Search This Blog

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tips and Advice: Travelling in Rome , Italy ; Montreux , Switzerland

Rome Airport (FCO)

- when arriving from international, be prepared especially in rainy weather, that you will be exiting the plane outside in the open elements, and then you will be boarding a shuttle bus on the tarmac to a bullding. So remember this when its raining or if it's chilly weather.

- a huge help was to know the word "USCITA" means "EXIT"! Very useful when trying to find the way out of the Metro Stations, the Termini Station, the airport building

- if you plan to take a quick trip to the Vatican (ie. you have a long layover in Rome), take the Leonardo Da Vinci Express train to Termini Station first. Make sure you get on the right one, because there are two types of trains from FCO airport going to Termini. There's one that makes several stops before Termini Station, and there's another one that's direct non-stop to Termini Station. At the railway station at FCO airport, buy a ticket (11 Euro on Aug 2008) at the ticket machine. Then look at the black sign with the destinations listed out alongside a number. You will see either "1", "2" or "3" . NOTE, the number corresponds to the track number, NOT THE TRAIN NUMBER. The track numbers are on signposts beside the track. The Leonardo Da Vinci Express Train will have a "DIR" beside "TERMINI"; ie. this means direct non-stop to Termini Station. It will be around a 35 minute direct ride. If you get on the wrong train (non-direct), you will be stopping at the many stations before Termini, and it will obviously be longer than a 35 minute ride.

- remember too that from Termini Station to FCO airport, look for "DIR" , for the non-stop train to FCO airport. This train is usually at BIN 23 or 24 (which means at "Gate" 23 or 24).

- if going to the Vatican with the same hand-carry bags from your air travel, be aware that the streets are your ancient stone/or/brink surfaces. If you have small wheels, you might end up almost dragging your bag on the ground here and there.

- by the way, my wife and I found the steets and sidewalks not as clean as we would like. The garbage bins are out in the open (not in the back alleys). If you are a particular person in the cleanliness arena, you might want to avoid wearing flip-flops (and roller bags with small wheels).

- flushing the toilet in public places: there will either be a rectangular push plate or a small metal cylindrical knob on the wall behind the toilet. The rectangle plate is easy to flush. Just push it. However, to flush using the button, I found that I had to somewhat be forceful in pushing it, and then I had to hold it down for a good 5 seconds to get the flushing action started. Also, be aware that some of the restaurants use the old fashioned skeleton key lock for you to use to lock your individual toilet stall door. I temporarily locked myself in because I didn't know how to unlock the door. To unlock, you will find the skeleton key still in the lock. Turn it only half way and then turn the door knob to open while you are the half-way mark of turning the key. If you turn the key the full direction, you will still be on your way to a semi-panick state of closterphobia.

- during our arrivals both times to Rome's FCO airport from Toronto and from Geneva, we found ourselves at the same area of the building after exiting the plane and shuttlebus. The path in the building divided : go left or go a little to the right. The signage for the left hallway said "Transit" and something else. The signage for the right hallway said "Passenger Service". If you're not too careful, you might think that the "Transit" might mean the way out to catch the public transit and metro or railway trains. THIS IS NOT CORRECT! This is for aiport transfers and connections. The Passenger Service sign is the one to follow if you want to exit the airport!... for example to catch the Leonardo Da Vinci Express train to Termini.

- For the Leonarda DaVinci Express Train, follow the "USCITA" signs (means "EXIT") within the airport, then look for the graphical pictures signs of a train. You will be looking for an escalator going down, then you walk for a bit , pass under a low ceiling, and then go up another escalator.

- you can catch the Metro trains from Termini station. The Line A or Line B Metro stations are serviced by underground SUBWAY trains (NOT street buses as some people might think if they see "METRO LINEA A OR LINEA B). When you know which station/ destination you want to go to, next determine which Line it's on - Line A or Line B. Then follow the signs to one of the 2 lines. Each Line A or B will then give you two choices, depending on which direction you want to travel. This may seem confusing at first, but you will get used to it.



Montreux, Switzerland

- ask your hotel if they offer the Riveria Card. This is a discount card that allows you to travel the buses in Montreux for free. It also allows 50% discount on the Railways, ferries and various local attractions, such as the aqua park and entertainment complexes.

- shopping centers are at the "Forum" at the Casino area and also at Vevey.

- most of the retail merchandise stores along Grand Rue are closed on Sundays

- Bus service stops or becomes very infrequent around midnight. Taxi cabs after that may be your next bet, but they can be expensive.

- at the Casino , there are no card games during the day. On Sundays, it opens at 11:00

- the Catholic church is located just one block up the hill from the Casino. The first mass service on Sunday is at 10:30am, held in French.

- we learned that instead of saying "carbonated" water, there they say "water with gas".

- it's very clean and safe in Montreux. We walked along the streets well past midnight on several occasions. There's hardly any traffic. And where there are groups of people on the sidewalk because of the night clubs, there is a police car parked nearby with police watching on.

- about the cleanliness: my wife took off her high heels because they were getting sore as we walked along the lake front paved walkway. Although she walked barefoot in the evening a good 15 minute walk, she was pleased to find out that the soles of her feet were not dirty at all!

- the night clubs in Montreux are "The Black Pearl" and "Imperial" and "Paradise". The one we visited was Black Pearl; it plays mostly European DJ-mix of techno hop. There were a only a few American hip-hop songs we recognized, but it was all good. It's mostly a youngish crowd too. The drinks cost 10 franks each, whether it was water, beer or Martini. In order to use a credit card, the minimum is 50 francs, but you can have a running tab. Just make sure your bartender knows this. It can be very busy at Black Pearl (it was very busy on Thursday when we went), and there were 3 bartenders (no waitress). Note there is smoking allowed in the bars, so be prepared to come back to your hotel smelling like a smoke room, if you're not used to it. We took a long shower when we came back, really noticing the smell of the cigarette as it washed off.



** some fun things to do like what we did:

- visit Chillon Castle where the famous poet Lord Byron was imprisoned and which inspired him to write "The Prisoner..." poem

- visit one of the several local "community" wineries where they offer wine tasting; we went to Chebrex and enjoyed their white, rose and red wines, made from charlaise(?) grapes/ pinot noir,(?), etc.

- go visit the "Tourism Montreux" building a few blocks on Grand Rue from the Casino. Inquire about the various excursions available from Montreux to the different areas around the country and beyond. We had an excursion
organized by our company / noni juice supplier Tahitian Noni International

- we went by chartered bus to Charmonix, France and experienced "La Mer de Glace" as well as the Aguilles du Apres Midi (you can see Mt. Blanc here). The "La Mer de Glace" is an interesting attraction. You take an old train from Chamonix up a winding mountain to Montenvers. From there, you take a cable car down a steep part of the mountain side to another landing spot. You then get off and walk *down* a lot of steps- approximately 400 steps to the glacier. This whole trip from Chamonix to the glacier takes around 45 minutes. At the glacier, you should be prepared to get a little wet and cold. A heavy/warm raincoat would be suggested. What you do is go into a series of tunnels carved into the side of the glacier, and in the tunnels glow in various pretty colors as they are lighted by L.E.D. lights. You see little rooms carved out of the ice, filled with different carved ice objects, like furniture and statues - one of which looked like a lion. Note again, it is cold here, and there are areas where it is dripping from the ceiling because the ice is melting (ie. from the visitors and their carbon-dioxide). Going back up the mountain to Montenvers is another story. Remember the 400 steps? Get ready to undergo endurance training in the thin high-altitude air! Luckily, there were resting stops along the way. By the way, if you want to buy water, drinks or snacks at the couple of places at Montenvers, they only accept Euro, not Swiss Francs. By the way, don't forget to bring your passports and visa (if appropriate) . The French border guards stopped our bus and boarded to inspect everyone's passports. In fact, they took around 12 of the 40 passports and disappeared with them in their office for about 15 minutes. There were a mixture of Japanese, Americans and Canadians in our group.

- take time to enjoy the lakeside walk in Montreux. There are various spots like benches, boulders along the way to sit and breathe in the fresh air. We enjoyed watching the ferry boats and also the fishermen at a couple of the piers. Apparently, the popular fish there is perch from the lake (Lake Geneva). You can dine on perch in a specialty dish at the restaurant at Casino Montreux.



Rome, Italy

If you ever are going to stay at the hotel "Primo Torlonia" / "Prime Hotels Villa Torlonia", it's a 10 minute walk from the subway station Policlinico. After you exit from the station, you will find yourself on the road "Regina ... Margherita". Turn right on this road and walk past an office/commercial complex on your right. Keep walking and you will get to a small gas station located on a circular street. Turn right on the first street after the gas station, and about 50 meters from here, you will get to the hotel. < Website: www.primehotels.it Tel 39-064402630, Va B. Eustachio 3/5/7a - 00161 Roma >

We liked the Torlonia. The staff knew English well, the rooms had air conditioning that worked, and best of all, the complimentary breakfast had a very wide selection of foods: pastries, cereal, fruits, dairies, bacon, scrambled egg, drinks, etc. All of this was in a richly decorated dining room area with carefully prepared table settings.

From the Primo Hotel Torlonia, we found a restaurant that was very reasonably priced and within walking distance. When we got to the hotel, it was already 10pm. This was open until 12 midnight. It was a Chinese restaurant called "Wok" . To walk to Wok (excuse the pun? alliteration? consonation?), we headed back to Regina Margherita road, turned right and walked about a minute. It was an interesting walk, because we passed an embassy (of a county in Middle East) that was heavily guarded by armed soldiers at the front gate. The food at Wok included Chinese, Malaysian and some Japanese food. A Canton fried rice dish, for example, cost around 3.50 Euros. Our meal of 2 fried rice, chicken with bamboo shoots, curry beef and mineral water was under 20 Euros, and we left very full.