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Day trip to Ostia Antica

19 Jun

Ostia Antica, Photo by NIcholas DiStefano.

Friends Nick and Wally were here for 5 days after their 2+ weeks in Sicilia. Pompeii was initially high on their list, but they decided to try the Ostia Antica experience instead of the lllooonnngggg day trip to Pompeii from Roma. We were game to accompany them as Ostia is on our list.

Field trip: I was lucky to catch part of the teacher’s lecture. Luckier still to have understood most of it! Perhaps my Italian comprehension level approaches 3rd grade.

To avoid the afternoon heat we started out at 08:15 Sunday morning. Bus to Termini, metro to Porta San Paolo, and then a train to Ostia, put us at the gate to OA about 09:30. We almost had the place to ourselves! There was a German group of college-age kids, a couple of other groups that seems to be archeology students, and what appeared to be an Italian grade school group on a field trip.Ric and I loved Pompeii when we visited there last December, but this is such a different experience. Ostia is an easy self-guided tour, with Rick Steves’ narrative to keep us on track. It is a very peaceful site where one can wander at will. The wildflowers bloom throughout the site, softening the edges of the ruins. There are amazing intact mosaics depicting the merchants and baths of Ostia.

It seems like nature could easily take over the site and it would be lost to us forever.

Ostia has a long history, having been founded in 620 B.C. (!!!), but as the Roman Empire declined, Ostia became less important. There were invasions and pirate sackings, and eventually due to floods the Tiber River shifted and land-locked Ostia. What the volcano did to Pompeii, politics, flooding and time did to Ostia.Ostia gives wonderful insight to Roman town planning, life and construction. You can arrive from Roma on a simple metro/bus ticket for €1.50 each way. It’s a half-day trip, perfect for a summer morning. We were home for lunch by 13:30. Entry is €8.50 per person (although residents over 65 with a codice fiscale get in for free). I won’t drag the narrative on and on. Here are some additional pictures to tell the story.

In the “Piazzale delle Corporazioni” or Square of the Guilds. mosaics depict services and products in a universal language.

Arch overrun by greenery

Ostia’s Theatre: Still the site of entertainment, but leaning toward concerts in the current era.

 

Residents of Roma

28 May

28 May 2012. Where to start?

  • We live in one of the greatest cities in the world!
  • I walk to work through the Villa Borghese
  • Our neighborhood is charming
  • Our apartment is tiny but lovely

Entrance to our apartment building. Well maintained, classic, probably 100 years old. New by Roman standards.

We spent our first weekend, before reporting to work, wandering the neighborhood and starting to fill in the pantry and frig. It’s quite daunting to have no food at all and have to start from scratch. Quadruple the feeling with feet as primary transportation. There are three groceries within an 8 to 10 minute walk, so good selection. There are also a butcher, salumeria, pasticceria, and an enoteca. Plus countless shops for clothing and household goods/hardware (the latter called a ferramenta). I love the ferramente. They have an assortment from batteries to hammers, flower pots to alarm clocks, cooking pots to aprons. Organization seems non-existent, but the proprietor knows where everysingle item is.

Most peaceful part of my commute: through the Villa Borghese.

The walk to work is 45-50 minutes each way depending on route and traffic signals, so daily exercise is built into the commute. Part of it is through the lovely Villa Borghese, right past the Galleria Borghese. Shopping is a daily occurrence, picking up fresh items but also stocking the house. We struggle with our limited Italian, but the shopkeepers are very patient and accommodating. The local pet store owner has deemed us amiche already and gives us the resident discount. In fact, since we have the revered codice fiscale, we are entitled to discounts mere travelers are not. Today we purchased a Nespresso espresso maker (think Italian Keurig) and qualified for 50€ worth of coffee pods because we are residents. Only 10 days on-the-ground and we are “residents.” É fantastico! 

There’s a huge Carabinieri installation in Parioli. Makes for a safe neighborhood.

The Parioli neighborhood is quite nice and peaceful (for Rome). Our neighbors vary greatly from the Carabinieri to La Chiesa di San Luigi Gonzaga. (Also many many apartment buildings. Many.) “SLG” has a soccer court, and while you might think that noisy and annoying, Rome is noisy and sometimes annoyingly so. The early-evening practice and play of good kids under adult supervision makes for a nice backdrop. Frankly it’s better than the wild jungle-bird noises we sometimes hear at 3AM. The first night we heard a racket of bird noises we dubbed “jungle noises,” and now we think there is one particular species that makes the racket. Like nothing we’ve ever heard before. Louder than a peacock, and more irritating than a seagull (although we have those too). But after 10 nights, it barely registers.

“SLG”: Churches make good neighbors.

Around many corners, another piece of history. The walk to work will never be boring.

Loving the small apartment, although we’d love it better with our furniture. That’s still 4-6 weeks a way, I would guess, since it is coming via container ship. We have an amazing variety of keys, some of which are keys to nowhere, and there are also “wheres” to which we have no keys. Explored the rooftop today with our portiere, Emilio, and found there is grand vista across Rome to St. Peter’s Basilica and also of the mountains to the east. Allora we don’t have the keys to the roof! Nor do we have a key for our mailbox, which is troubling. A problem to be solved tomorrow, when I go back to work and talk to housing. Piano piano  as they say in Italian. Slowly slowly we will get there.

Siamo Arrivati!

20 May
Image

Libby & Janie enjoy morning coffee at AMS after a restful night outside the carriers at the Hilton.

20 May 2012. We have arrived! The long journey from Portland ended Friday when Ric, JaneGray, Libbyjean, and I landed in Rome. Wednesday’s departure from Portland was on a non-stop to Amsterdam, where we had a layover allowing everyone – especially the kitties – a chance to rest. It was 10 hour flight with cats under the seats in front of us. “Under” is relative. Thanks to a metal box under the seat in front of me (I suspect it was equipment for the in-seat video entertainment system), Libby was not really “under” and I had to straddle her carrier the whole way. Luckily my short legs made it less of a problem. There were a few “Exorcist” moments when the carrier twitched and pitched as Libby stretched and objected to her confinement. Janie was quite vocal, but the engine noise drowned her out. Amazingly, both cats did very well. 13 hours in their Sherpa carriers and no messes; however, there was a line at the catbox when we set it up at the Schipol Hilton.The Hilton had a you-can’t-refuse-it offer for us. No standard Hilton rooms were ready for occupancy (of course it was only 09:30) but for an extra €50 we could have an “executive” level room with free drinks and snacks all day. We didn’t really care about that perk: we needed a room to free the cats and let them go potty! They did have tasty antipasti e aperitivi for us, though.

Thought we’d need two bags checked, two carry-on, plus 2 cats. Not a chance! Checked 8. Funny how a cat under the seat in front of you costs $200, but my laptop in the same location would be free.

The animal transport/export paperwork was a challenge we left to a professional, AirAnimal. They did a great job of making sure our documents were in order and in our hands on time. The EU has reasonable requirements, but things have to be done in a certain order, a specified time in advance of travel, documented, and signed off by the USDA no more than ten days prior to flight. AirAnimal gave us 3 sets of documents, and ironically the only place the documents were inspected was by Delta in Portland. When we arrived in The Netherlands, we passed through Passport Control with not a glance at the kitties. Delta also checked our entire luggage through to Rome, so we did not have to claim it at AMS, thus we had nothing to declare at Customs. We simply walked out of the terminal and over to the Hilton with cats in tow, a backpack with our laptops and a backpack full of cat supplies. Arriving in Rome the next day, no passport control, no customs as we were already in the EU. No one in Europe ever looked at the cat paperwork. Considering 3 vet visits and AirAnimal’s fee together amounted to almost as much as one airline ticket for a human, it seemed extraordinary no one wanted to make sure our kids were properly documented!Delta having checked our luggage through to Rome thwarted our plans to have a change of clothes in Amsterdam. We spruced up as best we could with minimal toiletries and headed into town to buy shirts and underthings. We thought Portland was a bicycle-centric town, but Portland has nothing on Amsterdam. There are even traffic signals for cyclists, and the cyclists obey them.

Portland, your bicycling lifestyle pales by comparison to Amsterdam. Of course, it’s flat in The Netherlands….

On the Friday flight to FCO, Libby managed to score an upgrade to Business Class. It seems there is a restriction on the number of pets per cabin: only one allowed in Coach and one in Business Class. In fact, KLM gave Ric and I a row of three seats, leaving the center seat unassigned “for the cats” according to the agent. When the flight attendant moved Libby and me, I asked her why. Seems KLM is concerned about the safety of the pet in the event oxygen masks are needed and for “security.” She was vague on “security” but adamant that the cats would have a mask available should that be necessary. The move didn’t change Libby’s flight much, but I got a nice breakfast out of it. And Libby actually fit under the seat on this flight.So we are here! We are having “pinch me” moments when we turn to one another and say “Hey, we live in Rome!” then laugh! More later on starting our life in Rome.

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