Zurich to Rome

Mon 4 Sept

A lovely morning - clear early morning sky with pink swirls.

The boys take the train to the flughafen (airport) at Zurich. Farewells to Gilbert who drives us all to the station at Zug. Half an hour later I am on the train to Rome - via Milan. Lovely scenery.

The route goes via Bellinzona where we drove with Gilbert on Saturday and saw the castle and watched the making of the wine barrels. Of course this goes through the Gotthard Pass but by the train tunnel which is the longest and deepest in the world at an astonishing 57 kms (the road one we took on Saturday was a mere 17 kms!). It took about 20 minutes. It opened in 2016.

At that length, there is nothing to do but read the paper. MF2's sharp eyes had seen the New York Times when we were strolling along the promenade in Ascona on Saturday and he knew I was on the lookout for the weekend version so I enjoy a read for the first time this trip. Of course the news is a little old but I like the quote from Republican advisor in the US regarding the Hurricane Harvey: '... they don't need money to build a wall in Mexico, but to rebuild the shoreline in Texas'!!

Lugano looks nice - by the lake. We cross the Swiss-Italian border at Chiasso. Three hours later, train arrives in Milan, a distance of 250 kms.

A 1-hour wait for the 11:30 am train to Rome. The boys are on-board their flight to Australia by this time.

As we speed along, stops at Bologna, Florence: even coming into the station one can see the huge duomo high on the skyline not far away. Barrelling along, I recognise the dramatic cliff-top town of Orvieto - we don't stop though.

It is already 29 deg C and the countryside is parched and dusty apart from vineyards and vegetable gardens - such a dramatic change from the green so far this trip. Sheep lie in the shade of trees.

From here it is non-stop all the way to Rome where I arrive 3.5 hrs after leaving Milan - despite Gilbert's reservations about the reliability of Italian trains!

Can definitely recommend the Italo train service - clean, fast, good toilets, even an orange juice and nuts (noccellini ??? the girl tells me) are served. I see on the indicator board that we are doing 250 km/hr.

The usual razzamatazz at Rome Termini (the main station). Young people hang around the automatic ticket machines saying they'll help you. An age-old scam: they take the change. I have seen it before and gave them short-thrift. I said 'va via' and gave them the flick especially when they muttered something foul when I mucked up buying the ticket. But I knew I could do it with persistence (or look like a fool) and when I said 'scusami' with a foul look added for good measure, they scooted and the long line of tourists behind me looked very relieved.

I am staying very close to the Testaccio area. After a refreshing shower, a visit to the wonderful Volpetti was in order where I bought lovely cheese and olives and calzone - and the man was very sweet to me and gave me extras (I think because I tried hard with my Italiano!). Opened by brothers Emilio and Claudio Volpetti 40 years ago, this gourmet food store boasts hundreds of varieties of cheese, an awe-inspiring selection of cured meats, top quality oils, balsamic vinegars and condiments.

Then a trudge through Testaccio lugging water, fruit, milk etc. from the supermarket. But the piazzas filled with children playing and the evening light helped make this more enjoyable.

Close to home and a chance to have a drink on busy via Marmorata at Cafe Barberini (established 1925) - two women were just having a prosecco poured plus a miniature croissant came out of the oven - filled with cheese and what looked like red cabbage. I said 'lo stesso per me grazie' (the same for me thanks)! Five euros and I was set with a drink and snack - I hadn't had anything but a pack of nuts to eat since 6 a.m. (Oh - except for on the train to Milan: a little cake made by the daughter of our host at our AirBnB in Unterägeri). I sat on the street outside and watched the world go by.

So I went to nearby Perilli's for dinner - a very old trattoria that has been going since 1911. Well I have a story to tell concerning my poor Italiano skills. It is reputed to have the best carbonara in Rome. But I wasn't sure I was in the mood for pasta. Anyway, the waiter and I agreed it was very good but I thought when I then asked him what other dishes he'd recommend that we'd crossed that one off. I 'smelled a rat' when the carbonara turned up. It was absolutely delicious but I suspected the roast lamb (l'abbacchio) would come too. It did. Lost in translation! It really was lovely but I was so full when I finished! Had a nice half bottle of Ruffino chianti with it too!

Meanwhile, I had an entertaining evening watching a range of locals coming in; also the antics of the waiters, all in white shirts with black cumberbunds. One in particular seemed to be in charge of taking bookings by phone and then would place a white card on a table with a person's name and the booking time printed in black texta. But other waiters would accept 'walk-ins' and take the card off the table and I was just waiting for it all to go pear-shaped. It didn't seem to while I was there, but it certainly seemed to be a recipe for disaster. I thought I saw an Italian version of Geoffrey Rush at one stage: all crumpled cream linen suit and a mop of hair; he seemed to walk in from off-stage and then took a direct diagonal line right through the restaurant to a table in a corner. It wasn't him of course.

So I have the luxury after 4 weeks of a room of my own - my own bathroom too! I can unpack also for the first time and not live out of either a suitcase or a panier. Bliss! I even turn on the TV - first time in 4 weeks also - a choice of soccer or Mother Teresa. Seriously!

I await the arrival of the girls from Panama tomorrow!