Hailey's Novel Diary – 6/29/17

One of the characters has to go to Rome. I tried to avoid it, but it's inevitable. The more I want to keep everything in Los Angeles, the more everyone travels around.

I have been to Rome, but I don't want to get into any detailed descriptions of the city. This is not a travel guide.

Then I found out where Bernardo Bertolucci lives. It's kind of scary how easy it was to find. Hopefully, that is a former house and he moved. We don't have to go to his house, and I would never give the address, whether he still lives there or not, but I like the neighborhood. It's a pretty good place to live, which makes sense.

Knowing all of this, and being a firm believer in privacy, I mapped out a route in my head from the Palazzo Navona Hotel to his house. Then I checked a map to see how accurate I was. As it turns out, I made a few serious bad turns along the way. So I might keep my route. If anyone actually follows it, they will never get to his house. The streets and sights are real, but they don't lead to Bertolucci.

Not that it really matters, but I chose the Palazzo Navona Hotel at random. I have never been there, but it is in a great location.

Rome part 9

Inside the Pantheon in Rome

Rome part 8

Here are more pictures from the Europe trip.


The Spanish Steps in Rome




The Colosseum inside & out

Euro Money

There was a time when going to Rome & Amsterdam, we would have to change our Hong Kong dollars into Italian lira and Dutch guilder. Now we only had to change Hong Kong dollars to euros.

When you travel, you’re supposed to look at the exchange rate of wherever you live, but I’m still thinking in American dollars. So if you tell me something costs HK$10, I think of it as US$1. When we converted our Hong Kong dollars to euros, I didn’t think of it as Hong Kong dollars to euros. I thought of it as American dollars to euros. If something in Rome cost 10 euros. I didn’t think of it as HK$100. I thought of it as US$14.


American dollars

Hong Kong dollars

Euros

Rome part 7

The Trevi Fountain needs no introduction. If you’ve ever been to Rome or seen any movies set in Rome, you’ve seen it. Audrey Hepburn goes to it in Roman Holiday. Anita Ekberg swims in it in that Fellini movie. She was really beautiful back then.

They say if you throw a coin in the fountain, you’ll return to Rome one day. I threw in a couple coins just to be sure. But not three. I didn’t need that song stuck in my head all day.

It was also very crowded all the time, but it’s one of those things that everybody’s looking at from the same direction. You can take pictures of it on the busiest day and you’d never know there were a hundred people standing next to you when you did.

It was only a few blocks up the street from our hotel, so we went there more than a few times on the way to other places. It’s like Avenue of the Stars in Hong Kong. Once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. There’s not much reason to go back, but I always walk along the harbour whenever I’m in the neighborhood.


Trevi Fountain
Imagine a million people in every other direction but this

Vittorio Emanuele Monument
Imagine a million cars driving past

Rome part 6

The Sistine Chapel was always at the top of my list of things to see in Rome. Michelangelo was a genius. To get to it, you have to go through a few other rooms with art by people like Raphael and Bernini. The whole Vatican museum was very impressive.

You’re not allowed to take pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, and it’s a rule they take seriously. I saw a few people try to sneak out their cameras and the guards were on them right away. You can’t get any good shots anyway unless you have a very good camera. The room is too dark without flash and flash won’t work because the ceiling is too far away. You can take pictures in the main hall of St Peter’s church, but they don’t want you to use flash.

After waiting in a very long line to get into the church, we waited in a very long line to go to the top of the huge dome. There’s an elevator that goes to the top, but that line was ridiculous. Instead, we waited in a shorter line to climb up hundreds of stairs. At the end you’re in a very narrow spiral staircase with hundreds of other people. It’s too small to stop and take a break and too crowded to let others pass. Getting to the top was hell, but the views of Rome were heavenly.

We went to St Angelo’s Castle on the way to St Peter’s, but it paled in comparison. It’s pretty good as far as ancient forts go, but St Peter’s is one of the architectural wonders of the world.


St Peter's Square

Michelangelo's Pieta

St Angelo’s Castle

Rome part 5

The Roman Forum is what’s left of the capital of the Roman Empire. What’s now ruins and rocks used to be the streets and buildings were Julius Caesar was killed, the Senate planned all their wars and Nero watched everything burn.

It’s a very short walk from the Colosseum. Everyone goes there. So did we, of course, but I liked the Forum better. The Colosseum was always crowded and you couldn’t really walk around and take everything in because it was just a mass of people. I guess the way it was back when they used it to kill people. The Forum was never too crowded. I got the impression that people walked by it on their way to the Colosseum and didn’t really know what it was.

You have to wait in a long line to buy a ticket to get into the Colosseum, wait in a long line to get in and pass a security check. Almost like going to a modern sports stadium. To get into the Forum, you just walk in and walk around. It’s free.

The Colosseum is impressive and it’s great to imagine all the spectacle that went on there, but for historical impact, I’ll take the Forum.


Roman Forum










Colosseum

Rome part 4

Trajan’s Forum is what’s left of a public square built by the Roman emperor Trajan. I don’t know much about him, but apparently he won a few wars and built a lot of stuff in Rome that’s still around, in ruin form at least.

The main part is Trajan’s Market, which was a market in the same sense that we use it. It was basically a large shopping mall with all kinds of shops, a food court and even apartments. They also had concerts. This is where the government gave people free baskets of wheat to keep everyone in line.

Trajan’s Column is a large pole dedicated to the emperor.

Rome part 3

Our hotel in Rome was very close to the Vittorio Emanuele Monument, Roman Forum and Trajan’s Forum. We passed all of them every day. The Vittorio Emanuele Monument is a very large building dedicated to the first president of Italy. It’s not nearly as old as most of the famous buildings in Rome, but it was right around the corner from out hotel.

The hotel had a dining patio on the roof with great views toward St Peter’s church. It was also very close to several excellent Italian restaurants. I love Italian food and I can never seem to find a good restaurant in Hong Kong. In Minneapolis, there’s a great pizzeria near the island, across the street from Surdyk’s, and the best little Italian deli in Victory near Crystal Lake, but I haven’t found anything in Hong Kong. Our hotel in Rome was surrounded by great food.

Traffic at Vittorio Emanuele

Rome part 2

We’re back in Hong Kong.

That was the best vacation ever. Rome is such an amazing city. Everything was great – the food, the architecture, the food, the history, the food, the museums, the food, the parties, the food, the scenery and did I mention the food? This may go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, Rome has some great Italian food. Italian food in Italy is a million times better than Italian food in Hong Kong. I’m sure Chinese food in Hong Kong is a million times better than Chinese food in Italy. That’s one of the things I really miss about American food – it’s not just one type. In Hong Kong you eat Chinese food every day. In Italy you eat Italian food every day. In America you can eat something completely different every day.

The big surprise of the trip was Amsterdam. I was expecting windmills, tulips, pot and hookers. Amsterdam is actually an impressive little city. The quaint cobblestone streets wind around canals that spread out all over the place. There are a million bridges and beautiful old buildings. Rome is a big sprawling modern city and Amsterdam is an old world European town.

Our Amsterdam hotel was perfect. It was an old building – actually several old buildings together – but the inside was clean and fresh. There were floral prints all over the place and the lobby had fresh flowers every day. They also served free coffee and snacks every day. Our Rome hotel was beautiful, but the staff seemed annoyed that we didn’t speak any Italian. Mi dispiace. Almost everybody in Amsterdam speaks English and the hotel staff was very friendly and welcoming.

Now I wish we’d spent more time in Amsterdam. I was so focused on Rome that Amsterdam turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. But we never saw any windmills.

I’ve got lots of pictures I need to upload, but right now I’m gearing up for the big Halloween party tonight. When it’s busy, it’s busy.

Rome part 1

We’re in Rome. It’s such a beautiful city, and huge. I knew we were never going to see all of it, but once you’re here you really can tell just how large this city is.

The hotel is everything I expected. It’s beautiful inside and out. It’s on a small street that quickly turns off to a larger street that goes everywhere. We can easily walk to the Colosseum, Piazza Venezia, Vittorio Emanuele, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, all kinds of restaurants, tons of shopping and about a million churches.

The bathroom is smaller than our Hong Kong apartment, and that’s saying something. Hong Kong apartments aren’t known for large bathrooms. Ryan didn’t know what the bidet was. I had to show him how to use it. There is no bathtub – just a shower that’s far too small for two people. That’s a disappointment. We don’t have a bathtub in Hong Kong either and I miss taking baths together. At least in our apartment we can both squeeze into the shower together. There’s no way two midgets could fit together in the hotel shower.

Something I noticed as soon as we walked into the room was how high the ceilings are. Everything in Hong Kong is so low that I was forgetting the rest of the world is taller.

No time to blog – lo sono a roma.

When in Rome

We’re leaving for Rome on Friday. I can’t believe it’s so soon. I’m pretty excited.

Ryan’s more excited about Amsterdam. I’m still not sure what to do about his birthday.

Fully Booked

Finding a hotel in Amsterdam was incredibly easy. When I was looking up Rome hotels, there were pages and pages of listings. Maybe there aren’t as many hotels in Amsterdam. The best part is that most of them seem to be the smaller boutique hotels that I like. There are a few large chains, but those are the most expensive places anyway. Since we’re not going to be in Amsterdam as long as Rome, I didn’t spend as much time looking around.

Everything’s booked, confirmed and ready to go. We’ve got all of our plane tickets and hotels in Rome and Amsterdam. All that’s left is packing and waiting. And maybe we should pick up a few euros.

Europe Vacation part 9

We finally found a travel agent that’s willing to just sell plane tickets and not try to get us onto any tours or any of that. So now we have plane tickets to Amsterdam and then a quick flight to Rome. We leave Hong Kong at 11:30pm and arrive in Rome at 9:30am. That couldn’t be better. I can sleep on the plane and we’ll still have the whole day in Rome. Because of the time difference, we’ll arrive in Rome 10 hours after we leave, even though it’s a 16 hour flight. The flipside to that is even though the return flight is 15 hours, we’ll lose a day. We leave Rome at 5:30pm and arrive in Hong Kong at 2:30pm – the next day. The tickets are $600 more than what I found online last month, but now those tickets are even higher. The prices seem to go up every day.

Europe Vacation part 8

I can’t wait for your big trip to Rome. I think about it all the time. I’m dying for some real Italian food. People keep telling me about good Italian restaurants in Hong Kong, but every time I go to one, it’s never as good as I want it to be. It’s very hard to get authentic food that isn’t Chinese around here. Hong Kong has such a wide variety of people from all over the world, but all the restaurants have at least some element of Chinese influence in them. I’m sure the tourists don’t come to Hong Kong to eat American or European food, but I think it would be nice to have a few authentic foreign restaurants for the rest of us. I like Chinese food, but I’ve been eating it every day for seven months. I’d like a little variety now and then.

Europe Vacation part 7

I’m slowly accepting the fact that we’ll have to go to a travel agent to get plane tickets to Rome. I didn’t want to do that. Chinese travel agents don’t seem very trustworthy to me. Everything is a package deal. They don’t want you to just get plane tickets. They also try to sell hotel rooms, guided tours, shopping sprees, almost anything. I just want plane tickets.

I’ve heard stories about some of these tours. They take a bus full of people out to see what the tour guide wants to see and then dump everyone at some shopping area where the owners pay the guides to bring in the tourists. I’m going to Rome. I want to see what I want to see. Some group tour in Chinese isn’t what I’m looking for. I’m sure I’ll do plenty of shopping – more than Ryan wants – but my kind of shopping isn’t the same as a bunch of old Chinese people shopping.

I’ve also heard that the tour guides take everyone’s passports and don’t give them back until all the shopping is over. That’s completely unacceptable. My passport stays with me.

I’m not saying Chinese tour guides are con artists because they’re Chinese. It’s probably more about being able to get away with it. Most American businesses will rip you off if given half a chance.

Europe Vacation part 6

Finding plane tickets to Rome isn’t easy. So far the cheapest thing I’ve seen online is $2,080. That one stops in Paris, but there’s no time to see anything since the next flight leaves two hours later. There don’t seem to be any direct flights from Hong Kong to Rome. That’s weird since Hong Kong airport is huge and flights seem to go everywhere – everywhere except Rome. Some of the flights go from Hong Kong to Doha or Dubai – which I don’t even know if we’d need visas to pass through.

If we want, we can fly Hong Kong to Frankfurt to Athens to Rome for $8,250. Why would anyone do that when you can do it for a lot less in only one stop? All those extra stops makes the total flight time 28 hours. That’s just crazy. It’s probably faster to just fly to Frankfurt and take a train or local airline to Rome.

Europe Vacation part 5

Finding a hotel has been difficult. There are too many choices in Rome. I think I found a good one. It’s a smaller boutique hotel. I don’t want to stay in a huge chain hotel. Ryan doesn’t care as long as it’s not too expensive. But this is Rome. The good hotels are going to be expensive. The cheap hotels are, well, cheap. This is a major vacation for us and I don’t want to be stuck in some crappy hotel. The one I picked is on a quiet little street, but close to Piazza Venezia.

The pictures on the website look good, but you never know. I’ve been looking around a while now and I’ve seen some horrible pictures. Some hotels look like boxes with a bed against the wall. My hotel looks beautiful – well decorated with lots of color on the inside and an old European hotel on the outside. I just hope that’s what it really looks like offline.

Europe Vacation part 4

We’re going to Rome! We both made a list of places in Europe we wanted to see and Rome was the highest one on both of our lists. It wasn’t number one for either of us. Ryan’s number one was Amsterdam and mine was Paris, but I’m more than willing to take Rome. When I pointed out that we could get into Paris Disneyland for free, Ryan said that the last thing he wants to do on vacation is go to Disneyland. He’s got a point. I’m not sure I’d want to go there either if I’m in Paris. There are just too many better things to do.

We barely speak any Italian – outside of ordering food and nord, sud, est and ovest – but that’s ok. We barely speak any Chinese, but we’ve been living in Hong Kong for six months. I’m sure we’ll survive two weeks in Rome with our Americano accents.