Jaunted

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Are Bits and Pieces of Rome's Colosseum Starting to Crumble?

If you’ve been thinking about visiting Rome in 2012 you might just want to confirm things sooner than later—especially if you want to visit the Colosseum during your trip.

It’s not like the ancient Colosseum is being relocated or demolished, but there is a little bit of a concern that the thing is starting to crumble. Obviously it has seen its share of history, and 2,000+ years of wear and tear is starting to show its effect.

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Keep the Gum in Your Mouth to Keep Rome Clean

We knew that the City of Lights didn’t enjoy chewing gum, and now it sounds like the Eternal City feels the same way. Rome would love it if you’d dispose of your gum properly, but if you just need to toss it on the sidewalk—c’mon people—they’re planning a new initiative to clean it up.

Recently the cleanup started in and around Largo Argentina—that’s one of the spots with plenty of historic ruins (and feral cats)—as crews and volunteers hit the pavement prepared to scrape and scrub the sidewalks. According to some city officials responsible for garbage collection each gum removal costs like one euro—um, really—so it sounds like a pretty expensive undertaking.

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It May Look Modest, But This Could Be the Best Gelato in Rome

When we’re in Rome, we like to do what the Romans do and eat a lot of gelato. In fact, one of the great things about Italy is the art the culture that eating ice cream isn’t just a tourist thing.

One place we’d heard a lot about, but never visited, was Il Gelato di San Crispino, tucked away on a back street behind the Trevi Fountain. When we say tucked away, we mean tucked away; there’s only a tiny sign announcing its presence.

But it’d probably be overrun if it was any more exposed. Because the gelato of San Crispino is superlative. Only fresh ingredients are used—no preservatives, nothing frozen, only seasonal things—and boy does it show.

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The Newbie Traveler / Rome Travel / Italy Travel / Tourism / Tourists / Culture Shock / Andy Miles / Europe Travel / → All Tags

Tips and Tricks for Fellow Newbie European Travelers

What would your life be like if you hadn't yet traveled to Europe? If you'd spent years reading travel novels and fantasizing over guidebooks, but hadn't made the big leap? This is the case for Andy Miles, who in his late twenties is embarking on his first trip to the continent and walking us through the emotions and observations of a true Newbie Traveler. Read his previous adventures and follow along all week as Andy takes us along on his inaugural Euro journey.

For my final installment of this Newbie Traveler series I wanted to pass along some tips that other newbie (or even seasoned) travelers may find useful. If you followed along on my journey this week, you'll see that I went to London, Paris, Rome, and Zurich and even though I know I have much more to see and learn, I feel that I'm pretty well versed in the intricacies of European travel.

1. If you plan to do a lot of traveling by train, and your pocketbook allows for it, I would always suggest trying to upgrade to first class. I know, this tip probably sounds as obvious as "when flying, try to sit in first class," but to be honest we never found it prohibitively expensive. It's something you can take care of right there at the train station even if you already have economy tickets. Just go to the train and look for someone in a uniform. Most of them carry mobile devices and can upgrade you on the spot!

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The Newbie Traveler / Rome Travel / Italy Travel / Tourism / Tourists / Culture Shock / Andy Miles / → All Tags

The Newbie Traveler Treads the Cobblestones of Rome

What would your life be like if you hadn't yet traveled to Europe? If you'd spent years reading travel novels and fantasizing over guidebooks, but hadn't made the big leap? This is the case for Andy Miles, who in his late twenties is embarking on his first trip to the continent and walking us through the emotions and observations of a true Newbie Traveler. Read his previous adventures and follow along all week as Andy takes us along on his inaugural Euro journey.

I know Rome is a big deal, but having the opportunity to see it up close and personal gave me new perspectives on life, time, and how many things in this world are temporal. The Roman ruins have such a presence that they emit a feeling of history, and even if you didn't know much about Rome, you'd know that something very significant happened there.

After getting settled at the hotel, we decided to go downstairs to find something to eat. Instead of just winging it on our own, we figured it'd be a good idea to ask the concierge for a suggestion. I sauntered up to the desk and asked, "Is there some good Italian food around here?" As the words were leaving my mouth my own internal dialogue was "ARE YOU REALLY ASKING HIM THIS RIGHT NOW?!" Thankfully, he just laughed and said, "Of course!"

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The Newbie Traveler / Paris Travel / France Travel / Tourism / Tourists / Train Travel / Culture Shock / Andy Miles / Rome Travel / → All Tags

The Newbie Traveler Leaves His Smoking Jacket Home for the Night Train to Rome

What would your life be like if you hadn't yet traveled to Europe? If you'd spent years reading travel novels and fantasizing over guidebooks, but hadn't made the big leap? This is the case for Andy Miles, who in his late twenties is embarking on his first trip to the continent and walking us through the emotions and observations of a true Newbie Traveler. Read his previous adventures and follow along all week as Andy takes us along on his inaugural Euro journey.

This was the moment I had been looking forward to for months. A night train from Paris to Rome. It just felt too good to be true. I expected to chugga-chug through the French countryside, gazing upon family-owned wineries untouched by modern innovations for hundreds of years, sheep on rolling hills and romantic stone archways. In my fantasies, I'd do this while sipping Perrier and conversing with my fellow passengers in the dining car—while wearing a velour smoking jacket, of course.

Later, after an Old Fashioned or four, I'd wrap up my conversations about the current European economic climate and retire to my room for an evening turndown service graciously provided by our train car's attendant. An assortment of Italian chocolates to leave my palate with a taste as sweet as the evening had been? Yes, please!

Unfortunately, the night train to Rome was nothing like that. Nothing at all.

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Rome Now Demanding Daily 'Tourist Tax' from All Visitors

Raise your hand if you're planning on heading to Rome any time in future...and you may as well take your wallet, too. A new and very controversial tourist tax is being levied on visitors to the Eternal City, and it even applies to business travelers and Italians being tourists in their own country.

The new tax, which went into effect on January 1, 2011, requires these extra payments to be made:

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Foreign Grocery Friday: Eucalyptus Liqueur from an Italian Abbey

When we travel, one of our favorite things to do is to pop into a local grocery store and check out the food products and candies we'd never find anywhere else. So we're trying out this new feature, Foreign Grocery Friday, where each week we'll feature some of our (and your) favorite overseas treats. Got a recommendation? Let us know!

This is a rare one we have today; indeed we never knew of its existence until we saw it with our own eyes. For the over 21 group only (or any age, if you're in Italy), we're drinking Eucalyptus Liqueur from the Benedictine Trappist Abbey of Tre Fontane, in Rome. Forget the liqueur for a moment, as the area where it's made is interesting enough on its own. Tre Fontane is so named because it is believed that this is where Saint Paul was beheaded, his head bouncing three times and sprouting three fountains, where there are now three churches.

Because the monks are Trappist, it means they must make their living off the land, so this order specializes in creating chocolate and unique liqueurs, the most notable of which is the Eucalittino, made of the Eucalyptus trees that surround the abbey.

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Rome's Fiumicino Airport Is Not The Easiest Place to Spend the Night

There are some good things about Rome's Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport. It's has some very pretty diplays, for instance, and there are rotating exhibits showcasing Italy's history that are kind of interesting.

But there are also some unpleasant things about FCO. It's the international HQ of Alitalia for instance, and the service is predictably chaotic. It is not unheard of to see the entire Alitalia customer service desk staffed by a single person during the height of morning rush hour. That's not a problem though, because when Italians complain about customer service they do so quickly and efficiently, without any extravagant hand waving or embellishment (no, not really). Also the security sucks. Also it's a pain to get to. Also it's one of the world's worst airports for spending the night. And we thought Budapest was bad.

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Could the Sistine Chapel Close to Tourists?

Looks like having 4 million tourists clogging the halls of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel each year is taking its toll. During a regular dusting of the frescoes this summer, crews found alarming signs of wear. Apparently the smog, dust and humidity that all those sweaty people generate is harming Michelangelo's famous work.

Antonio Paolucci, the director of Rome's Vatican Museums, told Voice of America that the continuous hordes of tourists are putting a lot of pressure on the Sistine Chapel and that greater efforts must be made to ensure that maintenance inspections are carried out.

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Rome's New Zaha Hadid-Designed MAXXI Museum Finally Has a Little Art

We have to remember that while we had a long Memorial Day weekend in the US, business as usual continued on around the rest of the world, and this included the official opening of Rome's new Zaha Hadid-designed MAXXI contemporary art museum.

MAXXI, which works out to mean "National Museum of the XXI Century Arts," actually briefly opened its doors back in November, when the public was invited to tour the architectural masterpiece without any art yet installed inside, when the NYT called it a "space-age highway interchange." This time however, there are exhibits aplenty to see, and we're totally crushing on the one pictured above—"The Western Wall" by Fabio Mauri.

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What City is Host to the Fanciest McDonald's? Hint: Mosaics!

Have you ever been traveling somewhere really remote or of historical importance, and then turned around and spotted a McDonald's? We have! From the Yuyuan Gardens in Shanghai to the Negev Desert in Israel, the world is peppered with Shocking McDonald's locations, and we're trying to map them all.

Helping us out, a reader emailed to tip us off to the fanciest McDonald's, which was also the first to be in Italy; it opened on March 20, 1986, and is still going strong next to the Spanish Steps in Rome. We've actually been to this one a few times when we lived in Rome, and we can vouch for its ritzy interior (mosaics!) and breadth of offerings (salad bar!), but let's hear what a more recent visitor had to say about it:

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