Phila Airport Parking Vacations

Name a concern people often have when travelling abroad. FOOD will probably be number 1 on the list. Here are some suggestions that may help you solve this problem, quality and cost wise, when visiting Rome. RISTORANTEs are fine, but fairly expensive. Try instead HOSTERIAs or, even better, TRATTORIAs (meals there would be about 18/25 Euros /per person; keep in mind that a cover charge always applies. Prices are shown also on stands outside the place). PIZZERIA is another sign that may come in handy: sit-down pizza meals are about 15/20 Euros / per person (pizzas are usually quite good in Rome), take-away pizzas won’t go over 6 Euros each excluding drinks. INSALATA RICCA is a food franchise group specializing in big salads and various kind of traditional pasta dishes (meals about 10/25 Euros / per person). Finally, the usual old Mc. Donald’s, Burger King or similar chains are spread throughout the city, but not Kentucky Fried Chicken.

In Ancient Rome there used to be three ways to get around in the city: on foot, on a litter or on horseback. These days you can still walk around the city, horses are used to draw cabs (but these are so expensive!), litters have been replaced by taxis or rental cars, with or without drivers. Fortunately, nowadays you also have public transport, which is cheap and fairly efficient: it includes buses, street-cars and the subway. Our advise to you – if you want to save money and still get around well: public transport all the way, unless you prefer to walk. The main thing you should be aware of is that ATAC – the Rome public transport company – makes available various types of tickets, depending on how long you plan to stay in Rome. These are the alternatives that you are most likely to need: BIT- Integrated Time Ticket. How much does it cost? 1.00 Euro Where can I buy it? Ticket offices and shops. How long does it last? 75 Minutes from the time of validation (to be done immediately on boarding the first vehicle; you can only use it once on the subway) Where can I use it? On public transport within Rome, on buses, trams, trolley-buses and Cotral coaches, on the Rome Subway lines A and B, on Met.Ro regional trains: Rome”Lido (Ostia). BIG ” Integrated Daily Ticket. How much does it cost? 4.00 Euros. Where can I buy it? Ticket offices and shops. How long does it last? Until midnight (24.00) of the day of its validation (to be done immediately on boarding the first vehicle) and for an unrestricted number of journeys. Where can I use it? On public transport within Rome, on buses, trams, trolley-buses and Cotral coaches, on the Rome Subway lines A and B, on Met.Ro regional trains: Rome”Lido (Ostia). BTI ” Integrated Tourist Ticket. How much does it cost? 11.00 Euros. How long does it last? For 3 days from the date indicated by the ticket holder and for an unrestricted number of journeys. Where can I buy it? Ticket offices and shops. Where can I use it? On public transport within Rome, on buses, trams, trolley-buses and Cotral coaches, on the Rome Subway lines A and B, on Met.Ro regional trains: Rome”Lido (Ostia). CIS ” Integrated Weekly Ticket. How much does it cost? 16.00 Euros. How long does it last? For 7 days from the date indicated by the ticket holder and for an unrestricted number of journeys. Where can I buy it? Ticket offices and shops. Where can I use it? On public transport within Rome, on buses, trams, trolleybuses and Cotral coaches, on the Rome Subway lines A and B, on Met.Ro regional trains: Rome”Lido (Ostia).

Churches and museums. Rome has been called “the city of a thousand churches”. Clearly a gross understatement. How many are they exactly? The bad news is: the Vatican only knows! Obviously tourists are mostly interested in some churches – St. Peter’s, all the Basilicas and a number of other churches which are particularly important from a religious or and /or architectural and artistic point of view. The good news is: you can enter any of these churches without paying a dime. The same does not apply, unfortunately, to museums. But the other good news is that most admission fees are fairly low and often allow for reduced-price tickets. In some cases admission is even free; obviously this does not apply to the main ones, with the exception of the Vatican Museums where admission is free on the last Sunday of each month.

International Phone cards are a great invention, particularly since they cut costs considerably (with a 5 or 10 Euros card you can speak with the States about half an hour to an hour). Incidentally, you can use them on any phone you wish – public, private or mobile.

Are you visiting Rome on a very warm day and you feel like having a drink? There are plenty of kiosks and bars selling nice ice-cold drinks of all kinds (mineral water, soft drinks, beer, etc.). But just in case you don’t feel like spending more than necessary (sometimes you may be asked 5 Euros for a bottle of mineral water), we suggest you fill up a bottle with fresh water from any of the small drinking fountains on the roadside in many streets in Rome. Please note that the water gushing out of large artistic fountains is not necessarily drinkable.

The West Coast is famous for many of the rare exhibits of our country. California has the coasts, Oregon and Washington have the lush forests, and even Texas can claim a home in the West with it’s circus of entertainment and adventure. However, I can’t shake the different kind of excitement that is offered by our opposing coastal friends and their culture on the East Coast.

I seem to always have found my home in the Western United States, so my exposure to the East Coast has been limited to visits there. Returning from these visits, I would always feel a loss of the certain charms I saw in the East that were vacant in my own part of the world. Maybe with great effort, we can bring some Eastern delights to our side of town.

One particular delight that the East Coast has mastered would definitely be, pizza. Sure there is the famous California Kitchen with it’s thin crust, that I prefer to call pizza chips. But, what compares to a Chicago Deep Dish? I’m not talking Domino’s either.

You can’t order pizza like this anywhere you go. The East is swarming with the most delicious, melt-in-your-mouth pizza that can only compare to Italy itself. If you can’t fold the pieces in half, feel it dripping down your arm, or stretch the cheese across the table, than you dare not claim any quality close to these superb East Coast pizzerias.

Search all you want to in Utah, California, Washington, or even the laughable pizza of Texas, and it won’t hold the tiniest candle to New York City’s or Chicago’s perfected pizza pies. However, man cannot live on pizza alone, and there are other like enjoyments depriving the westerners. Not surprisingly for me, I’m also referring to food in this case also.

Buffalo Wings got their name for a reason. Don’t think I’m talking about Buffalo, Wyoming either. What the South has done with barbecue sauce, the East has done with a chicken wing. The delightful sensation or gnawing chicken bits off the bone has thrived all over, but not to the level of quality of the original in Buffalo, New York. Just give in and order yourself a whole bucketful, and watch it disappear.

I like hot wings just like the next person, especially smothered in bleu cheese, but my all time passion has got to be sandwiches. This passion was founded during my time in a place called Pittsburgh. This town has concocted the most unusual mouth watering creations ever found on a sub. The cheese steak sandwich taking the cake, with steak, cheese, coleslaw and fries — this is all on the sandwich, mind you — is a shame to miss out on.

And for all you Reuben fans, don’t assume you’ve had the best until you come to Pittsburgh. Even widening the expanse to gyros, pitas, or pierogies, Pittsburgh, or anywhere in the East, holds the rights to these culinary treasures. Take a chance of asking anyone in California to make you one of those. You’d be better not to embarrass them.

Too many of my cravings have been left ungratified because I sadly live on the wrong side of the country. However, while we may not have these certain things for ourselves in the good old West, we do have claim to our own luxuries that have no business on the Eastern seaboard. These favorites of the East Coast must make the east what it is, and therefore they can keep it too themselves. I can always come back for a visit.