Too much knowledge is a dangerous thing

New Years day 2004 Roma

I'm currently trying to book an apartment in Rome for a four day visit. Sounds pretty simple right? Well, no. I lived in Rome for three months as a graduate student and felt like I got to know the historic center pretty well. I go back there for a week or 10 days every year and I know what I like and what I don't like. The place we usually stay has a minimum stay of a week so we're looking for a short let. As I surf the web looking for apartments I feel like I'm reading personal ads, trying to tease out what the adjectives and descriptions really mean. I also know where the "party on down" hot spots are located. I I know that I don't want to end up somewhere where I have to push away drunks to get the portone open. It is a challenge when you know an area so well you can be choosy.

I feel like I am basically looking for a perfect match for this brief visit:

ISO a brief affair:

Me: picky Rome loving F, NS, very quiet ISO of a short term relationship with a refurbished, but historically accurate 16th-18th century palazzo in the centro storico. Elevator is not necessary, heat is.

Caro apartemento needs to have:

At least one bedroom (no loft with 20 stairs to bathroom at night, thank you very much)
a bath with a shower
a kitchen that is more than just a hot plate/tiny fridge
washing machine (after a week of travelling, its nice to have clean smalls)
a view of something interesting (even if you need climb stairs to get there)
somewhere that quiets down at night
somewhere close (5 minute walk) to good coffee and a market

All available in mid December for a four day visit and under 200 euros a night.

Why an apartment over a hotel? Eating stuff from the market, laundry, being able to stretch out and chill if the weather is gloomy and a bit of autonomy.

Anyways, I keep on trolling the web looking for the perfect match. I hope we can find eachother.

An aside:

My trip to JFK was uneventful. I landed at the new terminal to find out my flight was leaving from the old terminal, so I ran to the club and had them print my boarding pass. I tromped over to the new terminal, waded through the massive lines , got to the gate with little time to spare to realize we weren't going anywhere. They couldn't get the jet bridge to work, so the poor folks on the inbound we're still stuck on the plane. We moved gates (10, my favorite delayed to London gate) and we took off an hour late. Decent flight with no one next to me. That was heaven alone...

I spent today putzing around. It was a fine thing.

More about that later....


nm