The next several days we spent in Knoxville, with Vicki's sister Marie and her husband Norm, packing for a three-month European campaign and cleaning and securing the camper for storage. We flew the friendly vegetarian skies on April 5th, arriving in Rome early the 6th, navigating Fiumicino Aeroporte and the train to Tiburtina station in Rome like pros. We're still a little less like pros with taxis, but we managed without getting cheated and arrived at our new temporary home by the appointed check-in time. The landlord's assistant appeared somewhat later, let us into the apartment and gave us a less than cursory introduction to it and its "amenities." He spoke only a little English. Within a few days someone else appeared to walk us through the mysteries of the dishwasher, the washing machine (actually producing manuals), the keys and locks, the heating system and so on. And in English too. I'll spare you pix of the apartment, which is quite nice and as advertised, but if you're curious you can see its current AirBnB advert here.
The apartment is in a large apartment building in the neighborhood of San Lorenzo, Tiburtina district, a kilometer or so east of Termini, the main train/bus/tram station. The neighborhood is not in the least touristy, but certainly within walking distance of many of the sights. In Rome, you're stuck with the bus system, since there are only the two main metro lines. They're building a third line, but with every cubic foot of digging, more artefacts bubble up. Rescue archeology to the rescue. The progress is slow, and I don't expect to live to ride on the third line. But the bus system goes everywhere, and we have relied on it when not just walking.
Our first week has been slow. Apparently jet lag gets worse as you age. That and late night street noise outside our first floor (European) windows. Also the neighbor's barking dogs. But we have gotten around a bit, first in the neighborhood--searching out the mercatos, the farmacias, the restos, the poste, the cafes, the gelaterias, and so on.--and then more widely, SM Maggiore, the Pantheon, Trevi, some churches, some art, Piazza Navona, Spanish Steps, Villa and Galleria Borghese, and many points in between. You never have to walk very far in the old city to see something of interest. FWIW, everyone here is masked indoors and on public transit. Everyone. It's Holy Week now, so for the weekend we'll be avoiding the Holy Places, doing some classical, Roman places instead. We've done much of this before...Rome is a favorite city, and we've visited many times...so just search via keyword for anything of interest.
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| Where we are, 68 Via Tiburtina (click to enlarge) |
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We're just outside the Aurelian walls...3rd century CE; guard towers
every 90 meters |
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Interestingly, the city has had only two sets of walls, the Servian, 4th century BCE, and the Aurelian; in the Pax Romana, and the conquering years leading up to it, they feared nothing |
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Nearby arch; not as impressive as the Louis XIV Porte St. Denis we lived near in Paris, but hey, when in Rome... |
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A small stretch of the really ancient Servian Wall, unearthed
when they were building Termini station |
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| Our street, Via Tiburtina; we're in the middle building |
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| Thus |
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| Our appartamento |
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| Gelato San Lorenzo a block and a half away |
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| Primavera |
