Steve Firth wrote:
> JNugent
NPPTG.com> wrote:>> PeterT wrote:
>>> Me & wife have decided to be frivilously mobile in July and pop over
>>> to Rome for a few days. Flying in Fuimicino Airport - anyone have any
>>> advice on how to get from there to the city? Plan to make a token
>>> gesture and take a train.
> Train is about the only way IMO, the taxi drivers are bastards and the
> hire car companies at Fiumicino are staffed by "I don't give a toss"
> rentadroids and the cars available are all abused, battered and
> unreliable. Every time I've had to use Fiumicino and hire a car it has
> taken four or five attempts before finding a car that works properly.
> Make sure you get the Leonardo Express which takes 30 minutes from
> Fiumicino to Termini. The trains leave at five past and 25 minutes to
> the hour starting at 06:35 and ending at 23:35. There's also the Metro
> which has trains every 15 minutes to Tiburtina. It takes much longer
> than the express.
> Although I live fairly close to Rome, my approach to Rome is not
> actually to go there or stay there. On the few occasions when we have
> visited I drive to Ikea (Ciampino) and leave the car in Ikeas car park
> and get the bus from Ikea to Colosseo. When we did a tourist visit I
> drove to Ostia Lido and stopped in a hotel there. Much nicer to be in a
> hotel on the beach than to be in Rome. The hotel's a short walk from the
> Metro so it's an easy ride into Rome.
> If you've never been, I can recommend a trip out of the city to visit
> Ostia Antica, the ancient port of Rome. There's a lot to see and it's
> right by the side of Fiumicino.
> If you're looking for somewhere to eat in the centre I can reccomend "La
> Fontanella" on Via Sistina near the Piazza Barberini and a short walk
> from the Trevi fountain. It's the sort of restaurant where romans tend
> to eat rather than tourists and the prices are reasonable. It's one of
> the best around and offers typical Roman cooking as well as more general
> "oh, I'm in Italy" food. La Fontanella, Via Sistina, 151.
>> I've never flown to Rome (always driven in from the SS1 or A1), and when
>> my son flew there he had a hire car, but I understand that there is a
>> rail service to Termini from the airport, as well as various bus links
>> to the Centro Storico.
>>> Will offset any carbon used by bringing back a few apples -
>>> airfreighted fruit is, apparently, carbon neutral.
>> Italian apples?
> Yup, very good they are too but not at this time of year.
Even at the height of their season, would apples be the sort of thing
you bring home?
>> Why not bring back some saffron,
> From Abruzzo, not Lazio.
But very useful in general cookery, and a fraction of the price in Italy
as compared with the UK.
>> some Parmeggiano Reggiano,
> Emilia Romagna.
Indeed. But The Best Cheese In The World [TM] and available all over
Italy for a third to a quarter of the prive you'd pay here.
>> some Pecorino
> Abruzzo and Umbria
Italians refer to Pecorino as the Roman cheese.
>> and some local Lazio rosso?
> Because Rosso from Lazio is crap? They're better at light white wines
> such as Frascati and Orvietto.
In that case, a bottle or two of Barolo or a good Chianti.
> Some 'prodotti tipici' from Lazio are:
> Olives 'di Gaeta', Zucchina Romanesca, Romanesco cauliflower, white
> celery from Sperlonga and Prosciutto di Bassiano. There's plenty of good
> food to air freight back to the UK.
At the moment, I think there are difficulties over the import of some
foodstuffs into the UK (even from another EEC country). Not sure whether
cauliflower and celery would fall foul of that (though again, these are
relatively short-lived things which are better eaten on the spot in any
case).
<
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/downloadFile?contentID=HMCE_PROD...>
Do cauliflowers count as "certain plants and their produce, including
trees, shrubs, potatoes, certain fruit, bulbs and seeds"?
