The Quirinale and my immediate surroundings

I’m staying in a central Roman district called the Quirinale and my place is just off the Piazza Barberini. It’s a small B&B called the Daphne Veneto. I’ve rarely done as well in finding a place to stay as I’ve done here. This place is perfect for me, inexpensive, central, clean, stylish in a modern & Euro-boutique-y way. The room is very small and quieter than my top floor flat in Russian Hill. Outstanding breakfasts and a staff that, while not around 100% of the time, are extremely helpful. They make getting around Rome much simpler. I would recommend this place highly to anyone not put off by European-sized hotel rooms. There are only a few rooms in this B&B (it’s not what Americans would think of as a B&B – here the definition seems to be a hotel that includes breakfast and does not have a full service staff or lobby.) So, it’s an intimate place. The Daphne Veneto (there is another down the street called the Daphne Trevi) is basically a couple of floors of a multi-story apartment flat building converted to a hotel. Nothing to look at from the outside, either. Every single thing in this place worked perfectly, wifi, plumbing, elevator, keys, phone, drawers, safe box, shower (!!) I almost always find something to pick at, but not this time. And I spent half of what I did in the drab, corporate Sheraton (“Four Pointe suites”) in the suburbs of Ann Arbor a week ago.

I’m a ten minute walk from the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Villa Borghese, and the train station (Roma Termini). I’m a twenty minute walk from the Forum, the Coliseum, the Pantheon. I’m a thirty minute hike to the Vatican compound. These times apply only if you know exactly where you are going, which no tourist does. Historic Rome is too confusing. Other districts, like the ground-zero Tridente, or the area around the Coliseum, are over-the-top touristic and crowded. Just around the northeast corner of the Piazza Barberini is Via Veneto. This has become kind of lame, with a Hard Rock café and poser restaurants. The US embassy and others are here, but it doesn’t change the character of the piazza much. So, I like the Quirinale as a base.

On my the first night at the Daphne when I wanted to take a couple of beers and fruit back to my mini-fridge. So, I went to the grocery store in the basement level of Termini. This lower level of the train station has a new, vast shopping complex, which seems to serve as the grocery shopping and sundries hub for this area. Italians are not known for their beer. I studied the several Italian beers, and thought: I should not buy an Italian beer. So, I picked a random beer from Denmark.

Travel often consists of new experiences. This particular experience was: the worst beer I have ever tasted. I had purchased three bottles (they came in a linear “3-pack”.) I took one sip and spit it out. I don’t read Danish, but I suspect the label might warn against taking this substance internally. The other two beers I left in the fridge for the next unsuspecting tourist, so that they could also enjoy a novel travel experience. I can still taste the mealy character and the slightly metallic tang of it, if I think about it. And, after I post this, I will try not to any more.