Italy-La Dolce Vita- Roma

It's off to Rome for a well deserved winter break. We are up in the morning for an early flight, with a quick layover in Istanbul, a train to Rome's Termini station and one street car ride later we are ready for lunch in Rome. We stayed in the Pigneto District. It is a residential area with tree lined streets, local butcher, and cheese shops and it is loaded with great graffiti. The pedestrian street, Via del Pigneto, is Rome's newest restaurant district. During the day the street is a full farmers' market and after siesta the restaurants and bars are in full swing.

Pigneto District is close enough to the city center for our touring and far enough away to enjoy the non-tourist foods and life. We eat some pizza and hit a grocer to find wine, thrilled to find good bulk wine. We also pick up some cheese & prosciutto for afternoon snack because dinner begins around 9pm.  A note on food...Every meal we had in Italy was spectacular. It is one of the major reasons for visiting. We even took photos of the meals, but they just won't translate. Instead I will show the sites and just remember the food- indescribably delicious!

Day 2

It is a beautiful day so we hop off the bus early and start to stroll the streets and back allies ending up at Vittorio Emanuele II Monumenta. It was constructed to honor Victor Emanuele, the first king of unified Italy, and it is huge!

We get our bearings and wander back into the allies with hopes of navigating to the Pantheon. As we wander we find unexpected surprises, sites and sounds with a sense of discovery. Which is how we ran into St. Ignazio di Loyola with wonderfully executed trompe l'oeil.  This church hosts a flat ceiling that extends to the heavens and a faux dome.  Move over Sistine chapel!

 

Now it's off to the Pantheon which we all know is amazing but just around the corner is Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Now, the plain outside it is not very inviting but you have to step inside. This is the only Gothic church in Rome (c 1300) and it is incredible.

 

 Before siesta begins we better find a little lunch. So it's back to the allies to test our luck. We find a small cafe with a bit of charm. We take a look and sit down to the family atmosphere. House wine is ordered and reading the menu we find that Caravaggio enjoyed this cafe quite often. Well you know what I always say "...good enough for Caravaggio than its good enough for me".  We sat and enjoyed a long lunch including dessert and made plans for walking it off.

Back to the allies and onto the famous Via dei Condotti for fashion and fame and a nice approach  to the Spanish Steps for a panoramic of the city. Before we start our siesta we have one more goal, tossing our coins and make our wish in the Fontaine de Trevi.... ahhhh Roma~~!

Day 3

Today we are off to see the Pope. It's another beautiful day and we jump off the bus near the Tiber and hit a cafe for espressos and brioche. We can see St. Peters Basilica in the distance as we stroll along the river. We head to strait to Michelangelo's dome and climb it while we are still fresh. We took the elevator up to the base of the dome and then up the 320 step to the base of the cupola for a panoramic view of Rome atop the largest dome in the world. It was well worth the exercise!

And now it's time to relax on top of the Basilica, enjoy the sunshine and write some postcards dropping them in the Vatican's post office.

 Though rain, sleet, and snow the Pope's on the go.

  

Now it's time to see the to head inside. What can I say, it's huge, it's amazing, it's St.  Peter's. After seeing the inside of the place we head to the cafe where the bishops and nuns will frequent for lunch- St. Peter's Cafe.

One last stop before we call it siesta...We are off to the Vatican Museum to see the Pope's collections, the Sistine chapel and The four Stanze di Raffaello (Rapheal's rooms). Again the place is huge, but with limited time we hit the hot spots before heading back Pigneto for a little siesta before dinner. 

Arrivederci Roma. Tomorrow it is off to Napoli for pizza!

Back to Vienna

 Leaving Budapest at 9 am we arrived back in Vienna by noon. We checked into the hotel near Leopoldstradt and headed back to Vienna's center for an afternoon of art at the Albertina Gallery. The Gallery had three major exhibitions. One per floor. Da Vinci's Drawings, Picasso retrospective, and William Kentridge retrospective. That's some purty heavy hitters! So we decided to separate, each enjoying the gallery as they please and rendezvous at the wine bar under the gallery in a few hours.

By then evening approached and we set off through the city lights to find the Cafe Pruckell  for diner and dessert. This classic, classy cafe is a step into 1950 and the piano goes great with the coffee...

the travellers

Then we wander the city and found a place that was a bit more like 1850. Greeted by a well dressed man in the finest suit and bow tie who quickly found us a table( and the place was packed ) but with style and grace, he squeezed us into the middle of the place. Cafe Hawelka or Leopold''s as the locals have called it since 1939 well kind of...the place open its doors in '39 and 5 days latter closed -WWII. The city was heavily damaged by the war but this cafe was untouched and  in 1945 reopened... Wow! What luck. The exterior would never told this tale.... and a great place and a great way to end this week long escapade!

Budapest

The train from Bratislava to Budapest is only an a few hours and a great way to see the county side.
Arriving at the main train station in Budapest it is easy to access the public transportation. We hopped a metro car (subway). The first car was a vintage art deco, art nouveau car and very classy and made the transfer to the new line a bit surreal.

vintage metro ca

In no time at all we were walking past the Opera house through back allies to find the Opera
Gardens Hotel and off to lunch. We turned a few corners and ran into "Most", a place we had been hoping to find and not even begun to look. So we knew we were off to a great start in Budapest.

This city is fantastic. The capital of Hungary. The city was split by the Danube River and  17 November 1873 the city was united the west bank - Buda and Óbuda with east bank -Pest, now Budapest.  After lunch we strolled through the allies in Pest to cross the chain bridge to Buda.  The west bank of the Danube has a steep slope and a funicular took us up to the National Gallery for a great view of the city and an afternoon in art. The gallery has a great collection of wood panel alter pieces and we were fortunate to see the exhibition of prints and original draft drawings from illustration, poster and advertising of early art nouveau propaganda.

 

We left the gallery after sunset to view the Danube and a panoramic view of the city lights.
We made our way back to the Pest to find dinner, but we ran into a bubble bar in the park. It looked like a sophisticated blow up jump room for kids...but it was a bar. We had to stop in!

  This night we splurged at a top notch restaurant. NY Times reviewed "Dia" and my first manhatan since I left the states was a great way to start the evening, and the meal was superb. Tomorrow we have a booked a walking tour of Budapest.

 Nov. 17

There is a great organization of free walking tours available in Budapest, if your going check out http://www.triptobudapest.hu  we highly recommend it! We saw highlights of the city with a great guide giving the history, politics and ins and outs of life here. A great source of information and a great way to see the sites- free!! ( & they do enjoy tips).  Here are some shots of the city on our tour.

make a wish

locks of lovers

 It was a gorgeous day and we walk up the Danube to the Great Market Hall in Pest for lunch. Here is the largest indoor market in Hungary (since 1894) and the place to get your sausage, beer and souvenir salami.

And then we found this bar for a more beer.

 The walk home was quite enjoyable!! We headed "M" for dinner. This is a great place for dinner. The entire place is covered with butcher paper and all the details, piano, hand rails, lamps..everything is drawn and the food is fantastic. After dinner we headed for the Jewish quarter to find a bunch of great hole in the wall taverns for a few drinks. 

Nov 18

After a long day of touring and a late night, we slept in a bit before walking the lenght of Andrassy Avenue. This world heritage avenue, lined with spectacular Neo-renaissance mansions dates back to 1870's, connects the centers Elizabeth Square with the City Park and the Széchenyi Medicinal Bathhouse. We spent the entire day relaxing in the 15 different pools, a variety of dry and wet saunas and aroma therapy steam rooms.  We gave thanks to the Ottomans for bringing the "turkish baths" to a palace standard  in Budapest ...and... ahhhhhh!! 

Tomorrow we head  back to Vienna, with hopes to return to this fantastic city!