Our day began with us finishing our packing for Rome and having a leisurely conversation with Jim and Anne. Our train was scheduled to depart at 11:20, so at 10:00 we headed out for the funicular (video able here) and then to the train station.
Well, that’s when the “fun” began. Our train was now delayed until about 12:20. We had already planned to have a caffe drink with Jim and Anne before we left, now it would just be a longer time to drink our cappuccinos. Oh, wait, now the train is delayed until 12:45 and the stops at the two Rome stations are cancelled. We will now have to get off the train in Orte and change to the next train to Rome. Let’s look at the schedules. Oh, okay, we get in 4 minutes before the delayed train to Rome leaves. And they are on the same platform. Good, that’s what we’ll do. Oh, hold on, now the train to Rome is on time and we’ll miss it. The next train to Rome through Orte is the train that comes through Orvieto at 13:27. Let’s just stay in Orvieto and talk with Jim and Anne and the couple we met at the station who are from Owatonna, Minnesota.
All right, the train arrived in Orvieto about seven minutes late, but that’s fine. We’re on the train and we arrived in Rome at about 15:00. A little later than we had hoped, but it works, just fine. We stood in line for, maybe, 15 minutes for a taxi, but once we were in the car, things went very well. We arrived at the apartment and were met by Alessandra, our host. In addition to being an Airbnb host, she has her PhD in anthropology and works at the National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography. She was a wealth of information, though, maybe, a bit verbose.
After having a bite of bread and a beer at the apartment, we went exploring in the Trastevere neighborhood, in which our apartment is located. This is an amazing area. The two things that we didn’t really care too much for were, lots of graffiti (not the cool stuff, mostly just tags) and it’s the weekend. Guess we weren’t thinking clearly when we booked here for a Saturday night. It is very crowded and surprisingly the Italians are very loud (where is that sarcasm when you need it). We did get to see a beautiful church, Santa Maria in Trastevere and another, St. Crisogono, but both had Saturday Mass being held, so pictures aren’t our usual look. In fact, the only pictures at St. Crisogono is of its intricate mosaic floor and belltower.
During our afternoon stroll, we stopped to have a drink at Freni e Frizioni (Brakes and Clutches). Linda had read that they served a great aperitivo. Well, she was right. There were multiple rice and pasta dishes, humus, cous cous, and other things. A very nice spread for “free”. The drinks were odd. Dave had a Puppet (Bulleit, Yellow Chartreuse, Lemon, Sugar, Mango & Pink Pepper Chutney) and Linda had a Wild Style (Pisco Porton Italia, Acid Green Apple, Matcha & Wasabi Syrup, Ancho Reyes Verde, Egg White). Both were very good. While we sat outside at the bar, the temperature dropped dramatically and the wind really picked up. We decided it was time to get out of our warm weather clothes.
Dave suggested we eat something (oddly, we saw a Mexican restaurant and that sounded appealing to him). Linda said she had enough aperitivo, so she wasn’t hungry. Dave suggested we go change and head back out. We started back to the apartment and came upon a restaurant with a takeaway door. Dave ordered a meatball sandwich and it was really good.
We changed into long pants and a sweater/jacket (depending on which of us you are) and went back out for another walk. The weather was much better. The wind had slowed and that made all the difference in the world. It was so much better, we had gelato (We know, who would have thought). Along the way, we encountered a jazz band playing on the street. If you’d like to hear a little bit of their music, you can click here: Trastevere Street Music.
We decided we had had enough fun for the day, so we went back to the apartment and started thinking about tomorrow.
If you would like to look at the pictures in the post in more detail, you can click here: 2022-09-17 Orvieto to Rome
2022 Italy Vacation 
crazy sounding drinks especially Linda’s
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