Silent All These Years: When in Rome

Monday, August 07, 2006

When in Rome

Who coined the phrase 'when in Rome, do as Romans do'? Really, why? If I act like the 'Romans' do I would be aloof, act like a disgruntled salesperson, crabby front desk personnel or self promoting restaurant owner as those were just some of the strange behavior I observed from them Romans so the idiom 'when in Rome' makes no sense. I felt Rome is nothing if not for the Coliseum, Vatican, Spanish Steps and other history sites. Rome was congested, hot in summer, dirty, no different from many Metropolitan cities I know but lacked the excitement of New York. It was maybe we were both tired from trekking through Italy via Trenitalia and having walked a distance of the Great Wall equivalent. I wore my runners thin but it was so worth it. Well, maybe I've been too hard on Rome. Vatican City was impressive. The Coliseum beautiful even its maybe 60% of the original structure left and seriously, where was Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, they were both not to be found and I LOOKED! We checked out a new fusion restaurant which Frommers claimed F.I.S.H was a place to be seen. It took us quite a while to locate the place. The room was modern, the tables crammed as we were stuck next to loud talking Italian woman buying her younger free loading boyfriend dinner. She was oohing and ahhing when the server brought her different plates of sushi and sashimi. I was like 'lady, that was just a piece of tuna you were oohing over, does it really give you an orgasm, come on' Maybe this was her first break from her daily intake of penne and tiramisu. I know, why fusion as we're in Rome? I needed a break from complex carb and was craving soy sauce of any kind. The Asian in me was deprived for the last 12 days! Anyhoo, I have to write Frommers a letter as this restaurant was utterly disappointing. The fish was not fresh enough and I saw their version of Nasi Goreng which looked more like mere fried rice. Their baked scallop in a banana leaf was bland and the bill was steep. And this banana leaf thing, such a South East Asian rip off and their technique was all wrong. I should know as I grew up eating loads of food baked in banana leaves. It was my least favourite place to eat in all of Italy. Final note to self, when in Rome, just eat Italian.

We had a lot of R&R in Italy. After doing all the 'touristy' stuff for the first 2 days. We spent our final 2 days lazing around, sitting down for a gelato, people watch, had more wine, day time naps, evening pre-dinner naps, surf the net, read the 2 books I brought, it was La Dolce Vita for me.

Sigh. I miss Italy.

We did spend about 1.5 day in Frankfurt Germany and I am now inspired to visit Germany one day. I love how clean and modern everything is and oddly enough, the people seemed friendlier. The taxis at the airport were mostly brand new Mercedes or BMW, wow!

I can finally say I've been to Europe and what a trip.

Now, that's a wrap!

Me on the Spanish Steps

posted by movetothis @ 10:03 am

2 Comments:

At 5:45 am, Anonymous said…

LOL I love how you bitch about Rome! This entry has inspired me to crank up the bitching about Rome in my next entry. Particularly about the food! LOL

Naps on vacation? WTF? That is a travel NO NO for me! I barely even sleep during my vacation time! I literally run on adrenaline like 24hrs.

Frankfurt? Are you serious? I have been warned not to go there because it is the financial capital of Germany and thus ueber boring and stale. I need to take you around Berlin and feed you to all the "wild animals" at night :)
At 12:24 pm, movetothis said…

Rome had tons to bitch about, such high expectations but it met little..and yes, you MUST tell me where to go in Berlin as Germany totally intrigues me.