men wandered in and proceeded to have a long meal with the owner of the restaurant and dad is convinced it was some type of Mafia deal, but I guess we'll never know!
Thursday we woke up, had breakfast at the hotel, and walked to the Vatican Museum. The line was terrible, but seemed to be moving, sort of, so we got in and settled in for the long wait. In line, we met a few teachers and their students from a New Mexico high school German club (apparently they were doing a tour of Europe for 3 weeks), so that was interesting. Once we got inside, we showed dad some of the main collections in the museum, then headed for the Sistine Chapel. After exploring those areas, we went outside to get in line for St. Peter's Basilica. After seeing the basilica, we looked for a restaurant that the guidebook recommended only to find ourselves awkwardly committed to eating at a tiny hole in the wall type place (it had good food all said and done, it was just very off the beaten path). Then we walked towards the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. About this time, it started to pour down rain, so we ducked into the metro station and headed back to the hotel. Mom did some work for a bit and then we decided to try the restaurant right next to the hotel, which was known for fish dishes. The owner and waiter were great and kept giving us free things and the food was excellent, so it worked out a bit more smoothly than Casanova the night before.
Friday we took it a little easier, taking the metro up to the Coliseum, which was cool (I only saw it from the outside when I was there with Robert in February). Then we walked through the Forum for a bit. As we came out of the Forum, we happened across a huge rally/protest of some sort, which was really strange and slightly scary based on the huge police presence (wearing full riot gear, nonetheless). We then walked for a while to find lunch someplace that was convenient but ended up being a tourist trap of sorts (over priced in a very real way). We then tried to find the movie theater that had movies in English, but soon realized the movies it was showing in English weren't worth the price of the ticket, so we did some shopping. We then tried to find a road I specifically remembered being full of cool shops and restaurants, but after taking my poor parents on a bit of a hike, we couldn't find it. We decided to go back to the hotel to pack up and try to find dinner since we had an early train the next day. For dinner, we found a place right around the corner that was full of locals (no English spoken, basically, nor was there an English menu) and it also had very, very good food.
Venice
We got into Venice around 11:30 Saturday morning and we took the vaporetto to the Zattere to go check in at mom and dad's hotel. I left my luggage with theirs and we started wandering around. I took them to the notoriously touristy St. Mark's Square and we walked through the Basilica. I then took them to Bar da Gino to show them where I go on a daily (or bi daily) basis and so that we could have lunch. We then stopped by Casa Artom so I could drop off my luggage and so they could see the house. Tristan and Brad were around so we all decided to eat together that evening at Ai Cugnai, a favorite restaurant near the house. We all rested/got cleaned up for dinner and then met up at the restaurant where my parents go to experience the crazy that is the old ladies who work there (crazy in a good way, I promise).
Sunday we went to Salute for Palm Sunday mass, then I took mom and dad on a "day in the life of Jenny" type tour which involved eating lunch at Pizza al Volo in Campo Santa Margherita, going to the Rialto area to recharge my cell phone, stopping by the grocery store, etc. We then did the whole rest/clean up routine again to go out to dinner with Allie's family and Brad (Mallory was supposed to join but didn't get back from break in time). I then said goodbye to the parents, since they had a very early boat to catch to the airport (for which they assured me they'd be awake). The next evening, hours after I expected them to call, they called around 11 my time to let me know they had made it home, but not before they overslept until less than 2 hours before their flight, had to take an emergency water taxi to the airport, and had to be re-routed on a later flight due to a security personnel strike (Manzullo travel luck again). But, they made it, which is the important part! All in all, bad travel luck aside, it was a great trip...we saw so much in such a short time!
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