I would have liked a bit more time to revise my Italian before going, but thankfully I have many Italian speakers at my gym so I have been speaking Italian a few times a week for the last few years - so hopefully I will be okay in Rome. On my last few visits to Italy, very few Italians actually spoke English with confidence (but some understood French well enough, which made it okay for me). I can understand a lot of Italian given that I speak French and Spanish, but I can understand a lot more than I can speak. It is my 6th language (after English, French, Mandarin, Spanish and Welsh). Italian is such a beautiful language, listen to the song below. It is the Italian entry for this year's Eurovision song contest, Il Volo with Grande Armore: they could be singing about repairing the toilet bowl or listing all the ingredients that you need for a chocolate fudge cake but it still sounds magnificent because Italian is just such a sexy language.
Here is the list of places that the contestants of the Amazing Race (American version) visited whilst in Rome:
OK I have a short week before I am off to Rome on Thursday morning - bring on the delicious pizza and pasta. I will try to pump out an article or two before I go this week. I am so looking forward to Rome. Grazie mille per la lettura! Ciao!
Wow Rome. Lovely lovely lovely! I love it, my second fav European city after Budapest and just edging out Paris. I stayed in the Trastevere area last year in a rented apartment via House Trip. The owners generally will revert to you within a day - can consider for your next trip out. Only tough thing for my Rome trip last year was I had to lug my baggage up 4 floors as the cranky old elevator was down and out.
For some tried and tested eats, look out for Trattoria Da Lucia in Trastevere (Vicolo del Mattonato, 2); Barnum Cafe near Campo de' Fiori (Via del Pellegrino, 87); Enoteca Corsi near Piazza di Spagna (Via del Gesù, 87/88). I had Roman tripes, quiche with quail (special of the day) and a pasta respectively. All decent to superb without having to dip into your inheritance. My definition of affordable = mains or set 16-20 euros or less.
Hi Shane. I am surprised Budapest is your favourite - don't get me wrong, I had a FANTASTIC time there as I had a friend working there at the time and I stayed with him, hung out with his friends and whilst it was a brilliant city, nothing quite beats London and Paris. Perhaps I am biased cos I have lived in both London and Paris.... But yes, my first time in Rome, so excited. I just hope it won't be too hot! Weather forecasts currently showing lows of like 14 and highs of 29 - but it can change: 29 is too hot for me. I have found a good boutique hotel in a decent location, convenient for public transport and it had good tripadvisor reviews - you can't go wrong with tripadvisor. Roman tripes, that I wanna try! I am fond of quail too - but in a quiche? Oooh.
Budapest to me was more cosmopolitan than Warsaw and more romantic than Prague. Not as tourist packed but it just grows on you. Have made all sorts of excuses just to pass through it. I normally could stare hard enough at foreign texts and figure out the meaning but not with Hungarian! Still, it was fun and people while less outwardly expressive were all kind and helpful. Oh and Budapest is a good stop rot head down Szeged, Eger, tokaii
That is the best part of Europe. There is something for everyone, for those that like it hot, for others who like it cold and nine days old. I do love the capitals of UK, France and Germany too but I suppose emotionally, Rome and the bigger, dirtier and messier Budapest just came out stronger. My major regret though is that I really really struggled and totally failed in picking up Hungarian :(. Pharmacy, farmacie, apoteek, apteka are pretty easy but its got to be gyogyszertar in Magyar. Soupe, zuppe, soep, zupa are very revealing but leves? Guess it is the wide divide between Indo-European tongues versus an Ugric language. Perhaps you had a better attempt at it than I did :)
I actually impressed the locals with how much Hungarian I was able to speak - but the response was always, "how interesting... you've learnt some Hungarian!" Then they switched over to English because I clearly look like a foreigner.
I got up at 5:30 am this morning and am now leaving for the airport. Totally in zombie mode. I am not a morning person.... At least I slept well last night.
Hi Shane, I am back from Rome. I had the Trippa alla Roma (Roman Tripes) because you said you had them and they were so overrated. Mind you, they reminded me of the tripe stews I had in Slovenia and Croatia. I can get a huge chunk of that tripe for very little in the Chinatown butcher's .... that's the only place in London once can find tripe. I am so tired. Will blog more about Rome soon.
Oh dear, sorry to hear that the Roman Tripes turned out not good for you. It was on the lunch menu when I was there and I thought it was pretty decent. Perhaps cos I was famished. Anyway, I hope you had an overall good trip to Rome and look forward to your vlog and write ups.
It was okay but it was not quite what I had expected - it was honeycomb tripe which was the less interesting inner organ to use. I am from Singapore and grew up eating all kinds of internal organs of pig, chicken and beef offal so I was hoping for something a little more interesting. But y'know, when in Rome, eat what the Romans eat!
Have a safe trip! Laughed at the toilet bowl part. =P
ReplyDeleteThanks J.!
DeleteWow Rome. Lovely lovely lovely! I love it, my second fav European city after Budapest and just edging out Paris. I stayed in the Trastevere area last year in a rented apartment via House Trip. The owners generally will revert to you within a day - can consider for your next trip out. Only tough thing for my Rome trip last year was I had to lug my baggage up 4 floors as the cranky old elevator was down and out.
ReplyDeleteFor some tried and tested eats, look out for Trattoria Da Lucia in Trastevere (Vicolo del Mattonato, 2); Barnum Cafe near Campo de' Fiori (Via del Pellegrino, 87); Enoteca Corsi near Piazza di Spagna (Via del Gesù, 87/88). I had Roman tripes, quiche with quail (special of the day) and a pasta respectively. All decent to superb without having to dip into your inheritance. My definition of affordable = mains or set 16-20 euros or less.
Hi Shane. I am surprised Budapest is your favourite - don't get me wrong, I had a FANTASTIC time there as I had a friend working there at the time and I stayed with him, hung out with his friends and whilst it was a brilliant city, nothing quite beats London and Paris. Perhaps I am biased cos I have lived in both London and Paris.... But yes, my first time in Rome, so excited. I just hope it won't be too hot! Weather forecasts currently showing lows of like 14 and highs of 29 - but it can change: 29 is too hot for me. I have found a good boutique hotel in a decent location, convenient for public transport and it had good tripadvisor reviews - you can't go wrong with tripadvisor. Roman tripes, that I wanna try! I am fond of quail too - but in a quiche? Oooh.
DeleteBudapest to me was more cosmopolitan than Warsaw and more romantic than Prague. Not as tourist packed but it just grows on you. Have made all sorts of excuses just to pass through it. I normally could stare hard enough at foreign texts and figure out the meaning but not with Hungarian! Still, it was fun and people while less outwardly expressive were all kind and helpful. Oh and Budapest is a good stop rot head down Szeged, Eger, tokaii
DeleteDon't get me wrong, I totally enjoyed Budapest, but IMHO the most amazing cities in Europe are clearly still London, Paris, Berlin and Istanbul.
DeleteThat is the best part of Europe. There is something for everyone, for those that like it hot, for others who like it cold and nine days old. I do love the capitals of UK, France and Germany too but I suppose emotionally, Rome and the bigger, dirtier and messier Budapest just came out stronger. My major regret though is that I really really struggled and totally failed in picking up Hungarian :(. Pharmacy, farmacie, apoteek, apteka are pretty easy but its got to be gyogyszertar in Magyar. Soupe, zuppe, soep, zupa are very revealing but leves? Guess it is the wide divide between Indo-European tongues versus an Ugric language. Perhaps you had a better attempt at it than I did :)
DeleteI actually impressed the locals with how much Hungarian I was able to speak - but the response was always, "how interesting... you've learnt some Hungarian!" Then they switched over to English because I clearly look like a foreigner.
DeleteI got up at 5:30 am this morning and am now leaving for the airport. Totally in zombie mode. I am not a morning person.... At least I slept well last night.
Viva Roma!
DeleteHi Shane, I am back from Rome. I had the Trippa alla Roma (Roman Tripes) because you said you had them and they were so overrated. Mind you, they reminded me of the tripe stews I had in Slovenia and Croatia. I can get a huge chunk of that tripe for very little in the Chinatown butcher's .... that's the only place in London once can find tripe. I am so tired. Will blog more about Rome soon.
DeleteOh dear, sorry to hear that the Roman Tripes turned out not good for you. It was on the lunch menu when I was there and I thought it was pretty decent. Perhaps cos I was famished. Anyway, I hope you had an overall good trip to Rome and look forward to your vlog and write ups.
DeleteIt was okay but it was not quite what I had expected - it was honeycomb tripe which was the less interesting inner organ to use. I am from Singapore and grew up eating all kinds of internal organs of pig, chicken and beef offal so I was hoping for something a little more interesting. But y'know, when in Rome, eat what the Romans eat!
DeleteBon voyage! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Delete