Laura’s European Summer Vacation 2007

Hey all.

I’m in a hurry toay so can’t really write a long blog update on yesterday. In the morning Ray and Jamie and Anthony went to the Vatican to see The Sistine Chapel and San Pietro. I met them over there for lunch - and to see San Pietro. The lines were crazy long so I didn’t bother to go inside but still fun to be back over there for a bit.

Ray, Jamie and Anthony in front of San Pietro

After their visit, we had Rome’s worst pizza. Everyone was starving so we went to anyplace we found and we paid the price. But it did fill us up and that is what mattered most just then.

Following bad lunch, we went to Campo dei Fiori for some gelato. A much better deal - 2 euros for a huge cone! Then we wandered over to Piazza Navona where Jamie and I spent some time looking for oil paintings for our homes in Hollywood. We did some bargaining and each picked up two pieces. They’ll look great back in LA - and remind us of Italy constantly! Plus it’s funny that we both liked the same artist so our mirrored apartments will now also have the same artist’s work in them!

Of course we had to return and use the pool. Having a hotel pool in Rome is the best thing ever. After walking around all day, we hop into our suits and hit the roof. Take a quick dip (the water is a little too cold for a long swim) and then we order snacks and a drink and lie out on this big cabanas for light naps. You can probably tell I’ve been doing this as I am getting really tan and my hair is turning crazy blonde.

 
For dinner we met up with a friend of Anthony’s, Adrienn, who is from Budapest. She also brought along Daniel, who also lives in Budapest but is from Portugal. Yet again, an international dinner for us all! Very fun!

We had dinner at the hostaria on my old street. A very good deal - 6 people, 120 Euros - including lots of food and wine! Love Rome for big dinners at cheap costs! I had my old favorite - the mushroom, truffle and cream bombolotti. Jamie and Ray ordered Bruschette Pomodoro, Tomato Salads and Spaghetti Pomodoro. That’s a lot of tomatoes!

After dinner, we found a spot in Campo dei Fiori to watch the locals mix and mingle. I told them that Campo is a great find in Rome. It’s a little hidden and so only the clued-in tourists find it. Just tons of young people drinking and mingling and walking around the square. When Melanie showed up, we sat in the corner remembering all our old times in Campo. I met her and my friend Dave - and Dario, Antonio and Paul - all of my Roman friends pretty much - in Campo. So many memories - and such crazy energy there. It’s a great place and now Ray and Jamie want to return again tonight.

I’m off for lunch and then a look at Fontana di Trevi - perhaps my favorite thing in Rome. Will take pictures for sure - how can I not?

Oh and I forgot to mention. All week we have noticed a regular guard standing outside the suite to one of the rooms on our floor. Finally Anthony chatted the guard on duty up about who was inside. Come to find out, the Prince and Princess of Saudia Arabia are staying on our floor. We are pretty sure all the room adjoining ours are taken by their entourage. So don’t we seem silly, a pair of blonde girls from Hollywood and our wacky swimsuit wearing friends, strolling up and down the same halls!

 
On Wednesday night Ray and Jamie and I walked over to Piazza Navona for dinner. I was searching for this lasagna al pesto that I loved but it wasn’t to be found. Still had some good dinner - and laughed that the main fountain in Piazza Navona was under construction. So much of Rome is under construction - poor Jamie is seeing too much scafolding! After dinner we wandered over to Campo dei Fiori - the old haunt. We tried to take Jamie to the Drunken Ship, a initiation required for all Americans in Rome - but it was shut for renovations. Everything is under construction! But we did go into another bar nearby where I introduced Jamie and Ray to “Dracula” - this weird red drink that made my friends Dave and Melanie and I very loopy back when I loved in Rome.

Ever since New Year’s Eve I’ve been saying that I wanted to spend my birthday this year in Rome - and today it happened! I love this city so much! As I have always said, if I could live here forever, I would. Just love it - everything about it!

Today was not about touring at all. Today was about seeing all my friends and having a fun day. In the end, it worked out. Everyone I really wanted to see on my birthday - at least of the people who are in Rome - came out!

 
Anthony arrived at around noon.. Ray came over by 10:30am. I had room service - of course - just like everyone else. Melanie came by at 1 and we were out to lunch at a restaurant off of Via Veneto that a friend/student of hers owns. We drank three bottles of wine between us, ate a lot of yummy cheese and appetizers and pasta - and then walked back drunk to the hotel. Apparently Ray and Anthony had a little comical run-in with the Polizia too while the girls were in the store buying Mel some smokes.. Something that would naturally come from the imaginations of two Italian policemen when they see three blonde girls gaggling down the road mid-afternoon.

From there we all went to the pool on the roof of my hotel. Yes, the pool! In Rome! This is almost unheard of - which is why it was essential to the day. Everyone but Ray jumped in - a bit chilly - We have a great picture of us all lined up like sea lions against the edge too. Will post when Anthony sends it along.

Lying in the sun was amazing and relaxing - and sobering. By six I had to shower to meet Antonio for drinks at seven while everyone else took a much needed nap.

After a few drinks with my favorite Italian (sorry Dario, you’re a close second though!) we all went over to Trastevere to find the restaurant there that serves the black truffle pizza that I’ve been dreaming of for years - ever since leaving Rome two and a half years ago! For a minute I was afraid it was shut, but we found it. And just in time! Everyone was very moody and very much in need of food.

At the end of dinner they had a sort of Italian birthday cake and song-singing for me… Half in English, half in Italian. Combined with the candle numbered “3″ on top, it was a very silly but fun moment. I blew out the candle and wished for more Rome in my life - of course. How happy I was to be in Rome with my favorite people!

After dinner we met up with Dario and went to Arthur’s, the pub down the road in Trastevere that we used to spend many a night at when I lived here. Had a few more drinks, met some of Melanie’s Italian guy friends (including one of her exes who I’d only spoken by phone with until then). More drinks ensued until it was officlally closing time - 2 am. Jamie and Ray and Anthony and I walked back to the hotel - a bit of a hike - but it was such a nice night in Rome that I didn’t even notice. The air was perfect, the friends were perfect, the pizza was very good. Everything I had hoped for on my 32nd birthday!

 
Yesterday was our last night in Monaco. As pretty as it was, we were really racking up quite a tab. Definitely time for us to go - especially since I kept walking by that Gucci store and the fantastic 1300 euro bag I covet so much.

We started the day completely hung over, as the last blog detailed. Then we checked out luggage and soaked up the sun by the lagoon pool at the hotel. This pool is apparently very primo as it costs 80 euros a day to get in if you are not staying at the hotel (since the hotel is only $400 a night, perhaps just buying a room makes more sense?) So we chilled by the pool, I did couple laps (read: 1 lap) and we ordered overly expensive fruit salads and water for breakfast.

After sunning ourselves by the pool, as per any quality Monaco vacationer, we took a taxi to the Grimaldi Palace and took a tour of all of their fanciness and history. After we shopped for souveniers for our favorite people back home and then took a long stroll along the harbour back to the casino square.

A prerequesite of any visit to the Monaco casino square is a drink at the Cafe des Paris. I had a “Monte Carlo Summer” which is strawberry puree and champagne. Jamie had yet another glass of white wine - her new favorite. We enjoyed watching the fancy cars and the sunset and then took a long stroll back to our hotel.
 
Before leaving we had to have our third order of their magnificent tomato & mozzarella di bufala salad and yet another bottle of their amazing 2001 Mersault. 150 euros, but when in Monaco, you must do what people in Monaco do!

Then we caught a quick taxi to the Monaco train station to catch out train. Yet again, the trains were scary. Firstly we realized that I can’t read a European train ticket to save my life.. I thought our train left at 9:43 but it was actually scheduled for 9:22. Fortunately we were there early and this is an Italian train so it didn’t arrive until 9:45 anyway.

Another fear for us was that our tickets were screwed up as our marked cabin was labeled “2nd class” instead of “sleeper” on the composition des trens. This freaked us out. Jamie wanted another bottle of Mersault she was so worried! But when we got on the train it was all perfect. We had our own train car room - three beds for two girls - one bed for our luggage. Worked out perfectly!

At the first stop in Italy we were hanging out the window like any girl in a 1940s movie might do when we met a nice cart purveyor wandring the Ventimiglia station. We screamed “Buona Notte” and “Ciao” - practicing our Italian - and he fancied us so offered us some wine. Well, of course, we agreed! He insisted we bought 4 bottles of white for 12 euros! Wow! What a price difference compared to Monaco!

So on our first minutes in Italy everything was already going perfectly. We had our own train car, four bottles of Italian wine and beds to sleep in!

The next day we wokeup to the last hour of our train ride, rolling through Chianti country and into Roma. Now we’re arrived, spent two hours walking through the Foro Romano and by the Colesseo before checking into our hotel and taking a shower. Then the most amazing (only because it was the first!) Italian meal we’ve had yet - with Ray - who flew in from New York just this morning. Bruschette, Caprese, Pizza and Pasta - along with 1 e mezzo litres of vino bianco! So wonderful that it inspired us to buy more wine for our hotel room! (We are staying at the Exedra Boscolo at Piazza della Republicca. If you are a movie fan you will recognize this as the hotel that Julia Roberts stayed at in Ocean’s Twelve.) Now.. as I type.. Jamie and Ray have passed out from the Roman fun. Slackers!

 
Next? More drinking and a stroll over to Campo dei Fiori to meet up with any Italian friends who can make it out. As always, my Italian friends are very Italian and hard to plan with - but we’ll certainly see them eventually. And between now and then, there’s so much else to see and do in Rome, we’re entertained!