So we didn’t get up until 10 this morning, missing our hotel breakfast completely. That was fine. Today was a ‘get acquainted with your new city’ type of day. And, as always, I took us in the completely wrong direction.
Our hotel, the Hotel Aberdeen, is located on Via Firenze, directly behind the Republica. The department of defense is right in front of us, so we see lots of military and police types. Unfortunately, MacDonalds is right on the corner by us, so all we have to do is follow the signs. Sad, really, when you think about it.
The pictures below are of the courtyard our Hotel where our hotel is located. Like most European cities, large doors open into a courtyard, of which buildings open off of. Our hotel is off to the right, and occupies only the first two floors of the building. This morning, we were curious, so we looked for stairs to another floor. We’d turn a corner, then two rooms, then another corner, and two rooms, and on and on. We never did come to the end. It’s like a giant maze. Considering our room is #51, and we’re close to the stairs, it makes me wonder how many rooms they have!
The streets are twisting and narrow near our hotel, and in order to cross them, you take your life in your hands. Scooters and motorcycles are preferred modes of travel, as well as tiny cars. Crosswalks and lights are more suggestions. Also, there is a transportation strike on today, so it was just as well that we were walking.
We found a really lovely leather shop near our hotel, as well as a couple of great bakeries. We stopped at one coffee shop for a late breakfast/early lunch. I had a plate of roasted potatoes and sautéed mushrooms. I just pointed at what I wanted in the Delhi case, and they heated it up, and served it. It was delicious! We went back to the a same place for a pasta dinner. The sauces are used much more lightly than in the US; a few tablespoons for flavoring, as opposed the pasta floating in a heavy sauce such as we would see.
We decided to find the train station today, as we would be taking the train out when we head for our cruise. We ended up half way to the Borghese Gardens, and in front of a really beautiful building with a gated entrance. Sharon started to take a picture of it, but was waved off by the guard. We found out later that it was the US Embassy, but also an integral part of the Euro Defense department. Sharon managed to get her picture, but I was all set to disavow her. No pictures of the embassy are included in this blog.
The train station is absolutely huge. It is a major transportation hub, including buses 
as well as trains. There was a terrific international book store with books in many languages. We spent quite awhile in there. While their needlework books supply was excellent, I didn’t come out with any, as I already had many of the titles in English. I did however leave with a really cool book on major buildings and an architectural calendar.
It took me a bit to get going on taking pictures. I don’t usually use my camera unless I’m on a trip, and today, I was using the iphone instead. However, somehow I managed to turn the ‘live’ feature on. So now I have 3 second moving pictures. I wonder if this was what J. K. Rowling was thinking about when she created moving wizard pictures. I don’t know, but this muggle was somewhat startled. Sharon’s ipad is trying to talk to her in Italian now. I think the wizard in folk are taking over.
We did walk around the Republica quite a bit as it was in our backyard. Pictures are below.
We went out again for our dinner, then wandered down the Main Street near our hotel (turn left at the McDonald’s sign, and the restaurant with the thousands of Christmas Lights), window shopped, and stopped for gelato. There is a gelato shop about each block, intermixed with excellent clothing stores. We did look at shoes, but unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess) nothing was in either of our sizes. Neither Sharon or I do very well at resisting good leather.
And now we are back to our hotel. We have an early morning as we are scheduled for a tour of the Pope’s summer palace, Castle Gandolfo (auto correct wanted to call it Castle Gandalf, lol). More after that trip!
Suzanne’s Travels 