Rome: The Arrival

After 3 lovely days in London it was time to fly to Rome! Our flight was uneventful and after retrieving our bags we caught a taxi which took us into the heart of Rome and dropped us off at the hotel we had found online: Hotel Trevi. The location was perfect! It was just steps away from Trevi Fountain (hence the name of the hotel) and just a couple of blocks from one of Woodley's favorite gelaterias. 

When we stepped inside we were greeted, none to warmly, by an elderly gentleman behind the counter. After telling him our names a few times, he said that we were not on his list. When we insisted that we had booked a reservation he handed us the list and we were able to find our names. We were slightly disheartened by this difficulty but collected our room key and wedged ourselves into the tiny elevator to head up to our room. 

When we opened the door to our room we realized that it was a bit smaller and less fancy than our room in London:

It was simply, but nicely decorated but was very small. In fact, there wasn't even enough floor space to lay down our suitcases to open them up. We ended up stashing one in the closet and the other on the desk. We also soon began to notice small signs of wear such as a stain on the bedspread and loose pieces of trim around the walls. 

The size and the wear and tear weren't really that bad though. Unfortunately we then decided to explore the bathroom. (The door to which you can see in the photo below.) It was a nice small bathroom with a shower at one end, a sink, and toilet. Sadly, it also had a very strong sewer odor. We thought to ourselves that it really wasn't that bad and decided to just keep the door closed. A short while later we ventured out onto the streets to find some dinner. 

When we returned, we noticed that the sewage smell had gotten a lot worse. In fact, when we tried to use the restroom to brush our teeth and get ready for bed the smell was so overpowering that we ended up running in and out of the bathroom holding our noses. Eventually we decided that it was just too gross. We asked the receptionist if he had a different room and he showed Woodley another, similarly smelly spot. Woodley, however, knew of some other hotels in the area and as we both knew we couldn't handle the smelly room much longer, he ventured out to see if he could find us a less odorous accommodation. I was very tired so I stayed at the hotel and rested. 

He returned a bit later and reported that he had successfully booked us a room at the Hotel Minerva, near the Pantheon. I have to admit that I was quite relieved to pack up our bags and leave the hotel. I felt a bit bad about the extra expense, but since I had been feeling a bit nauseous due  to the odor, I wasn't too upset about it. 

After about a 10 minute walk we made it to the Minerva and Woodley showed me up to our new room. It had lots more room and, most importantly, it didn't smell in the least bit like a sewer. In fact, it smelled rather nice.

We immediately settled in and made ourselves comfortable. :) I was happy to know that not all hotels in Rome are smelly!

Yay Rome!


~ElizabethRose~