Arrivederci Roma – Goodbye Rome

Time To Say Goodbye Rome – “Arrivederci Roma”

It was time to say “Arrivederci Roma”.  We left Sorrento after 3 weeks and were almost finished our 10 weeks in Italy!  After an easy chauffeur driven limo ride from Sorrento to Naples, we caught our high speed train to Rome.

We avoided the crazy crowd at the train station and happily settled into our seats in the quiet business class. There were electrical plugs at each seat, so we worked away.  Or we just sat back and relaxed for the quick 70 minute trip at 300 km/h (almost 200 mph).

We had two nights and one full day in Rome as we dealt with our depression at leaving Italy.  We said goodbye Rome (“Arrivederci Roma”).  And mentally prepared to return to work and the cold.  When we left Rome to the end of our trip it often got ignored as we moped about.

Exiting the train station at Termini, we walked past all the taxis. Our hotel was a few blocks away and we walked. Last year the taxis wanted a fixed rate of 50€ to go the few blocks. I was not in the mood for that fight again.

Staying At The Artimide Hotel in Rome

From the moment we walked into the Artimide Hotel we were pleased. Our room was tucked into a tiny alcove.  It was newly renovated with some attention to modern needs.  We found USB ports at every light outlet, lots of outlets and a variety of lighting options.  The room was dead quiet and had lockout shutters.

The hotel itself was well laid out with lots of nooks for lounging out of our room.  Breakfast was good.  And the rooftop provided both a restaurant and an outdoor patio area.  From the patio we caught the setting sun and a distant view of the birds as they flew over Vatican City. We took our “Arrivederci Roma” pics from there.

Heading Out In Rome For Dinner

We headed off for our Rome walk to dinner. The Spanish Stairs were on our route so we stopped and saw the newly unveiled fountain.  And enjoyed the crowd as they lounged on the stairs as night came on.

We walked quickly through a few alleys that were a bit darker than we felt comfortable with.  When we emerged we were almost at the Ad Hoc Restaurant for dinner. This restaurant specialized in truffles.

There were special truffle dinner selections for appetizers through to after dinner cheese. Neither of us really wanted a heavy truffle dinner.  So we enjoyed the small samples the chef sent out through the night. This year was a bumper crop for the more expensive white truffles.  And the restaurant was full as people enjoyed the truffle specialties and the great service. Our non-truffle dinner was a great ending to our Italian food delight!

A Spa Day At The Artimide Hotel in Rome

The best part of the hotel was full spa service. It didn’t take me long to choose a spa day over a tourist walking day in Rome. In the morning, we went down and moved from water treatment to water treatment for 90 minutes.  We moved between the sauna, steam room, ice bath, mood showers and a large multi-jet jacuzzi.

We sat in the relaxation room when we were done.  I felt like a bowl of jelly and we weren’t done!  Later in the day we went back for a salt scrub, deep tissue massage and a facial. The spa services were not the best I have had.  But they provided a great relaxing way to totally decompress before we returned home.

Not to ruin the mood, David brought a picnic in for lunch and we ate at the hotel for dinner.  A total cocoon day before saying “Arrivederci Roma”.

Flying Home From Rome to Toronto

Our 6am taxi got us through very light traffic quickly to the airport. The first part of our Air Canada flight home was a hop thru Munich with Lufthansa.

The business class check-in was horrid and the shared lounge was minimal with awful food.  We felt that neither experience was worth the extra price we paid for business class on this leg! When we got on the plane and saw Business Class for the Munich leg, our disappointment increased.

To add insult to injury, the plane was delayed with a maintenance issue.  We fretted the whole time about our connection in Munich.  But throughout the flight the stewardess assured us we would make our connection. The 8 of us in Business Class were quite skeptical that we and our bags would make the Toronto flight.  Even with a quick exit from the front of the plane!

Passport control in Munich was very efficient and we arrived at our next plane with a bit of breathing room. We would certainly connect through Munich again!

While we might have felt ripped off on the Rome to Munich portion of our Business Class flight, Lufthansa regained some points on the long flight back to Toronto. With a day flight I did not sleep.  But the service and food were great.

Saying “Arrivederci Roma” Ended Our 10 Week Italy Trip

We know we will be back in Rome again.  And on every gateway stop through Rome we tried something new!  So it was only “Arrivederci Roma” for now!

We arrived relaxed in Toronto and with a quick limo ride home.  This 10 week vacation in Italy was over! Except of course for editing of 15,000 photos and 10 weeks of almost daily blog drafts to get into final shape!

What is the top of your Rome list? 

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