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| Vittorio Emanuele Monument |
After the Vatican Museum, I set out to try once again (having tried the day before) to find the Archeobus which would take me to the Appian Way, one of the earliest and most important roads through Rome. One of the sections, just to the south of the city, has several archeological sites and a piece of the road still has the original stone pavings (which I wanted to see but never did as you shall read).
The Archeobus is a hop-on / hop-off tour bus which takes folks down through the area. As there were several places of interest along the route, the 12e fare seemed worth the price, especially since it was good for two days. The pick-up point for the bus is in the Piazza Venezia, which is a very busy area known for the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. It's in the heart of Rome and just about every bus stops here at some point.
I found the correct bus stop of the many around the area and waited close to an hour for it to arrive - even though it's supposed to run every 40 minutes. As it was now approaching 2:30, I decided I would just go the length of the route, listen to the audio tour and come back the next day to hop off at a couple of the more interesting sites. You can see from the ad to the right that the only passenger section on the bus is open air. Probably great in the summer when it's 115 degrees but a little breezy in the winter. In addition, between my being able to only hear out of one side of the headset (my problem not the headset's) and the fact that the volume wouldn't go past 1 I have no clue what the nice man was trying to tell me.
When I got on the bus, the hostess said (almost insisted) that I should instead get off at San Sebastiano Fuori le Mura ("outside the walls"). This is a 17th century church which was built over catacombs. These catacombs are the oldest in the world - the actual word catacomb was first used here (Greek katà kymbas' = near the hollow). The gentlemen leading the tour said that there were 100,000 burials here in 7 miles of tunnels over 4 floors, the most recent being buried in the 4th century. The church itself was also somewhat pretty and contained the last sculpture done by Bernini. The tour was worth the 8e paid.
After the tour around the church, I went out to the bus stop assuming that it would be there within at least 20-30 minutes. Wrong again as it was another wait of close to an hour. Either I had just missed the bus or it was not running every 40 minutes. Granted it was January, but let's be honest people. By the time I got on the bus it was close to 4:30. No way I could see anything else along the route that day. Looking ahead, I just didn't feel like going on the bus again the next day so I ended up spending 20e and about 3 hours to see some pretty neat catacombs when I could have taken the regular bus and spent 9e and maybe gain a couple hours of my time. In the end, I would think that this bus really might be good deal in the summer if you've got all day, a working headset and no hearing impairment.
I made it back to the hostel at little bit late for the daily 5:00 Skype phone call with Fort Worth. iPhones with Skype downloaded - wonderful and free - no matter who is where. Back out to walk my neighborhood and find some dinner. There truly was no reason to ever cross the Tiber for dinner, plenty to eat and drink in Trastevere. Except for maybe this night.
After much wandering around, I finally made a decision to try Il Duca. Seemingly a good decision as a site on the internet (on which I'd just looked) described this place as "a bustling Trastevere trattoria that serves what is quite possibly the world's best lasagne". Trip Adviser has 10 "very good" reviews. And I'm very happy for those people that they had a wonderful experience. I, however, did not.
First, I'm thinking that Rome doesn't have a ton of single diners as my seat assignments have not been stellar. This evening, I was placed in the very far corner of one of the three decently busy rooms, along a wall which was shared with the kitchen. No menu was provided. Immediately upon sitting, I begun having a hot flash. Oh wait, I don't have hot flashes. Could it be that.... yes... I placed my hand on the wall and seriously thought that it would spontaneously combust at any moment. It had to have been 95 degrees in that corner as the oven was directly on the other side. I waited at least 7-8 minutes with no type of action. I'm not known for my restaurant patience but I was really trying. The fact that I was about to pass out finally won over though and I gathered my gear and prepared to leave.
Amazingly, the waitress appeared at that very moment. I told her that it was too hot in that corner. "Si. Si. Si. Caldo!" She seemed completely surprised and moved me quickly. To the next table. About 4 inches away from the first and even nearer to the two French couples who had gotten their menus and had been attempting to order since I'd been there. OK. I'll stay. About 3 or 4 minutes later I got a menu and was thrilled to see that they had -
By the time I'd ordered, three separate couples had been seated at Table Caldo. Three! Each one moved within a minute. At what point would these people get that it was too hot at that table!? Oh, I think they got it. They were just waiting for the sucker that would be too embarrassed to move. Each time, the camaraderie that I felt with the French couples increased as we giggled harder together after each move. I had explained a sniglet to one of my hostelmates the day before and she mentioned one that she liked: Smeye, which is a smile with your eyes. Many smeyes passed between myself and the French until finally, the sucker was found in the fourth couple, a blond woman who spoke Italian but not as her native language and a man from a very hot and arid country.Apparently.
The time it took to get my menu and my order in was worth it as it gave me plenty of time to find all of the Engrish and odd food on the menu. Let me share with you:
Uh, no...
Not only no...
A healthier option:
And finally, 12e? For grilled bread? Really?
Having realized by now that by ordering the Mixed Salad instead of the Green Salad that I would get something other than lettuce, I ordered it and my now familiar Spaghetti Carbonara. Maybe because the menu scared me so. Once the salad arrived, on went the vinegar and oil and I almost had it all eaten when a man came and picked up my bowl, along with the fork I was using and the second fork... the one usually left so you can eat your main meal with it. I protested quietly and he looked at me like I was complete idiot and said that he would bring another when the time came. Away he went with the rest of my salad. Smeyes were now exchanged with both the French and the couple at Table Caldo, who seemed just as confused as I was.
Smeyes soon turned to giggles between all three tables when my waitress brought my spaghetti, slammed it down quickly and left me. With no fork. Our three tables at the back of the restaurant were getting plum silly with all the giggling. I sat there about a minute afraid to try to get a fork. One eventually showed up and the spaghetti was excellent. There are no complaints about the food.
But wait. There's more to tell about the service. This whole time, this poor gal was waiting on too many tables with about the same about of skill as she'd be waiting on me. At one point a gentlemen who was the only other single diner in the place got up an left in disgust at some point in his experience. The young waitress explained this to the fork stealing man, who I think might have been an uncle or something. They both went around the corner into the kitchen at which point there commenced to be great hollarin' and carryin' on between the girl, the uncle and whoever was in the kitchen. I truly hated it for her. Bless her heart.
Having finished my meal, I asked for my bill in broken Italian and made my exit. You will note that I took a picture of this place - the only restaurant where I did this. Just because I wanted to make sure that I didn't accidentally go back.
Not the best day.
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