6 ottobre - Pasta & Spice and Everything Nice

Guh. Morning came too soon. I had three beers the night before over the course of four and half hours so it wasn't alohol related, just not as much sleep as I had been getting nightly. I got up at six and did my personal ritual for Rome, my morning constitutional. Pretty mich the same route that I led my folks on the afternoon before but with no crowds. I walked over to the Trevi Fountain to have it to myself for a few minutes. I always go around 7AM and there's never anyone there. Walked over to the Spanish Steps and reveled in them being free of the hundreds that were camped out there only hours before. All mine. Back to the hotel.

At breakfast I got the count for who wanted reservation times at the Galleria Borghese, gave instructions on getting to the Metro and how to purchase & validate tickets. I went around to each table and discussed their plans for the day and guided them on maps on how to go about it. Campo De Fiore? Piazza Navona? Jewish Ghetto? Shopping? Just be back at the hotel and ready to leave for the Vatican at 6pm.

Whenever we have free time for a significant part of the day I am always asked by clients if they can go where I'm going. My standard response is that I am doing something mundane like paperwork, or laundry. The purpose of this time is for them to explore on their own. Yes this is an escorted tour, but a little personal time so they can “choose your own adventure” is there to make it their own and not be dragged around by a guide 100% of the time.

Two of the ladies are so timid that I made an exception to my rule and told them I would be going to Campo Di Fiore if they wanted to come along. They hadn't really ventured out of the hotel in Sorrento at all, only to the lemon groves just adjacent to the property. They are lifelong friends in their late 50s from a small town in Indiana and had never been to a city bigger than Indianapolis, yet here they are in Italy. I want to do the best I can to ensure they get everything out of this trip that they have paid a LOT of money for. If they were scared to go out in Sorrento there is not way they would leave the hotel in big bad Rome. They were already on my list to get reservations for the Borghese, but that isn't really venturing into the city to experience it.

I secured bookings for the Borghese and gave the times out to the folks, all were able to get in between 10:30 and 12:00, so they could have plenty of time to go elsewhere afterward. My Indiana gals had first entry at 10:30 so I told them to go and have a great time and I would wait for them to come backto the hotel and ring my room if I wasn't in the lounge. We could then go to Campo Di Fiore and Torre Argentina. I could take a short nap. Yay!

Did my “office hours” in the foyer / lounge and went up for a short nap from 11 to 12. The ladies rang at 1pm and we ventured out to the streets of the Eternal City. I took them to Campo Di Fiori where I purchased a bag of mixed spices I love, a frittata mix and over to Torre Argentina to view the ruins and spy on some cats roaming about their sanctuary. Lunch at a mom & pop trattoria. I loved the tonnarelli with a tomatoe-y, eggplant and mushroom sauce. It would have been a long walk back so we shared cabfare and our driver zipped us around back uptown.

They thanked me over and over for letting them come with me while I attended to my personal shopping expedition. No problem. I assured them that while Rome is huge, it is definitely navigable on your own, and their response was that while Rome scared them a bit, they would definitely go out on their own with no fears in Florence and Venice. Good for them!