Novemeber 22 - Rome/Civitavecchia

Today we went into Rome from Civitavecchia.  The purpose of this trip was twofold. First we wanted to visit Marg’s favorite restaurant “Le Caveau”.  Secondly Marg wanted to buy some leather boots, which are all the fashion these days. 

We left Civitavecchia by train for a one hour ride into the city.  This electrical train was a very fast, clean and quite.  The ticket cost about $17 and it included a return trip on the train and the unlimited use of the public transit system while in Rome.  It traveled south along the coast where you can see many fabulous estates along the beaches.  I can’t imagine what it costs to own these places, but I expect it is significantly more expensive than the homes on the water in Port Stanley.  On the east side of the tracks there are many farms.  The fields seem to be lush but I’m not sure what their produce would be.

After about 30 minutes, the train took a sharp turn east and headed into the suburbs of Rome.  There were many stations along the way including a stop in the Vatican City. When we reached the main terminal, I was surprised how clean and spacious it was.  I had read the very opposite in many travelled columns.

Once outside of the station it took us a couple of minutes to get our bearings.  From the station it was about a 15 minute walk to Le Caveau.   Wouldn’t you know it, as we started our trek it started to pour.  Fortunately when it rains in Rome there is no shortage of illegal street vendors with umbrellas for sale.

Marg was looking forward to having lunch at this restaurant because it was the first place we had lunch in Rome, when we visited the city last year and she loved the Gorgonzola cheese pizza.  Also the waitress had given her several shots of Lemoncello on the house.  As we approached the restaurant we could see a large yellow notice attached to the door.  You guessed it, the place was closed for holidays and wouldn’t be opening again for another week!

It had stopped raining after we had lunch, so we decided that we could walk to the street where we knew Marg could find shops that sold leather boots.  Unfortunately it is very easy to get turned around in Rome.  So after about an hour walk, we stumbled across the hotel where we had stayed in last year before we went on our tour of Italy.  Marg went inside for directions.  There she was instructed to take the subway to an area of town known as Spagna, where the Spanish Steps are located.

As we left the subway station it started to pour again and I mean a torrential downpour.

All the shops here are from the high end fashion designers and retailers.  Marg was able to find a store called Harrison that had the boots she wanted and in her size.  It seems strange that shoe sizes here are measured in centimeters, so for example a size 6 in Canada would equate to a size  25 over here.  After acquiring the boots Marg then found a leather store where she was able buy a nice purse and gloves.  

So it was a successful day of shopping for her.

Because restaurants don’t open for dinner until after 7:00pm, we found a pub to have a drink before dinner.  It was called the “06 Cafe”, in honour the numbers on our grandson’s, Jase and Cooper, hockey jerseys.

For dinner went to a placed all “Babbettes”.  It was a nice cozy place off the main road through the Spagna district.  I’m thinking that it might have just recently opened.  The wait staff was always looking at this one table, where it appeared that couple were taking notes and pictures of the food.  Maybe they were food critics from a local newspaper?

I had rabbit and Marg had duck.  The wine was a Chianti from Marchese Antinora, which was excellent.

All in all it was a very pleasant day.

Pictures from Rome