We have rented an apartment for four months. Here are some pictures of the apartment.
It is on the fourth floor of a great building, a couple of blocks from the Pantheon. It is two stories and you can see it has a great roof-top terrace. From one of the terraces, you can even see the top of the Pantheon.
There are three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The building has a doorman at the entrance, and is only a couple blocks from the main street in Rome - Corso Vitoria Emmanuel -- where the kids get their school bus, and their are stops for many of the busses in Rome, as well as the trolley that goes to Trastevere.
August 17th......
Well...we are finally here! Rome...The Eternal City..Italy...the place we have been thinking about and planning for over the past couple of years. Well, is it everything we were hoping for? It's hard to say at this point.
We moved into our new apartment on the 17th. Something about it brings back memories......three bedrooms, one bathroom, very old and no air conditioning...that's right -- it's just like our house in Merchantville!
The first week that we are here it is very hot and there is not much to do in Rome. We can understand why most Romans leave Rome in August. All that is left here are tourists and the people that sell things to tourists.
We end up spending several afternoons in the park at the Borghese Gardens. They have a couple places where you can rent bikes, go carts (not motorized) and surreys (which are motorized).
It's too hot to go sightseeing -- plus we keep telling ourselves that we have four months to see everything, so what's the rush?
You can see from the picture that even the dogs need relief!
We needed to get out of Rome, so on Monday (the 21st) we headed to the hills near Abbruzzi, where we stayed at this beautiful hotel: http://www.palazzodellafonte.com/
From there we were heading down to the Amalfi Coast, to stay at our favorite -- Hotel Santa Caterina.
When we first went there in 2003, we told Katie (Caterina in Italian) that it was named after her...and the staff there actually treated her like she owned the place. Katie isn't the only one who likes the staff. Andrew goes fishing with the guys who manage the pool and beach area. This year they caught an octopus or two together.
The hotel is at street level, about 12 flights above the water. You have to take an elevator down to go swimming or to have lunch. The views from the room are spectacular, with the town of Amalfi off in the background.
Getting to the hotel is not the easiest thing in the world. After a couple hours of smooth driving down the Autostrada (highway), you have about 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) left to reach the hotel. This is the craziest 9 miles you have ever seen.
Back and forth on hairpin turns, the road bordered by a several hundred foot drop, scooter after scooter zipping between cars, and this year about a half dozen tour busses going the opposite direction. These pretty much brought the traffic to a standstill while the busses inched their way past the cars and around the turns. This made the last 5 miles take about an hour.
Getting there makes the drive worth it however. Giovanni and Sergio are great guys who keep the pool area running smoothly. Gennaro is an awesome concierge who hooks us up with great restaurants.
The kids also met up with an old friend, Bruno -- a 14 year old from California -- whom they met three years ago here.
We also met the Lewinsons from Princeton -- small world -- with their three daughters. We got some great pictures of the kids hanging out, as well as jumping into the Mediterranean.
Our five days ended much quicker than we all would have liked, and we headed back to Rome to get ready for our visit from Dominic, Rae and Nick.
Click on the pictures below this to see them in full size:
Every afternoon and evening we are serenaded with music on our street. Our windows and terrace do not face the front of the building so it is not obtrusive when we are home, but you can still hear the music every evening.
Each performer has a plate or a hat in front of him for contributions, but of course they are at the audience's discretion.
One day it might be the young boy (maybe 12) who plays the violin somehow accompanied by recorded music. Amazingly his repertoire seems to be limited to Hava Nagila and one other song.
Another day it is the old man playing Italian love songs on the accordion. Sometimes his wife sits nearby, nodding approvingly when you drop a coin into his collection.
Occasional there is a trio (bass, clarinet and accordion) that stops at the corner by our building, although I have seen them more often a few blocks away at Piazza Navona.
The other night, while I was on the phone with Cindy's mom, I heard the sounds of Frank Sinatra coming up from the street, although from our terrace I can't see who is playing. For all I know if could be Frank Jr.
Lately, a pierced and tattooed twenty-something, accompanied by his apparently comatose dog, has been juggling flaming knives in front of our building. I say juggling loosely, as he tends to drop one about every third spin. I'm afraid to take his picture, and needless to say, he isn't getting rich from the donations.
