The ABCs of Greece & Italy! X, Y, and Z, and that Friends is THE END!!! :) See you in Asia and Australia, Join Me THERE!!

[pkondz]

I hope you get to someday!

Maybe.

I wish I'd had a drone to take it from straight down and centered. I'd imagine drones might be a bit frowned upon there though.

I had seriously considered getting one...
But... most places that you'd want to use one, don't allow them. Like National Parks or tourist attractions.
So... not much point, I guess...

I think after her little break from the shoes.... oh! I forgot to write about that!! Next chapter I'll add it.

Which in this case, "much" meant about 1/2 a mile.

But on a Galactic scale, it's the same spot. So...

They truly are, and especially when traveling.

... all covered with cheeeeeese.....

That's it!

Just wait!!

Really????

I hope I can do one. Wth Clinicals shortly following, I may have even less time!

Less time?!? You're swamped already!

 

[Steppesister]

OOpsies post....

 

[Steppesister]

L is for: Large Monuments and the Lavanderia!​

Italians have a knack for “Go big or go home”. I have the same philosophy of my travel. Let’s set out on another day of exploring as we toodle about the city….

I was up super early as I had one singular goal to accomplish this day… (aside from the pre-planned sight-seeing we had on our dance card)- buy a SIM card. We were both more than fed up with not having a way to navigate in real time and it needed to stop THAT day! The problem all along had been that, unlike here in N. America where you can buy them every few dozen feet, there just aren’t cell phone stores on every corner or places to buy SIM cards. What I found was that typically they were only found near train stations, in airports, or other high tourist areas. And had I to do it all over again, Anara and I would NEVER have left Venice or Bari without one in place. One of the things, in fact, that we’ve agreed to for this upcoming trip to Australia is that the minute we arrive we figure out our cell and data plan. I will say, now that I have the iPhone 15, it came WITH an eSIM and I can have it activated a bit more easily and I will spend some time trying to even get that set up before I travel at all. It may even work for my time in the Philippines and Bali too.

Nevertheless, I did NOT have one when I set out so hoped that a long walk might prove useful in finding one.

I did not.


But I did see a few things I’d wanted to, so I guess there’s that.

My route took me once again through the Campo di Fiori where the flower, produce, and other sellers were already set up for the morning market and I enjoyed a short glance as I went.

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There's always time for pastries and lattes in the morning!

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I continued on and found myself at the Largo di Torre Argentina which is the site of 4 clustered ancient temples. I didn’t spend too much time researching the stories or information on them, but it was worth a quick breeze by, nonetheless. To be honest, I was a bit more curious to see if I’d run into any fun photo opps of the local kitty population that calls this area home. I didn’t but still was glad I’d put it onto my route.

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Further on, I found myself at the Pantheon, perhaps the more familiar of the landmarks I visited this morning. However, this provided a bit of frustration. Remember those CityPasses? I showed them what I had and was told that the document I had wasn’t what they needed. Great. Was I scammed? $100 down the toilet? Ah well, I didn’t have time on this short foray out, so snapped a few photos and kept on truckin’.

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Walk, walk… walk… walk, walk….

“Excuse me, do you know where I can find a SIM card shop? Cell phones? Hello? Anyone?”

“Oh just over there, go over 3 blocks, down one, turn right, blah, blah…”

I did find one shop, and they weren’t open on Sundays.

Perfect.

Dejected, I turned towards “home” to collect my sleepy girl so we could head out to do some much needed “housekeeping”- laundry.

Yay.

By now she’d "recovered" and had learned a very important Travel Lesson. There are many, like (#1) Never Ever Pass Up an Opportunity to Doo Business, and (#2) Never Ever Wear Cute, But Completely Impractical, Shoes When a Lot of Walking Is Planned! I’m sure she had the Millennial Mindset thing going, Instagram, Selfies, and all that, but towards the end our time in the Vatican, she was REALLY hurting. So much so that she had to sit for a few minutes. Being the best mom ever (in that moment) I took pity and offered to trade her shoes for a bit. While mine were too small, at least they weren’t inflexible, short-heeled shoes. She tells me she’s learned her lesson well and will only be bringing sensible, tennie-like shoes to Australia. (Yes, my feet hurt too by the time we got home.

Luckily, even though it was a very small little lavanderia, there were machines available. Had we shown up 15 minutes later, we’d have waited hours. 4 parties showed up within minutes after we did. For the next hour, we played an amusing game of “telephone” wherein each new party that showed up, including us, were given directions on how to pay at the payment machine and start the process of getting our clothes ready for the next round of travel. All in all, it was an easy adventure, and we were really glad we took the time out to take care of “business”. No, not that kind of business.

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Quickly dropping off our clean clothes at the Mini-Museum Airbnb, we moved on to the next part of our day. The afternoon would find us exploring the area of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. Holy Archeological Paradise! One could spend a ridiculous amount of time walking the pathways winding through the ruins which include a wide variety of palaces, monuments, and temples.

Along the way we saw the Colonna Traiana:

And the Monumento Victor Emmanuel II- a ginormous marble neolith that is rather impressive. While formidable, that’s not what captivated us as we approached. Instead, we noticed a cavalcade of police swooping in to stop traffic for an altogether different kind of cavalcade to follow- a VERY long parade of tiny, antique Italian Fiats!! Oh, how very fond of their cars the Italians are!!! And it showed. Everyone on the sidewalks stopped to watch and cheered and clapped as they snaked their way around the traffic circles. Such a happy happenstance spectacle we got to see!

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Next, we came to some ruins between the Monument and the Colosseum and had some extra time to kill before our timed entrance to the Colosseum at 3:30. We stopped in at the little ticket kiosk and once again showed them our CityPasses but were told they were not any good. Hmm… Dejected, we moved on and kept walking. We stopped for a couple pretty good groups of buskers and then arrived at the Colosseum. Too early still, we walked around it, then found the ticket kiosks to make sure that the tickets for THOSE were the right ones (they had been sent separately, so were fine) and we were told where to go when it was a few minutes before 3:30. Meantime, we were both exasperated with our lack of internet so asked where we could find a SIM card. The best answer was to take a quick taxi to the train station and buy one there.

So, we did. We had plenty of time still and were told we could be there, buy our ticket, and be back in under an hour. Zoom, Zoom!!! We hailed a taxi and raced off, and finally found out what the problem was with the card that my dad had given to me a week earlier. Apparently, there was some small fee on there that was preventing its use, so I paid that and just like that, we instantly had the world at our fingertips again. I tried a few pages before I left just to make sure!! Across the street we found a terrific little Middle Eastern fast-food place and loaded up on roasted chicken, rice, and naan. Honestly, it was a fantastic change from all the pasta we’d been eating.

We made it back to the Colosseum with a few minutes to spare before our time slot and soon enough we were inside where Gladiators once fought to the death. We listened to Rick Steve’s audio guide some but got lost a bit and gave up. Maybe the way they route you through it has changed since he made it? I dunno, but in the end we just kind of wandered through with everyone else. It must have been quite something to have been a spectator in its heyday; it’s truly an architectural wonder.

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A little lizard says good afternoon from the Colosseum:

A model from the little indoor exhibit of what it looked like whole:

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I’ll leave off here with the sites on Palatine Hill up next. Meanwhile, I hope you all are well and enjoying this Holiday Season. Hold your loved ones tight and celebrate, even if it’s in quiet, thoughtful ways, all that’s good.

 

[pkondz]

Italians have a knack for “Go big or go home”. I have the same philosophy of my travel.

No kidding! One year you're in Greece/Italy and the next you'll be in Australia. You're seeing the world!

there just aren’t cell phone stores on every corner or places to buy SIM cards.

This sounds like Alison's TR and her efforts to get her camera fixed. There aren't camera shops on every corner either.
Actually... there aren't that many camera shops in these parts either anymore, since everyone uses their phones for the most part now.

What I found was that typically they were only found near train stations, in airports, or other high tourist areas.

Makes sense. Everyone else lives there so no need.

I will say, now that I have the iPhone 15, it came WITH an eSIM and I can have it activated a bit more easily and I will spend some time trying to even get that set up before I travel at all. It may even work for my time in the Philippines and Bali too.

I've done a bit of reading on eSim and the list of countries where it's available was pretty widespread. So maybe?

Nevertheless, I did NOT have one when I set out so hoped that a long walk might prove useful in finding one.

I did not.

Well, poop.

Pasta heaven!

There's always time for pastries and lattes in the morning!

I'll go with the first half of that sentence.

I continued on and found myself at the Largo di Torre Argentina

I did a quick Google. Imagine my surprise that it's named after Strasbourg in France (the Latin name was Argentoratum)

Remember those CityPasses? I showed them what I had and was told that the document I had wasn’t what they needed. Great. Was I scammed? $100 down the toilet?

I did find one shop, and they weren’t open on Sundays.

Perfect.

Dejected, I turned towards “home” to collect my sleepy girl so we could head out to do some much needed “housekeeping”- laundry.

Yay.

Best part of any vacation!!!



Not.

(#1) Never Ever Pass Up an Opportunity to Doo Business, and (#2) Never Ever Wear Cute, But Completely Impractical, Shoes When a Lot of Walking Is Planned!

Those are good rules.

She tells me she’s learned her lesson well and will only be bringing sensible, tennie-like shoes to Australia.

I'm wondering if she'll still sneak in a pair or two of fancy shoes for IG.

Luckily, even though it was a very small little lavanderia, there were machines available. Had we shown up 15 minutes later, we’d have waited hours. 4 parties showed up within minutes after we did.

Good timing.

The afternoon would find us exploring the area of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill.

Never heard of Palatine Hill. Curious, but will wait for the next update.

a VERY long parade of tiny, antique Italian Fiats!!

Cool!

Everyone on the sidewalks stopped to watch and cheered and clapped as they snaked their way around the traffic circles. Such a happy happenstance spectacle we got to see!

asked where we could find a SIM card. The best answer was to take a quick taxi to the train station and buy one there.

Oy. But not surprising at this point.

Apparently, there was some small fee on there that was preventing its use, so I paid that and just like that, we instantly had the world at our fingertips again.

Finally! The relief must've been palpable.

Across the street we found a terrific little Middle Eastern fast-food place and loaded up on roasted chicken, rice, and naan. Honestly, it was a fantastic change from all the pasta we’d been eating.

That sounds good.

It must have been quite something to have been a spectator in its heyday; it’s truly an architectural wonder.

I hope to see it someday... but no plans at the moment.

Nice pic. Looks like it was a nice warm day.

A little lizard says good afternoon from the Colosseum:

Bright! Hi there, Mr. Lizard.

 

[Paulaparm]

Glad you were able to get the card working again.
All those packages of pasta look SOOO good

 

[Wood Nymph]

It's kind of strange to see ancient ruins surrounded by more modern buildings. I suppose that they have them all over the city.

Laundry day is a little touch of normal.

I'm glad that you got your internet back. It must have been very annoying to be without it.

 

[rdkeim]

Just stopping by to say I'm fascinated by your trip! We did a 13 day bus tour around Italy and were at many of the same places. While I enjoyed our trip, too many stops were too short! How nice to be able to take your time and just wander. I really wanted to explore Palatine Hill but no time for that so looking forward to reading about your time there. Thanks for sharing!

 

[rndmr2]

Nice update! We did a Golf Cart tour of Rome when we were there in October which was really fun and drove past that Monument and I got a pic of it from an overlook across town. I couldn't remember what it was called until seeing it here. We also only were able to see the outside of the Colosseum and the Pantheon.

 

[KathyM2]

Happy holidays to you and yours as well!! It's nice to look back on your travels when it's cold and wet and miserable here now!!

 

[Steppesister]

Huzzah!! I passed Pediatric Primary Care last night and am thrilled!! It was a dumpster fire of an exam but a pass is a pass. Working full time and trying to find enough time to study was certainly difficult but I got ‘er done!

Now I might have some time to keep working on this trip report before I’m off to Asia and Australia!!!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Huzzah!! I passed Pediatric Primary Care last night and am thrilled!! It was a dumpster fire of an exam but a pass is a pass. Working full time and trying to find enough time to study was certainly difficult but I got ‘er done!

Now I might have some time to keep working on this trip report before I’m off to Asia and Australia!!!

Congratulations! It must be a relief to get this over with. I hope you have some time to enjoy the holidays.

 

[Steppesister]

T

Congratulations! It must be a relief to get this over with. I hope you have some time to enjoy the holidays.

That’s definitely the plan!

 

[juniorbugman]

Huzzah!! I passed Pediatric Primary Care last night and am thrilled!! It was a dumpster fire of an exam but a pass is a pass. Working full time and trying to find enough time to study was certainly difficult but I got ‘er done!

Now I might have some time to keep working on this trip report before I’m off to Asia and Australia!!!

Congratulations on a job well done.
Take some time for you. Your loyal readers will wait for updates.
Have a great Christmas. Are you at your winter place or still at home with the family?

 

[pkondz]

Huzzah!! I passed Pediatric Primary Care last night and am thrilled!! It was a dumpster fire of an exam but a pass is a pass. Working full time and trying to find enough time to study was certainly difficult but I got ‘er done!

Now I might have some time to keep working on this trip report before I’m off to Asia and Australia!!!

Great news! Congrats!

 

[KathyM2]

Amazing congrats!! Loving your teasers about the upcoming trip on FB...can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[Paulaparm]

Congratulations! That's great news! Now enjoy the holidays

 

[rndmr2]

Awesome! Congratulations!!

 

[Steppesister]

M is for: Making the Most of a Minute in Rome​

You may be wondering why I chose that title. You see, Rome is nick-named “The Eternal City” and an entire day spent walking around, is like a moment in time for this magnificent city. One could pass years here and not scratch the surface; a few years more, and one might be able to tackle the many underground sites there to discover. Today, Anara and I would tick off the Colosseum and a small bit of Palatine Hill- the Heart of the Ancient-est parts of Rome. It was there that the fabled Romulus gave birth to the city.

For centuries the rich, the slave, the wealthy and poor came to worship their gods and participate in city affairs. Today, there are only remnants of the once-grand-beyond-the-wildest imaginations-of-today. But, they still yet suffice in painting a picture of what once was and invite the visitor to wonder what life might have been like for the Romans who called this hill home.

As we entered the Palatine Hill area, we had to show our tickets, which by now we’d learned how to use. Luckily at the Colosseum, the ticket window guy showed us the correct QR code and from then on we were good to go for the remainder of the day. Huzzah! Passing under not one, but two giant arches we entered the main grounds of the area. Honestly, I just wasn’t prepared for how big this place was or how much history and story there was to cover there. But we got a nice taste and took our time seeing a few of the highlights.

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Many of the ruins are those of once grand homes built by aristocracy who incorporated personal temples, fabulous gardens, fountains, etc… Most of our time was spent in the Gardens of Farnese just wandering and enjoying the beauty of the green surroundings. I could certainly see why the Family Farnese was so drawn to this lovely space. Even in its by-gone shambles it was peaceful, quiet, and pretty in its own way. After being jostled and crowded “down” at the Colosseum, it was nice to have this little break.

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There weren’t many tourists in this area, and we were glad we peeled off “left” after entering the Hill Area. Here’s a map to show you an approximate route for the rest of our day:

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With no particular sites we needed to see and no set agenda we wandered to other various sites not really knowing the history of each building yet still enjoying the craftsmanship that was readily apparent, even in the states of disrepair they were in.

I'm sorry, but I don't know really what each photo even is. It was late in the day, and we'd both petered out on reading the signage. Generally, I like to take a photo of the information as well as the "thing", but that process fell out the window. Sorry, we lived in the moment and I fell down on the job. By the time we left, it was dusk and we were both beyond exhausted from the miles and miles we'd walked that day. And yet...

And yet, we still had enough zing in our zang to walk to dinner. I had not planned any particular place for this evening, but luckily we had passed a restaurant on the same block as the laundromat earlier that day and thought to ourselves, "Selves, this is where you belong tonight."

So we did. And holy cow was it amazing!!! We'd been very careful to not splurge often catching coffee and pastries for breakfasts and fast or street foods for lunches. So indulge we did.

The place was absolutely charming in both an antique but chic way. I loved the vines and lights all over the antique brick! It was like dining in a grotto with soft jazz playing and the clang of tableware making things upbeat and fun yet elegant.

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The food was simply phenomenal. And best of all.....

THEY HAD PISCO!!!

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This liquor is by far my favorite and yet sadly, so few I run into have even heard of it. Give it a try! You may enjoy it too! (Psssst, they serve it at Nomad Lounge! And on request they’ll do a straight up Pisco Sour even with the egg white and bitters. )

I don't honestly even remember what we had, but but the amuse bouche was amazing! A light raspberry and beet ice- shaped like a raspberry! Say what?!

Here are the photos from our elegant dinner:

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On our walk home, we noticed this building and got a nice little chuckle. I suddenly felt so much safer!

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Until next time, Friends! Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

 

[summerlvr]

Congrats on the pass! And Merry Christmas to you!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Merry Christmas to you, too.

As we entered the Palatine Hill area, we had to show our tickets, which by now we’d learned how to use. Luckily at the Colosseum, the ticket window guy showed us the correct QR code and from then on we were good to go for the remainder of the day. Huzzah!

That was really great of that guy to get your ticket situation figured out.

I love the picture of the grotto with the hanging gardens. I imagine the rich citizens living in luxury and the common people being dirt poor.

The place was absolutely charming in both an antique but chic way. I loved the vines and lights all over the antique brick! It was like dining in a grotto with soft jazz playing and the clang of tableware making things upbeat and fun yet elegant.

This is a really lovely restaurant. I love the amuse bouche.