Italy has changed. But Rome is Rome. – Robert De Niro
At first, I hated Rome. Too many tourists, too many noisy Vespas, too many waiters trying to lure me into mediocre restaurants, too many things to see in one lifetime . . . just too, too much! I always said that if I wanted to be in a big crowded city, I’d have stayed in New York. At least I speak the language and the streets are in a grid so it’s easy to find everything.
But a few years ago, Rome started to grow on me. Little by little, I came to see that you can do Rome in small chunks. You don’t have to try to see it all at once. So one trip focused on the neighborhood around the Borghese Gardens. Another trip kept us in Trastevere for the duration. Still another brought us over to via Margutta and the ghost of Fellini. It’s been like that ever since. Get to Rome, stay in your (imaginary) lane and promise to come back and see something different next time. Rome will always be Rome.
Three years ago Tim and I found ourselves without a Spring tour, but we headed to bella italia anyway. Our trip: touring with friends in Abruzzo on our own, searching for new experiences for future group tours, and finding a little time to relax. It had been a grueling winter and we were ready for a break.
We decided to start our venture with two nights in Rome. All to ourselves. Yay! We had booked into a little boutique hotel near the Spanish Steps that I had read about. After landing at Fiumicino, we took the Leonardo Express into Rome Termini, jumped on the metro to Spagna station, and walked the block or so to the hotel. By now, we were incredibly excited to be in Rome on our own, but also incredibly tired. And it was only 3:00 in the afternoon!
We checked in, unpacked a little, and then committed the cardinal sin of travel: we actually laid down to rest our eyes. A quick power nap. Forty winks, is all…
I woke up after a very restful sleep and it was already light out. I panicked. Shaking Tim awake, I said something like, Holy shit! We only have 2 nights in Rome and we just slept through one of them! We both jumped out of bed and showered as fast as we could, determined to make the most of the second day. We were kicking ourselves all the way down to the breakfast room. We knew better than this. How could we be so stupid? We had lost a whole day!!
The breakfast room was lovely, and we were greeted by the desk clerk on our way in. Before even choosing a table, we marched right up to the buffet — and saw no breakfast. And no other people. We had missed breakfast, too! This day was really sucking. But, we told ourselves, it was only 7:30 . . . maybe they didn’t start serving until 8:00. So we chose a table, sat down, and started to plan our day when a waiter came over and asked if he could bring us a drink.
We looked up, startled. Coffee? Tim said. Orange juice? I said. He looked a little puzzled. For breakfast, he said. Yes, we nodded. He left, confused, but no more confused than we were. At that point, I got a message from our mobile service welcoming us to Rome. I took a long look at the screen and realized, to my everlasting relief, that it was 7:30 in the evening, not 7:30 the next morning.
We felt like Scrooge on Christmas morning! We got the day back! It wasn’t gone after all! We were exactly on time for a spritz and a walk around the neighborhood before dinner. We practically danced around the breakfast room!
Seeing this, the desk clerk now realized what had gone on. We almost kissed him as we ran down the stairs and out into the Rome night – still light at this hour in the Spring, and especially beautiful after a light rain. We feasted on a wonderful dinner at Porto di Ripetta, just a few blocks away off the Piazza del Popolo, where they served us a beautiful salt-crusted fish and some wonderful dry white wine.
We almost lost it in Rome. Time, that thing we can never have too much of. We spent it in gratitude for hours in the piazza. And we had the next day, too. Because Rome is always Rome.
Buon viaggio!
Linda Dini Jenkins is a card-carrying Italophile, travel planner, freelance writer, and amateur photographer. Travel is her passion, so writing about her travels just comes naturally. She hopes all her travelers find a way to express their joys, surprises, and fears as they travel and gives every traveler a nifty journal to help smooth the way. Learn more…
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