On Monday, February 29, I decided to take a day off from typical tourist activities and just walk the neighborhood of my accommodations -- and feast at a highly rated and friend-recommended "hostaria" restaurant, Dino and Tony's -- which turned out to be just a few blocks from my room. It truly was a feast -- including an antipasto, a pizza, two separate kinds of pasta, wine and when I resisted desert and coffee, the owners insisted on bringing me a shot of lemoncello. It was both delicious and fun -- and I just had a good laugh when I added the Trip Advisor link to the restaurant. Trip Advisor reports that it is rated 391st out of 8,964 restaurants in Rome! I'm sure it will remain number 1 of the restaurants I have/will visit here.
After lunch, some serious downpours and my tired legs encouraged me to take a break and do my studying for the days to come. Unlike tourists booking guided tours, my style of touring requires preparation -- figuring out where to go, when to go, how to get there on public transportation and what to look for. In addition to my mapping tool, I was delighted to happen upon an excellent app for routing on public transit and a free audio app by popular travel writer Rick Steves that operates like a rented audio tour option at each major attraction here in Rome. I've always maintained that if you want an easy, mind-less holiday, take a cruise where your only decisions are where on the ship to eat. Budget traveling in a city where you don't speak the language takes work! Rewarding work, but work just the same!
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