Doing Rome the Right Way

This past weekend my sister in law and niece flew in to Naples for a quick visit. One of the issues about living in a foreign country is that MUST SEE AND DO list.

When Marito and I arrived, we quickly went to Rome, saw the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, visited Pompeii and all that jazz.. Well, now that we have done these things, we kinda don't want to do them again. Does that make us bad hosts?

Fortunately this trip worked out great for us. Marito had to work a few days the ladies were here, so while he was working, us girls went out and did the things Marito didn't want to do again.

I took them to Pompeii first. I had only been once, where as Marito has been twice already, so I didn't mind going again. Pompeii is so big, so there is plenty of things I missed out on seeing the first time I went. We had a blast, my niece kept saying that every room was a bed room, a bathroom, a jail cell, or it was a bakery. To her, some of these buildings had 4 bathrooms side by side! Silly kid! She was definitely entertaining us with her teenage imagination- made the trip super funny!

We showed the family what our favorite Italian meals are. If you are ever in Lago Patria, the rotisserie place on Via Staffetta is to die for! You can't eat until 7 PM at the earliest, but the chicken is sooo tasty, it is totally worth the wait. And they put the french fries under the chicken as it cooks and gets the drippings on them. OH EM GEE YUMMO! Don't forget the fritatina pasta- friend mac n cheese!

Saturday morning we had a friend drop us off at the Villa Literno Train Station where we caught a train to Roma for 10 Euros each!!! It was a two hour train ride, not too shabby! You are going to pay 20 euros in tolls each way if you drive to Roma, and this way we didn't have to worry about gas or parking.

When we got to Roma, we checked into our hotel, dropped off our book bags (don't want to carry luggage around in Roma the day we check out), then we headed off to the Vatican.

When you first arrive at the Train Station in Roma, if you want to buy Roma Passes (30 euros) go to platform 24 and find the information desk. If you want the Omni Vatican Pass (85 euros) go to Platform 1. We were going to get the Vatican pass because it seems like the best deal, be we decided not to.

Roma has two train lines, the A train which is the orange line on the map, and the B train which is blue. Both of which intersect at the main Train Station. Super easy to travel on, and find your way. I learned at a young age how to make my way on a metro. My mom taught me in London when I was 13 and I mastered it in DC where she lives. I remember one trip where I ran away from a hotel and went to the Airport in London- boy did that plan back fire! That is another story, for a different blog, but thanks mom for teaching me the ropes.

Quick lesson in metro riding- you want to take the train with the end destination that will pass your stop. For example, the metro runs from A-Z and you are at stop S and want to get to stop M you need to get on the train headed to A. Does that make sense? I sure hope so!

Back to the Vatican! We arrive at the Vatican and get approached by tour guides, they are offering a 2 hour tour through the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and ending in St Peter's Church. The Line to get in was a 2 hour wait, and the price was 35 Euros. So we paid it, waited for the group to get larger for almost an hour. I was getting super ansty! The guide was cool. He told us what to look for in the Sistine Chapel, what each picture meant and who painted it. It was totally worth the 35 Euros. We received head sets so we could hear our guide talking in a microphone, which was nice so we could hang back a bit and not worry about not hearing him.

When we got into the Sistine Chapel, we left the tour group. I wanted to spend more time in there admiring the masterpieces. The tour guide exited stage right and we exited stage left. Stage left took us to the rest of the Vatican Museum. After walking for a bit I turned around and said "I just really want to see Mary holding Jesus." I was then informed that because I left the group I would have to go back and wait in line. WHAT?! So we turned around, went back to the Sistine Chapel and then exited Stage Right (tour groups only). We snuck through this door and pretended to catch up with our group and found ourselves at the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica.

We walked into this massive, beautiful church, and I remember a conversation from the day before where someone told me that you will hear "Oh My God" or "Holy Sh*t" in many different languages from people's first impression of this church. And it is pretty true- that was what my first impression was. of course I thought it, and didn't say it!

To the right was a crowd, and naturally I go to it. Low and behold is the statue of Mary holding the body of Jesus. My mother warned me about this beautiful, realistic statue. The compassion, and love resonating from it touched my heart. I cried. Never in my life did I think I would cry over a statue, but being in this church, staring at the piece of art- I was caught in the moment.

As we left the church, the Swiss Guards were changing, we stopped and watched- it was very uneventful. The best changing of the guards ceremony I've seen is in Athens, Greece- they are entertaining to watch!

The SIL and I maid a postcard home from the Vatican- it's 1.60 Euros for a stamp. Then we headed off to the Trevi Fountain.

When Marito and I went in August the Trevi was under construction (half of it was) and I was shocked to see that the scaffolding was removed! Just 2 or 3 weeks ago it was still up from what I saw from my Enterprise friends who visited in port.

My niece took her one coin and made a wish to come back to Roma. We made our way to the Coliseum, walked around it, and found a great restaurant. I wish I had grabbed the name of it, but we went there before and found our way back, so I know we will return next time.

The next day we got up and headed back to the Coliseum to go inside and check it out. Tickets were 12 Euros, and the wait wasn't too bad. It had started to rain, so all of the street vendors were selling crappy umbrellas for 5 euros. I talked them down to 4 and bought two, just in case it started to pour.

The Coliseum is pretty cool, the stairs a pretty steep, and like a dummy, I wore boots with heals, didn't bring a change of shoes and my feet were KILLING me both days. So naturally, I want to find some new shoes. After the Coliseum we made our way to the Spanish Steps- the widest staircase in Europe. Directly across the street is the high end designer section of Roma.

We went to Prada, Gucci, LV, Versace, Jimmy Choo. It was a girl's dream come true- if only we had a ton of money to blow.

My niece had just turned 14 on her trip out here, so we wanted to spoil her a bit and went into the stores. She had a great time looking at bridal jewelry in Cartier, trying on 600 Euro fur scarfs in Gucci, and then we went to Jimmy Choo and the sales consultant went and grabbed 4 pairs of shoes for her to try on, JUST FOR FUN!

The rain picked up so we left Roma 2 hours early. Amazingly we didn't buy anything to take back with us!

Their last day in Italy, Marito had to work, so I took the girls to Mt. Vesuvius and let them climb it. I have already climbed Vesuvius twice, and I didn't want to pay 8 Euros for a work out, so I stayed in my car and read a book while they had a good time. Afterwards we went to Compania Mall and bought a bunch of accessories, and shirts. That mall has 181 stores!

Before they caught their flight the next day, we went to Auchan to pick up a ton of candy and other goodies for them to take back to the states.

It sucks to see them leave, but I know they had a great time here, and I look forward to my next visitor. Mom wants to come out and go see the Costa Concordia (the cruise ship that bottomed out and is off the coast). Should be fun to take pictures there!

Money and Expenses In Italy

Now that Marito and I have moved out of the Hotel (TLA), I decided it would be a good idea to keep track of our expenses. What we have spent on gas, electric, water and even home improvements- like hanging shelves and etc.

Having stayed in TLA for the maximum amount of time was really nice. The Navy pays $123 per diem a day if you stay in a hotel room with no kitchen (unless you have more than one dependent), so you do the math. Every ten days, you turn in your hotel receipt, the Navy pays for your hotel room plus ten days worth of per diem- and you normally get it the next week (not having to wait until pay day). It's a really nice deal if you think about it.

I strongly advise you to save as much money as possible. It is so easy to spend money on touristy things, and shopping. A lot of people don't know how much money they need to save before they PCS overseas, well I am about to give you an inside look so you can judge for yourself.

We moved into our home on October 10th. Had to buy gas because our tank was 25% full- you NEED gas for hot showers, cleaning your dishes, washing your clothes, running your radiator, and cooking on the gas stove. That was $400 bucks for 400 liters. Before you finish at the contract signing you have to make a security deposit that is equivalent to first months rent. BAM! 1400 Euro ($1850) then you also have to transfer money into your landlords bank account within the week you sign your contract- another 1400 Euros. On top of that you have to apply for electricity, internet, potable water delivery and anything else you need from Residential Services- where again you have to pay security deposits.

By the end of the day, you need to apply for MIHA (Move In Housing Allowance) and DLA (Dislocation Allowance), both of which are allowances and do not need to be paid back. As of right now MIHA is worth 902 Euros ($1,200) and DLA is worth $2,011 as well as OHA (Overseas Housing Allowance) which for an E-5 is 1,400 Euros (with dependents).

A month into our rental agreement and we have just now received our 50 and 60 day TLA payment (apparently the last two take some time to get). But we have not received MIHA, DLA, Octobers' OHA and Utilites nor Novembers' OHA and Utilities. If you do the math we have paid two months rent, a months rent worth in security deposits plus the cost of gas and all that fun stuff. We are owed $9,000 from the Navy. You know as well as I do that when it comes to you owing the military they will take their money in 5 seconds, but when they owe you they will take their time.

Fortunately, Marito and I are good with money, and are ok in the mean time.

We have not received a meter reading for our electricty yet, but we are being so frugal with our appliances. We unlug everything! The TV, our cellphone charges, the microwave. EVERYTHING but the fridge and stove.

Electricty is so expensive here in Italy. Our power here is bought from France, so it's costs a pretty penny to draw power from so far away. If I am not mistaken it is 0.14-0.15 euro per kilowatt hour. And the way the power comapany works, is they will estimate your power usage for a month or two at a time (normally guessing low, making your payment low) and then six or eight months later you get a massive catch up bill. A friend of ours had an 800 euro bill! So keep track of your meter. Read it monthly, multiply the kilowatts used by 15 cents and that is how much your bill should be. If your bill is lower- put the money aside to help pay for your catch up bill.

This is why we are being so frugal with our electricty. I'd rather pay 40 euros because I open my shutters instead of using lights, or keep the heat off in the rooms I am not using, instead of paying 200 euros. Electricity IS cheaper at night, between 7pm and 7 am.

You can't pocket your OHA money, but you can be frugal and pocket your left over Utilities Allowance.

I advise anyone coming to Europe to save at least $5,000 before the move, and to keep saving with the TLA money. The longer you stay in TLA the more money you can profit.

 

Of course you can always live on base and pay pretty much for just your cellphone and internet, since OHA and Utilites are automatically withdrawn from your paycheck. We all have different reasons to choosing where we want to live, and if this post helps you determine what is best for you and your family, I am just glad that I can help!