Rome - My First Taste of Italy

See the major sights: Coliseum, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Piazzas complete with fountains. Lots of luxury shopping and of course the world's best food.

Quick Tips:

Get a metrobus map and find your hotel. Then start walking. You don't have to be headed for anything in particular to find some amazing sights. Take time each day to relax with a coffee or gelato.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking. When you get tired, hop on the metro or take a taxi or bus back to your hotel.

The Good:
The breakfast was the best we had in Italy - and our first taste of the amazing coffee. Our room came with the breakfast buffet, but we arrived at 7am, so we couldn't yet check in to our room. We killed some of the time having breakfast that day (which we had to pay for).

I found the room very comfortable, but I was completely exhausted once I got there. There was a minibar, which we appreciated in the middle of the night when we woke up parched (probably from our bottle of wine at dinner every night). The staff at the front desk was very helpful.

The Bad:
Like most European hotels, everything seemed to be in miniature. The room was big enough, but the hallways and elevator were narrow.

The hotel is located about 2 blocks off Via Veneto, a popular shopping area. There are restaurants and boutiques all along that street (including Hard Rock Cafe), but the hotel isn't very convenient for any other sites, except the Spanish steps. The walk from any metro station can get tiring. But it seemed like 6 euros (or $9) would get a taxi back to the hotel from anywhere in Rome.

Here's the website... www.hoteloxford.com

Let me start by explaining the situation. I had a rough overnight flight to Rome, which landed 1/2 hour early at 6:30 am, before anything in the airport was open and we couldn’t figure out where to meet our transfer to the hotel. We were hounded by taxi drivers who didn't speak English, which made me realize how terrible my Italian was. Once we finally found our ride and survived the erratic Italian driving to our hotel, we couldn't check in for 4 hours. We didn't know where to go or what to do at that time. Once we were allowed into our room, we both fell asleep until evening, when we woke up famished. We remembered driving past the Hard Rock Café and thought we could find it again. We weren’t interested in local cuisine or experiences at that time. We wanted food and we knew would be good in an atmosphere where we were comfortable. We also had a list of souvenirs to buy at HRC.

We followed the American music to HRC, put our name in, and enjoyed our traditional American experience as our first dinner in Rome. I got my signature Hurricane (my favorite drink I must have every visit to HRC) in a souvenir glass. We split the spring rolls appetizer and fajitas, which are always very good.

All in all, the evening turned out exactly as I had hoped. There were lots of English-speaking tourists mixed with some locals – everyone having a good time listening to loud music and enjoying the standard HRC fare at the standard HRC prices. I always know what to expect at Hard Rock. We had what seemed a rough welcome to Italy, but we had a wonderful evening, went back to the hotel, and slept until morning.