Benvenuti a Roma … and to Our Apartment

Monday, 31 August 2015
Trevi Comfortable Terrace Apartment — Rome, Italy
Temps: Hi 81F (27C) / Lo 72F (22C)

The previous two posts covered the 32 hours it took us to get from Houston to Rome … this one picks up from where I welcomed you to the Italian airspace … 

[As it was already dusk, I didn’t take any photos on the way into town, so I’m interspersing photos of the apartment we rented in Rome instead.]

Despite the delay in taking off from İstanbul, TK1863 was wheels down at FCO at 5:50p [Rome time; 7 hours ahead of Houston] … 15 minutes ahead of its original ETA.  The foreign citizen immigration line was non-existent, allowing us to breeze through passport control in minutes.  Our luggage, on the other hand, took its own sweet time arriving at the baggage carousel, but since all three bags were there, no complaints.

Giancarlo, from the car service we had booked through RomeLoft, was waiting for us outside customs when we exited shortly after 6:30p.  Minutes later, we were on our way into Rome.

The windows in the hallway leading from the apartment door
to the foyer overlook an interior courtyard.

At first, traffic was nil and we were making good time.  Unfortunately, before long our pace slowed to a crawl.  Our driver attributed the slow-down to an accident, which may well have been the case as eventually we picked up speed.  As we drove, Mui pointed out some distant landmarks, but by then it was too dark to take photos from a moving vehicle, so I had to be satisfied with recording the images in my mind.

The master, living room, and kitchen all upon onto the foyer.

The foyer is furnished with family heirlooms.

Once at the apartment building, Giancarlo turned us over to the representative from RomeLoft, the agency through which we rented the apartment that will be home to us for the first two weeks of our Roman holiday.  I’m sure the rep introduced himself by name, but frankly neither of us can remember — put it down to being dead tired after having been on the go for so many hours.

Living Room — my favorite piece of furnishing in the apartment is the antique hutch.

I love this tryptch of Roman landmarks … it whets my appetite for what’s to come.

He escorted us up to apartment #18 (on the 5th floor), gave us a tour of the rooms, and showed us the ins and outs of living here … including how the recycling works, where to dispose of the trash, where the fuse boxes are, etc.  After we paid the balance owed, as well as the Rome accommodation tax, which is extra and must be paid in cash, our check-in process was completed.

Dining Room with a peak into the kitchen.

The apartment is centrally located, with two metro stops — Piazza Barberini and Piazza di Spagna — almost equidistant to us; a bus stop is just down the street.  It is furnished in part with the family’s own heirloom pieces — which I love … makes the place so much more personable.

The kitchen is fully equipped; the provisions on the counter are part of the breakfast
basket we ordered for tomorrow morning … we’ll be self-catering after that.

The master has a king bed and an ensuite; off the living room is a space that has been converted to a bedroom with bunk beds; there’s a second bathroom down the corridor.  Since my nephew will be joining us before we move to the apartment we rented for the family portion of the trip, this will work out nicely.

The Master and Ensuite

Bunk beds in the converted-to-bedroom space and the second
bathroom down the hallway where the washer and dryer is located.

Off the converted-bedroom space is a small terrace with a typical Roman neighborhood view.  Off in the distance we can see part of the façade of Santissima Trinità dei Monti, the Roman Catholic church that overlooks the Spanish Steps.  Unfortunately it is covered by a fabric panel as the building is under restoration at the moment.

This small terrace — where we hope to enjoy many a meal — is one of the reasons we rented
this apartment, which is described as “Trevi Comfortable Terrace Apartment” on the website.

From the terrace, we have a typical “Rome Neighborhood” view.

By the time we had taken possession of the keys to the apartment, it was almost 8:30p.  Although our bodies begged to get some much needed shuteye, we wanted to stay up at least another hour to adjust ourselves to the local time … something that we find helps tremendously with jet lag.

So, we figuratively pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and headed out to get some gelato and check out the Trevi Fountain, which is a five minute walk from the apartment.  The gelato was excellent — dark chocolate and mango … yummmm!  Unfortunately, the famed fountain was dry as a bone and surrounded by plexiglass panels.  This wasn’t a surprise as we had read that the Trevi was undergoing restoration.  We’ll keep our fingers crossed that the water will be flowing again before we leave so that we can throw a couple of coins in the fountain to ensure a return trip to the Eternal City.

© 2004-2015 Two to Travel.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.