Sunday, May 20th -- I set the alarm for 6:15 am to have time to get ready for our ride to the train station this morning. Donna and I packed the night before so there was little to prepare for, but I'm glad we did. By the time we got downstairs, paid our hotel bill and had a bite to eat our ride to the station arrived. We had prepaid for tickets a few nights earlier so all we had to do was find our train and buy lunch to eat on the trip. It was a 5-1/2 hour train ride in first class.  We nearly had the rail car to ourselves.  Upon arrival in Lecce, we had thought that we would be met at the station, but after calling Silvestro, he suggested that we take a cab to our hotel, Suite 68. As we actually had arrived earlier than the staff at the hotel expected, there was no one there to let us in. After calling Silestro again he called the manager who let drove over to let us into our rooms.

Our Room at Suite 68

Silvestro walked over from the school to meet us and wait for the manager to arrive.  He was born in the US of Italian immigrant parents, but moved to Italy over 20 years ago. On meeting him you would never guess from his speech that he was anyone other than a native American citizen. Turns out he was born in the U.S. and emigrated to Italy about 28 years ago, and has owned and run the school, The Awaiting Table, for the past nine years.

Our Room at Suite 8

One of his staff, Georgio, came over to take us on a short tour of Lecce before we returned to the hotel to get ready for our first dinner at the school. It was a lovely meal consisting of three kinds of pasta, a huge platter of five different cheeses, a chicken dish with olives, and several different wines starting with a white, two reds and a dessert wine. We ended with a dessert of fresh cherries, strawberries and a sweet wine reduction.

Guiseppi in Kitchen

We finished up around 11:00 pm and walked back to our hotel.  A long but very enjoyable day.

Daniel and Silvestro

Chicken Dish at Welcoming Dinner

Fresh Cherries for Dessert

Wall Decorated with Local Plates

Sat, May 19, 2012 -- The time must really be catching up with us as Karen really slept late almost missing breakfast. When Daniel finally knocked on her door near 9:00 am he heard a groggy voice saying saying somethin about being up and almost ready to go. Yea, right. I think he actually woke her from a sound sleep. We wanted to get an early start on a day trip to Ostia Antica, an ancient Roman port city that was abanded as the Tevere River (we call it Tiber) changed course and silted up, leaving the port high and dry. We took the Metro, transferring twice to get there, a total trip time of nearly an hour and a total cost of 1 Euro each.

Waiting for train

Grafittied Train Car

Ostia Antica was a town that at its peak nearly two thousand years ago held 60,000 inhabitants, much larger and of far more importance than Pompei.  Even today the scale of the city is large and we could not see other than a few highlights as we meandered around.  The port offices were marked with mosaics that told the public what went on inside and are remarkable that they ae still there, as much of the city has been used as a source of building materials for hundreds of years until the ninetenth century when conservation efforts were undertaken.  I'll let the accompanying photos do much of the talking.

Roman Amphatheater

Daniel entering Amphatheater

"Muses?" Outside Amphetheater

Sharona "Resting"

Market Area

On Roof Patio before leaving for dinner

For dinner we chose a nearby restaurant, Little Tomato (Pommo Dorino), a local favorite. We had dinner reservations for 7:00 pm and were nearly the first in the restaurant. By the time we left after 9:00pm it was packed with perhaps 250 people.  We had two different pizzas, pasta and main dishes, mine the veal scallopini and Donna a whole small chicken under a brick on the grill. Everything was excellent -- again. So far, not a bad meal to complain about. Daniael and I had a field day taking pictures of the food, the staff and the ambiance. Again, I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. We called it an early evening as we have to catch an early train tomorrow for Lecce.

Pizzas

Wine for dinner

Restaurant Indoor Patio Seating

Burrata Cheese

Pizzas waiting for pickup

Standing on the Metro

Friday, May 18th - Breakfasted again in our rooftop garden cafe. The espresso is surprisingly good from the pod machine. Had a two pod shot, scrambled eggs, hard roll, fruit salad and yogurt. Have to stop eating like this or consequences will be dire. We decided to visit St. Peter's Basilica this morning and beat the crowds, so we took the subway to Vatican City.

Metro Subway Train Arriving

Lines to St. Peter's Basilica

Beat the crowds??  The line to enter the Basilica serpentined around the square in what appeared to be a near endless twist of human bodies. Had we the energy to stand in line for what was likely a two to three hour wait, we could not have discovered the end of the line to join.
 We settled for a few pictures and moved on to --

The Pantheon.  Built originally in 27 B.C. by Augustus' son-in-law Marcus Agrippa, it was destroyed by fire and completely rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian in 120 A.D.  A Roman temple dedicated to all of the gods, it was later converted to a christian church.  The dome remains a wonder even to this day, and looking at it from within the structure it is truly awe inspiring.  The Romans invented concrete and this was an incredible use of the material, its as high as it is wide, 142 feet from floor to rooftop and from side to side.  23 feet thick at the base reducing to 5 feet thick at the peak to conserve weight, and each panel is coffered to further reduce weight without giving up any strength, and this done 2,000 years ago (and still standing!!) 

The portico columns too are miraculous in that they are 40-foot tall and made from single pieces of red-gray granite quarried in Egypt and shipped down the Nile, across the Mediterranean and to Rome. How they were stood into place must have been a marvel in itself, but then Rome at the time had a limitless abundance of slaves, and their engineering was, and remains, phenomenal.

We walked back to the hotel, taking our time and spent a few hours resting before heading out by cab to Friday night services at the Synagogue in Trestevere.  Services began at 8:00 pm and we had to present our passports and leave our cell phones with security at the entry gate. We were wanded for metal objects and finally allowed to enter. 

Synagogue

The girls were directed to the balcony as they were not permitted in the main sanctuary during services.  Several types of prayer books were provided, including Sephardic.  It was pretty obvious who were members of the Synagogue as it was nearly impossible to follow the service.  Acoustics were abysmal and the melodies unrecognizable.  The Shamos was constantly walking up and down the isles, tapping on wooden pews to keep whispering and talking down.  He wore a black suit and bowler hat, never without his hand on his tie making sure it was straight.  The lay leader at the start of services, the choir and the cantor were excellent, and the melodies reminiscent of Gregorian Chants. We were told that the only Jewish sect in Rome is orthodox -- this was like nothing I've ever seen.  Services lasted almost exactly one hour, and I could not distinguish a single prayer, including the Sh'ma.

The girls left early and were waiting for us outside.  We walked to our restaurant, Ristorante Al Pompiere (which translates to Restaurant Fireman.  Why, I have no idea.)  It's on the second floor of a Trestevere building very near the Synagogue. Fortunately both Daniel and Karen have much better senses of direction than I and my Garmin GPS has not been particularly useful yet taking far too long to find satellites.  With buildings so close together, GPS reception has been spotty.

Few if any tourists (perhaps tourists who spoke Italian) in the restaurant. We ordered appetizers of pastas, rice balls, fried zucchini blossoms, fried artichokes and a couple of bottles of a Montepulcino wine. We've been surprised at the quality of the wines at such reasonable prices. Our waiter quickly took our "starters" order and we expected him to return for our main course order. He never did, and it was a good thing. The appetizers were so large that none of us could have consumed more. WE left full and happy campers. While we half-heartedly looked for a cab, it was late, the evening was beautiful, restaurants crowded with diners well after 11:00 pm, and we ended up walking back to our hotel. It was a leisurely stroll that took about 35 minutes, even including the walk up the Spanish Steps to our hotel.  Tomorrow we're heading out of the city for a day trip to Ostia Antica, but that's another day.

View Looking Down Spanish Steps

Thursday, May 17th - Breakfast at the hotel is in their rooftop garden room and includes an assortment of meats, cheeses, scrambled eggs, breads, yogurts, juices, and espresso from an automatic pod type machine. We had 11:00 am tickets for the Borghese Gallery and decided to walk there. We left the hotelat 10:00 am and found that the Borghese was much closer than we thought, arriving there in about 20-minutes.  I picked up our tickets early and avoided the last minute crunch of tourists.  Photography was not permitted inside, so I have nothing to share with you visually. 

Borghese Gallery

Daniel, Karen, Sharona and Donna
Outside the Borghese in the Gardens

Most of the art is sculptures by such artists as Pietro Bernini, Canova, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the last having created some of the most remarkable marble sculptures imanginable. a trademark of his was creating some portion of th sculpture "outside the block", an amazing accomplishment at the time.

We lunched at Gastronmia with panini sandwiches before heading off by cab to the Trastevere area, beginning with a tour of the Synagogue and Jewish Museum.

Lunch at Gastronmia

In the 16th century Pope Paul IV forced jews to reside within a walled ghetto, and permitted the construction of a single synagogue. As there were numerus sects of judiasm in Rome at that time, the jews contructed a single building, but inside it contained three seperate synagogues. When Italy was unified in 1870, the ghetto was demolished and the Jews allowed to build whatever they chose. They built a magnificent synagogue in only three years on the site the original.  We plan to attend services there tomorrow.

Synagogue in Ghetto

We walked across the Tiber River to walk the street of Trastevere, a very colorful area with lots of shops, churches (of course) and restaurants.  We tried unsuccessfully to get into two highly recommened restaurants but found a place called Costanza.  We ordered several pastas, salads, and a single fish for the five of us. Teh local name for the fish was Pezzonia, but the waiter said we may know it better as Black Spot. Never heard of either. It was presented filleted in a garlic, peper and tomato sauce and was excellent.The wine, Serego Alighiere Anniversario Valpolicella 2009 (15 Euros) was terrific. We ended up having two bottles. Our waiter highly recommended it, and we surprised that it was one of the least expensive bottles on the wine list.

Tiber River

We had to take two cabs back to the hotel as we could not find one that could hold all five of us as we were able to on the way to the area.  We arrived back at the hotel about 11:30 pm. Having left our hoel at 10:00 am that morning, it was quite a long day to say the least.  We were all exhausted, but pleased with the days activities and meals.

Donna Settling In

Pod Seats

Sorry for the delay in updating my daily post.  Our flight was long but comfortable. We actually had the same aircraft that we were on for our trip to China, an Airbus A330 with the individual pods that make into a nearly flat bed.
Unfortunately, Delta has not yet learned (or may not care) about the quality of their food.  Yes, we did choose the baked fish, but the other choices were far worse. The cabin attendant suggested we avoid the pasta (ordinary airline pasta were her words), and the other choice was braised short ribs.  The wine however was decent.
I slept pretty well, a total of nearly 5-hours, and had the breakfast of granola and yogurt.  Had to avoid the eggs at all cost.
We arrived a little after 10:30 am and breezed through immigration and customs. The Italian agent didn't even ask to see our passport, just waving everyone through with a quick finger point. There were no custom agents in site, and we simply walked through an empty customs area to retrieve our bags.  We arrived ahead of our limo driver, and I was in the process of calling their office when he showed up, apologizing for being late because he was used to long baggage delays on arrival.

I had ordered the larger 7-passenger van for the five of us and was glad I did. We just had enough room for our luggage and were not crammed in for the 30-minute ride to our hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps, Hotel Scalinata di Spagna, literally Hotel Spanish Steps. I knew it was near the top of the Steps, but had no idea it was literally at the Top of the Spanish Steps, perhaps 50 ft. or less from the first step leading to the heart of the city.

Hotel in Rome

We checked in and were told that our rooms would be ready in about 3-hours (of course) so we left our bags and headed for a walk down the steps.  As I am notorious for my lack of directional navigation without a GPS, and since I could not cajole the Garmin portable I brought along to find a satellite, we elected Daniel as our tour guide and followed him for the next three hours winding around the lovely shops and markets of Rome.

We had our first taste of a potato pizza that Daniel remembered having from his last visit to Rome.  Nothing like what I would have thought. Thin squares of pizza, crusty, salty, olive oil, and potato topping that was suprisingly good. After finaly being able to move into our rooms, Daniel, Sharona and Karen on the first floor, Donna and I on the second (walk up only), we were able to wash, change clothes and go out to dinner at a local place called Ginger near the Steps. We ordered several pastas (including ravioli with recotta in tomato sauce), several salads, and a bottle of Monsupello Riesling 2011.  I didn't know that Rieslings were even produced in Italy, but it wasn't bad, even though the waitress said it was "seco" (dry), it was actually rather sweet.  It was an exceptionally long day, but managed to stay up to 9:30 pm and slept pretty well considering the 9 hour time change.  More tomorrow.

6:15 am flight to start our trip!! Ugh.  We spent the night at the Comfort Inn SeaTac and caught the shuttle this morning at 4:30 am for our flight.  Amazing how crowded the airport was.  We had a brief panic attack when we saw the line for baggage drop, but then realizied it was only for domestic flights. Even though we connect to Rome through JFK, we start our trip by checking in at the internation counter.  Only one person ahead of us, and going through security was pretty quick as well.




Donna and Karen at Delta Club - JFK

We're now sitting at the Delta Sky Club waiting for our connection to Rome that leaves at 7:40 pm.  How fun -- a 5-hour layover.  Who could have planned it better?  Anyone you say? Okay, probably, but to my defense I have to say that it didn't start off that way when we booked our flights so many months ago. And shock of shocks, Delta now has both a pay as you drink bar for anything other than beer and some cheap wines.  I'm drinking a lovely Oregon Pinot Noir as I write this entry -  at $10 a glass -- wouldn't hesitate to pay that at a restaurant, but at an airline club? Snacks are pretty restricted as well compared to what we've seen in the past. Hummus, chips, olives, cheese (if you can really call it that) and pretzels.  May have to leave for something better.

Snack Bar at Delta Club - JFK

More when we arrive in Rome.  Ciao for now.

I decided to begin the first post to our blog since our trip to China with our Trip calendar.  We leave for Rome on Tuesday, May 15th.  Unfortunately, our flight leaves at 6:15am.  And to make it even worse, we connect at JFK in New York with a nearly 5 hour layover. Not the best way to start a trip that's been in the planning process since last summer.  I have a great deal more respect for travel agents who make all the arrangements.  While the calendar seems pretty straight forward, it's the culmination of dozens of hours of planning, searching, phone calls, emails, and changes.

But this is only Friday night and we still have a few days left before we leave.  I'll try to post regularly, include lots of pictures, and keep the verbage short and (hopefully) interesting.  Ciao for now.