Europe,  Italy,  Rome,  TDM,  Travel Journal

Rome (Italy) #1: Our first days & our Airbnb

Paris – Rome

This time the vacations are really over. After returning the car in Rouen, we take the train to Paris, then an Uber to the Citizen M hotel near Terminal 3 in Charles-de-Gaulle. I highly recommend this hotel which is really tip top(link Booking). It is particularly suitable for business travelers, with many tables to work, fiber optics. The room is ultra modern (we manage the television, the light and the curtains with a tablet. You can even change the color of the light in the shower. It’s useless but it’s fun). And it is only 20 meters from Terminal 3. So no need of shuttle/bus/taxi to go to the airport. It’s great!

That’s when you start to worry. After several months of sedentary life in France, I made a bit too many purchases. Between the food and the cosmetics to be taken in addition, a big sorting is necessary.

And then, check-in at Air France is now automatic. In the past, if one piece of baggage slightly exceeded the weight limit and the other was ridiculously light, the stewardess would close her eyes and let both go through. Now the machine weighs everything and doesn’t close her eyes. We had to respect the maximum weight by adding up our two suitcases, but JB’s one was 4kg too heavy. So we had to transfer 2kg on my small suitcase and carry the remaining 2kg as hand luggage, crossing our fingers because there is a lot of food. But fortunately my beef jerky went through my hand luggage without any problem. OOPS.

Second concern: do you remember that I was bitten by an undetermined insect and the bite areas doubled in volume and became hot? I was so scared that I had a fever. Luckily, the insect did not bite me on my forehead so I was able to pass all the temperature scans & borders. Without any problem. We arrived in Italy on August 30th, one month before Italy imposed the Covid test on the French. Which would have been a big hassle since a negative test is required within 72 hours whereas it is currently very difficult in France to get a test within this time frame.

Ohlala, how good it feels to travel again.

The food is still served on the plane, so the mask is lowered to eat. Everyone must wear a surgical mask otherwise => no travel. We check our temperature twice: before taking the plane and on arrival in Italy.

Mini-“depression”

The border passed without any problem but the stings still hurt me a lot and my morale is really low. I drink a lot of lemon water to evacuate the toxins and cover myself from head to toe to avoid scratching myself while I sleep. However, I sleep very badly and don’t feel like I’m resting at all. During the first week in Rome, I’m like a zombie and I really don’t feel like going out.

In addition to the bites, there are also dental problems (which come back as soon as there is stress, my dentist warned me). My skin, which was very damaged during the road trip, is getting back with a rash that I haven’t had for two years. It hurts like hell, my cheeks are on fire. I feel like I’m disfigured and broken all over. My grandmother left recently, in March (she’s been sick for several years) and I am helplessly suffering the event, not knowing when I could return to Vietnam. My aunt has just been diagnosed with stomach cancer, she is currently undergoing chemo and my mother lost 4 teeth overnight. In the face of health problems, I have never been very brave, and with this genetic baggage, I feel even more depressed thinking that this might be the path I was going to take too.

Once the stings healed, I finally get my life back on track by booking a facial massage at Simona‘s. Baby steps huh. We take care of each other gently.
I wasn’t very well when I came to see her the first time, but she was very receptive and gave me a little speech about self-love, self-care that resonated a lot with me. Back home, I made a plan to deal with the problems one by one. First, I will treat myself with natural methods, and if that doesn’t work, I will opt for medical methods, even if I have to go back to France for two months (finally, I decided to stay longer and get treatment at a reputable dental office in Rome).

Our Airbnb

workspace

Luckily our Airbnb is beautiful, spacious and has fiber optics. It is in the Trastevere district, only 20 minutes walk from the historic center of Rome. We are surrounded by restaurants and after a few weeks, we identify a few favorite places: an ice-cream parlour, a small canteen, a bubble tea, how to buy streetcar tickets online and especially relays where I can receive my parcels (of dental products & care).

We like Rome very much because the historic city center is quite small and pedestrian. The atmosphere is superb, especially because there are few tourists. I had seen more tourists in the Dordogne than here ahaha.

It is still very hot in Rome (25 to 30 degrees) and sitting at the Trevi Fountain, watching people watching, or eating an ice cream in the evening is a little treat that we offer ourselves from time to time. The restaurants are super happy to see us because they have suffered a lot from Covid.

At noon, we go out to eat. In the evening, we make ourselves tomato mozzarella, decorated with leaves of basil of our own plant. Here, basil plants are on sale everywhere. The days when we have the laziness to make the salad, we buy slices of pizza (sold by weight!) just downstairs, 5€ for 3 small slices. We were told that the pizzas here have thin dough, whereas in Naples, the dough is thicker.

I am learning a little Italian but I give up quite quickly because of health problems. Like the French, Italians aren’t very good at English. I think they are as bad in English as I am in Italian 🙂 I have Italian conversation scripts that I create myself for every situation (buying bread, ordering an ice cream, picking up a package, ordering at the restaurant) but as soon as the waiter or the salesman leaves the script (by asking an unexpected question) well I’m lost. Likewise, when I ask them an unexpected question in English, the Italians are lost too 😀 so it creates some pretty funny situations.

Paper flowers

I was finally able to motivate myself to make paper flowers. We are in the land of crepe paper!

Several artists offered free classes during the confinement, so after the confinement, to thank them, I participate in their paid classes on Zoom. We start with the orchid class by Tiffany Turner. This is my version.

And my version of cherry blossoms in crepe paper, even if it’s not the season

Here are a few lines about our first days in Rome. See you soon for the more exciting and above all more joyful travel diaries!

Cf. the travel diary #2 in Rome

Find all our travel diaries in Italy here and in Rome here

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