Further Afield

I went down to Rome a couple of weeks ago to see some friends from America who were on holiday. The weather has been great so far (for November) and it was a perfect day for photos. Here are a few from around the Roman Forum:

Nanà is a very good little restaurant not far from the Quirinale in Rome. The feature is seafood - which is fresh and delicately handled. I recently had a lunch there on a one day business trip from Florence to Rome and the food was excellent.

I had paccheri with fresh fish and cherry tomatoes, and my friend had zuppa di pesce. Both were outstanding - piping hot, fresh, just cooked, and full of flavor. We had two glasses of wine, desserts (very good), and coffee, as well as a bottle of water, for around €65 including cover and service. Not an economy meal, but a very good one!

Below is the restaurant on Google maps:

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Nanà
Via Della Panetteria, 37
00187 Roma
Tel. (39) 06 69 19 07 50

You can reach many interesting cities from Florence in a day - even outside Tuscany. I finally made it to Milan (about 3 hours on the Eurostar train - 42 euro each way, 2nd class the new trains starting in mid-December 2009 will cut this trip to about an hour and a half!) for the first time a few weeks ago, and even though it was a rainy day I had a great time strolling around the center of the city.

Coming into Milan from Florence on the train you enter the city at the Stazione Centrale - an absolutely huge Fascist influenced piece of architecture that is currently (winter 2008/2009) being modernized. The cavernous interior spaces of this station are truly remarkable. The station is a little bit of a hike from the center so I took the underground (Linea 3) to Piazza Duomo. This can be a little tricky so make sure you read the signs closely - the line is called "Duomo" but from the train station you need to make sure you are heading in the direction of the Duomo (the terminus in that direction is San Donato) and not out into the suburbs.