After a relatively unpleasant flight, (except for the views like above – the Swiss Alp) the details of which I will leave to Traveler Nell to describe, we finally landed in Rome.
Here is our cab driver from the airport. Two things about Rome’s roads. First-the majority of the streets seem to be cobblestone. Second-the rules of the road seem to be voluntary.
Some of the ruins and monuments seen along the way to the hotel.
Our hotel Domus Australia is a location set up by the Roman Catholic Church in Australia. It opened in the past year and is incredible. Here is the setup in the room for hot beverages.
The TV has a lot of available channels, almost all in Italian. Though occasionally you can find a familiar program in English.
Heading out into the city it is clear very quickly that you can’t go 15 feet without coming across a beautiful church.
We headed to the main rail station Termini to buy a Roma Pass. Feeling peckish we stopped at the Autogrill where we had rice balls (arancino) pizza margarita and two cokes.
I’ve decided the waitress asked us to clarify whether we wanted regular or diet coke because we’re American and not because I’m a larger fellow. The food arrived room temperature but it was still tasty. Although at €25.60, a bit pricey. The location loses also points because a beggar came up to us during the meal.
All in all in am awarding Autogrill S.P.A. at Roma Termini one Traggi.
Traveler Nell is a wonderful vacation planner. She managed to arrange for us to attend an ordination mass at St. Peter’s Basilica celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI himself. We received instructions to head to the Bronze Doors to pick up the free tickets.
Since we were there we decided to head in and get a sneak peak at the church.
First thing you notice is that the place is enormous. It could take hours to view the entire location if parts weren’t closed off. Photographs do not convey the sizes involved.
Above, people praying before Blessed John Paul II.
This next photo may be the best one I took at the Basilica.
Here is a composite photo of the main altar.
After enjoying our brief visit at St. Peter’s we headed back to the hotel. On the way back we stopped for dinner at Risorante Abruzzi at Piazza SS. Apostoli.
Nell found this location listening to the Catholic Guy on SiriusXM Radio. He never mentioned his favorite restaurant by name but she thinks she was able to identify it by the clues he had given.
We started by sharing an appetizer of prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella cheese. Bene.
For our main we each had the rigatoni carbonara. Molto bene.
We shared our dessert of profiteroles and I had an espresso.
On the way out I took a shot of their antipasto prep station before I hit the head.
Now they do charge for the bread and they push the bottled water. But at only €45,90 it was an incredible bargain. Even the prison toilet with a gimmicky door lock couldn’t dampen our experience.
Therefore Ristorante Abruzzi receives a full FOUR Traggis.
After dinner it was a quick walk to the bus and then onto Termini then to the hotel.