Long weekend at Hotel Des Artistes in Rome.
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I have avoided Rome, around 20 years now, and thought that maybe it was time to give it another chance.
When I studied I didn't have so much money but I found a cheap charter tour to a place south of Rome. I ended up sharing a room in a bungalow together with a very strange man. He had no money and he always had a lot of clothes on even if it was very hot outside. He never bathed. He had some paintings with him which he tried to sell to get some money for food. I was a student and didn't have much money myself, but at least I had so I could buy food. It was a very uncomfortable situation. I bought food myself, which I cooked, but I avoided to eat when he was around since he had nothing to eat.
The place was really dull and there was nothing to do.
One day I took the train to Rome and visited among other things the Spanish Steps. On top of it I was almost robbed by some gypsy children but luckily I managed to get my wallet back.
On my flight home my fishing rod was lost on the plane and I never saw it again.
Well, my memories of Italy and Rome weren't so good.
I was really tired since I hadn't slept very well. I think it was because it had been a lot to do at work and in addition to this all the things which had to be done for the trip to Rome. Reeta had not slept at all since she had been nervous for the journey to Rome. She had not travelled by plane since 2000 or 2001 when she last visited her home in India.
We arrived at the airport, two hours before departure, when the check in started. She was glad that 'MRS' was printed on her printed confirmation of our booking. It was a good omen she told me.
The check-in went without problem but Reeta got a chock when I told her to hand over her ticket. She had no ticket. We had bought the air-flight on Internet and then you don't get any tickets. What I meant was of course the print out of the confirmation. She was relieved when I told her that. She didn't even have to show it since the woman at the check-in disk just checked her name on the passport and that was all.
We had bought the tickets from www.FlyMe.se which is a quite new Swedish air-company. It is cheaper if you buy your tickets early. I bought mine for about 900 skr in July. Reeta bought her ticket just some weeks ago for 2.300 skr. We decided to share the cost so we both paid 1.600 skr each.
Reeta had her hand bagage searched at the security check. Due to the new rules you are not allowed to have a lot of liquids. All liquids have to be in one 1 litre plastic bag, including perfume, schampoo etc. Luckily she managed to pass through but one man had a lot of expensive perfumes and he had to go back and check in the perfumes.
We had a cup of tea at the airport. I think Reeta actually preferred a cup of coffee but she also had a cup of tea just like me. In some ways she is different from other Swedish women. Swedish women are very independent but Reeta often do the same as I do.
The flight from Gothenburg in Sweden to Rome in Italy took 2.5 hours. It went without problem. Reeta had been a little worried that she should get problems with her ears but she had no pain at all. We passed the Alps and got some nice photos. We also saw Venice on our way to Rome.
We arrived at a very small airport called Ciampino. It was quite cold outside, just 8 degrees we were told. We had a quick visit to the toilet before we fetched our luggage. The toilet was really nice, all was marble and it was very clean.
We had travelled between two countries in the European Union and there was no security check and no passport check. We just had to fetch our luggage and look for some kind of transport to the centre.
I man directed us to an office for shuttle busses into the centre of Rome. It cost 15 euros per person and they drove you to your hotel. Luckily we didn't take it since it was both expensive and took probably a lot of time if you had to visit many hotels before they arrived at your hotel.
We didn't see any other bus offices so we went out. Just outside the terminal building was a bus station and on a bus you could read 'Termini'. It was going to the big station close to our hotel and it only cost 5 euros per person. Luckily we got a ticket just in time since it became fully booked. It departed after just some minutes, at 12:40, in the middle of the day.
We arrived at Termini 35 minutes later, which was the first and only stop. The time was 13:15.
We passed trough the big station building and walked some blocks away to our hotel.
The hotel, 'Des Artistes', was quite nice with nice rooms. We had booked a room for all three nights. Unfortunately they didn't have a double room the last night so we booked a room for three persons during the last night. When we checked in they told us that we got the room for three persons for all nights. It was nice since then we didn't have to change the last night. The girl in the reception told us about a third person who was coming the last night. Luckily there was a misunderstanding since she thought that a friend of us was coming. We told her that we had booked it because there were no double rooms free, so we ended up in a big room for only us. The room cost 162 euros for the three nights which was quite cheap, 45 euros the first night, 47 euros the second night and 70 euros for the room for three persons the last night. 'Des Artistes' is a combination of hostel and hotel. We had no private bathroom so we had to use the three bathrooms in the corridor. The marble bathrooms were nice but unfortunately some people left them in a mess.
I had bought a couple of sandwiches which I had brought with me which we ate before we went out for a walk. On our way to Colosseum and Forum Romanum we passed 'Sacro Cuore' and 'Santa Maria Maggiore'. It became dark quickly at around 5 p.m. so we went back to our hotel afterwards. We were both very tired.
I checked the TV and found that they had around 30 channels but only two of them where in English, CNN and another movie channel. We watched the movie 'Blues Brothers' before we went to bed early.
Our room was very quiet and there were no traffic noise. We had a view over a little backyard.
We ate breakfast. I and Reeta had decided to bring some food from home and sweet Reeta, who thinks that food is very important, had brought food for a whole year. Cheese, salami, 6 big sausages, meatballs, grilled chicken legs and a big bread. We therefore had a lot to eat for breakfast.
We went out a little after 10 a.m. We passed 'Termini' which had a really long queue for taxi.
We visited the Colloseum from another side and went into Forum Romanum. We never went inside Colloseum but you cannot se everything in just a few days.
On a building not far from the Colloseum you could see maps on a wall over the Roman Empire.
From Forum Romanum we went to the Vatican state and passed many beautiful places. We passed 'Piazza del Campidoglio' and the gorgious 'Monumento Nazionale Vittorio Emanelle II'. We went on a street where all shops were selling things for the church, as for instance clothes. We then had a look inside the beatiful church 'S. Maria e S. Minerva' at 'Piazza Minerva before we went to 'Piazza de Rotondo' and took a couple of photos inside Pantheon. We continued to 'Piazza Navona' which you can see on 5 photos before we passed the bridge 'Ponte Umberto' and took a photo of 'Palazzo di Giustizia'.
From the bridge 'Ponte Umberto' you had a lovely view over the river and St Peter's cathedral. We passed two human statues and 'castel Sant Angelo'.
At around 14:30 we arrived at the St Peters Cathedral which is absolutely gorgeous. We had to pass a security check before we could go inside the area where the cathedral was. We wanted first of all have a look inside the cathedral. There were two queues, one for the cupola and another which seemed to go down into the basement of the cathedral. We first queued for the cupola but were informed that it was the wrong queue. We therefore changed to the other queue which actually brought us down to the basement where we passed a lot of coffins. It was the place where all popes were buried. We quickly passed it and then came out again. First we thought that the other queue was the right one after all, but around the corner we found the entrance to the cathedral. It didn't cost anything which was surprising since the entrance to for instance the cathedrals in London cost about 10 pounds. The view inside was magnificent and is hard to describe. You just have to see it yourself.
Reeta told me that it was strange that you nowhere could see any sculptures of Jesus, for instance when he was crucified. I looked around and the impression you got was that it was the pope they worshiped and not God. Many sculptures seemed to be of popes. It made me stronger in my belief that religions are something that we humans have made up. I wonder if it actually has anything to do with God. I think that it just represents power over other people. I think the whole thing about worshiping a God is really stupid. First of all, if you want to go to heaven then you don't want to go to a place ruled by a dictator called God who has a lot of rules what you are allowed to do and not allowed to do. In my heaven there is a very kind and understanding God and you get there only if you are kind to other people, animals and the nature. You don't get there by spending a lot of time in a church and doing a lot of praying. It must be better to spend that time helping other people and animals instead. You can pray to a God if it makes your more comfortable but if your religion says that you have to do it then it is just the same thing as saluting a dictator as for instance Hitler with 'Heil Hitler'. Religions make me really angry so I better stop here since this is supposed to be a travel story.
After the visit inside the cathedral we went back to the queue for the cupola and paid 7 euro each. First you went up with an elevator quite a long way up. The people down on the ground inside the cathedral looked really small from above.
You could now look at the roof paintings more closely. They were actually made of pieces of stones, or in other words they were made of mosaic.
We then continued up an enormous lot of steps. It was a narrow one way path up. Once you had started to go you couldn't turn back. It was hard for Reeta but after some time we managed to reach the top which had a beautiful view over Rome.
After the visit to the cathedral we took a coffee and hot chocolate at a café not far away. It cost 9 euros.
We had walked the whole day and decided to take the metro home to the Termini. On our way to the metro station we passed a market and in the nearby palm trees hundreds, or maybe thousands, of birds made a deafening sound. The birds were starlings which came from countries up in the north, as for instance Sweden. Now they were on their way to warmer countries where they spend the winter.
We found the metro station and managed to get tickets, from an automate, which cost 1 euro each. They were valid for 75 minutes. You had to stamp them to pass the gates to the metro. Somehow we managed to put them in a wrong way but a kind gentleman helped us. There were 5 or 6 stops before the stop at the Termini. The metro was very nice and modern.
We ate sausages and bread back in our room.
I tried to find something on the English movie channel but it was just black. We looked instead on CNN where they talked about AIDS.
I was really tired but Reeta was wide-awake. I am more alert in the mornings.
After breakfast we went up on the hotel roof to have a look at the roof garden before we went out for a walk at 11 a.m.
Firs of all we went to the Termini and checked where and when the bus back to the airport went on Sunday.
We walked on a lot of shopping streets on our way to 'Fontana di Trevi' and then to the Spanish Steps. There were a lot of very exclusive fashion shops on the streets nearby the Spanish Steps, as for instance Gucci and Armani. In a window we saw a dress which cost 12.000 euros.
We bought ice-creams at the 'Fontana di Trevi'. The ice-cream was OK but I think we have better in Sweden. I bought a small statue in glass of a couple kissing each other. Reeta bought postcards and some souvenirs.
Some people were selling roasted chestnuts. I had never tasted it before so I bought a few for 3 euros. They were a disappointment since I didn't like them. They tasted like potatoes.
At the Spanish Steps we rested a little and ate some of the sausages which Reeta had brought from Sweden.
We decided to sit down at a café nearby the Spanish Steps. Reeta ordered a toast and I had a pizza. The service was really bad, one person was almost rude and the food tasted awful. The pizzas are much better in my village, Lindome, and the toast was almost uneatable. I will never eat there again and I think that it is much better to get away from the Spanish Steps if you want to eat something.
We went towards our hotel along 'Via del Corso' and had a nice view of 'Vittorio Emanuele Monument' at the Piazza Venezia. We continued along Via Nazionale which had a lot of shops. Reeta bought some souvenirs in one of them.
We were back at our hotel 18:20. The door to our room was not completely closed so it was just to push it open. The person who cleaned our room each day had probably not closed it hard enough. Luckily nothing had been stolen. The room contained a safety-box where I keep my passport, tickets and some money. Reeta brought all things with her in her hand bag since she didn't trust it.
I rested until 19:30 while Reeta wrote her postcards. When I woke up Reeta told me that she had destroyed the bedside table and we probably had to pay for it. Reeta cannot live without tea so therefore we had brought a device which you can put in a cup to warm up the water. Hot water had come on the table and now there was a big, white spot on it. Luckily we were able to clean it so it looked almost as new again.
In the evening we went out and searched for a good restaurant. We booth decided that we absolutely didn't want to eat Italian food like pizza or pasta. We decided therefore to search for a China restaurant. It was not easy to find any, but finally we found one. It was called 'La Giunca' and was located at the end of 'Via Daniele Manin' street four blocks from the station building. It was probably the best China food I had ever eaten so I can strongly recommend this restaurant. The service was also very good.
Afterwards we returned to our hotel. We had planned to go out and dance but we were both too tired. We therefore ended up watching 'The Gladiator' on TV before we fell asleep.
The alarm bell woke us up at 7 a.m. I had a quick shower and then packed my things. We had a cup of tea before we checked out. We left our luggage at the hotel securely attached with wire and a locker to a shelf for luggage. I took some photos inside the hostel. We went out around 8:30 a.m. heading towards the biggest market in Rome. The guy at the reception had told us that we could take bus number 75 from 'Piazza d'Indipendenza' just three blocks from our hotel. We just missed one bus and looked at the schedule to check when the next bus should depart. A kind man informed us that we looked at the wrong schedule. We should look at the 'festivo' schedule since it was Sunday. The next bus should go 9:06. We tried to buy some tickets, from an automate, but it didn't work. You couldn't buy tickets on the bus but luckily the driver allowed us to go with the bus to the Termini stop where we could buy tickets. We found an automate and bought one ticket with a 2 euro coin. When we then tried to buy another ticket with the 1 euro coin we got in return it didn't work. We had to go to a small kiosk where we finally could buy the second ticket for our trip to the market. We managed to catch the next bus at 9:21 a.m.
The market had an awful lot of garbage but also some lovely furs. The market was not a big place as it use to be. It was instead a very long road. We walked slowly for more than an hour but couldn't see the end of the market. We then decided to turn and it took another 45 minutes to get out of it.
We had checked out from the hotel and therefore we had everything with us, all money, the tickets, passport and other values. It was of course not the best thing to go to a market with all that, especially not in Rome which has a lot of thieves, especially pickpockets. I had both hands in my pockets, one holding my mobile phone and the other holding my wallet. My passport and ticket I had in a special wallet close to my body. Reeta had everything in her hand bag which she had a good grip on. It felt like a gauntlet, should we manage to go both ways without being robbed. Luckily we got out of it with all our belongings. Somewhere in the middle I saw an old gypsy lady with a child. She had a big cardboard on which she had written something. She held it in front of a man who then tried to get away from her. She then pressed it hard against his chest several times. She had both her hands on the cardboard so she could not take anything from him. It must be the child who did the pick-pocking. The child wasn't very old and quite short. I suppose that the man didn't even see the child since the cardboard was in his way. He was however well aware what was going on because he checked his pockets. I wonder if there were more people involved beside the child and the woman. I have heard that many times there are some other persons which the child gives the wallet to as soon as it is taken. Nothing has obviously been changed during all the years since my last visit to Rome and the Spanish Steps. The gypsies are still pick-pocking and they still use a cardboard to distract the person the try to rob. Hopefully I have become a little wiser since it was a very good lesson I got at the Spanish Steps during my last visit.
Reeta bought a wallet which the seller guaranteed was made of leather. After she bought it we checked it another time and found out that it was just a leather imitation. The wallet was nice but Reeta felt cheated
At the marked was a man sitting on the ground. He was begging. He had taken of his shoes and socks and was showing his feet for everybody. They looked really terrible due to some kind of infection. The first thing I thought of was that he should be home taking care of them instead of showing them at the market. They would probably be good after a couple of weeks if you put some salve on them and protected them with a bandage. Afterwards I have been thinking about this man. If he didn't have those infected feet then he wouldn't get any money when he begged. Could it be that he don't want to cure them. The most horrible thought is that he had made it himself with some acid just to get more money from people.
We went along the river and then back into the centre where we tried to find a restaurant and a toilet. On our way we bought a couple of big ice-creams.
We couldn't find a suitable restaurant, which also had a toilet, so we decided to go back to the station building, Termini. We decided to take a bus and found a ticket automate but it wasn't working as usual. Luckily Reeta suggested that we should ask in a kiosk if they had any tickets which they had. In the station building we continued our quest to find a toilet but without luck. There was a toilet one floor downstairs but it was a disaster. You had to put coins to get in. It looked like the entrance to the metro which you can see in the photo above. The problem was that it had stopped working when we arrived so people were in a little panic. We decided to try McDonalds just outside the station building instead and there we finally found a working toilet. PUH!
When the toilet thing at last was over we could concentrate on finding a good restaurant. We found one close to our hotel but it wasn't good at all. I had ordered chicken in cognac but it was just expensive and tasted nothing.
At around 5 p.m. we fetched our baggage at the hotel and walked back to the station building where the bus for the airport departed. We arrived first, over 30 minutes before departure at 18:00. I had to admit that it was a bit nervous since it was chaos in the traffic. The bus however arrived and departed just in time and it was no problem to get a ticket since it wasn't full. It took 45 minutes to the Ciampino airport.
On our way we passed 'Piazza re di Roma' and drove along the street 'Via Appia Nuova'. There were many people out shopping and all shops seemed to be open even though it was Sunday evening. There seemed to be a lot of shops on 'Via Appia Nuova' so I would like to visit that road the next time I visit Rome.
We arrived three hours before our plane departed. The departure time was 21:45. You could however read on a display that the check in desk was number 8. We were lucky and found seats where we could sit down close to the desk. We put our luggage in the queue and waited. Normally the check in starts 2 hours before departure but now it started 2 hours and a quarter before departure.
After check in we had to stand in a very long queue for the security check. I passed without problem but Reeta got some minor problems. She had to take of her belt, and she also took of her shoes just in case, before she could pass the metal detector. She was a little angry due to this. I am however used to it and the people who work there are always very kind. They are after all just doing their job just to make it safer for us to go by plane.
The flight home went without problem and I arrived at my home at around 1:30 a.m in the middle of the night after I had left Reeta at her home. I love to travel but it is always nice to be back at home again and sleep in your own bed.
The hotel room cost 160 euros for us both. I spent beside it 130 euros during the four days we stayed there. Rome is a lovely city. I read that it has more tourist attractions, as for instance historical buildings and places, than any other city in Europe. Even more than Athens which is probably true. If I return, or when I return, then I would do it in the spring or autumn since it was to dark and a little bit to cold during the evenings in December.