Katie's Adventure

The Hard Rock Cafe is about two long, uphill blocks from the Barberini subway stop (on the Red line, it is the stop before Spagna where the Spanish Steps are).

Barberini is also the stop for the huge internet/Subway Sandwich cafe, which is a couple doors from the northern steps leading from the subway station.

If you plan to catch the subway after dinner though, be advised that the subway stops running around 11:30 (23:30) --- much sooner than the Hard Rock Cafe closes!

There will be crowds at this attraction regardless of time of day. Certainly, my impression was that it is more crowded at night.

Regardless of the crowds, we felt that it was more romantic at night while the fountain is lit.

There are many shops and restaraunts near the fountain and most of them appear to stay open late to cater to the visitors.

Just far enough off the beaten path, yet placed conveniently near the Vatican and other sights, this hotel was bright and modernly appointed. The room was well kept and had modern facilities which included a key card that you had to keep in a slot on the wall to enable the lights, A/C, TV and other services. I'm sure that this helped to regulate utility costs as the card would not enable things without your presence.

Our room was on the fifth floor (near the top of the building) and offered a balcony/patio on the front of the building. I often enjoyed relaxing out there, taking in the sights and sounds around me while being afforded a view of the neighbor's roofs and TV antennas! Many of the surrounding buildings had rooftop terraces where the inhabitants could socialize and/or hang their laundry while being away from the street.

This was the hotel where we first joined our tour group to start the Italian Intermezzo.

Kathy had been sick to her stomach since Friday. She actually had been ill for a couple of days and I became concerned since we were about to start the tour. She gathered enough strength to move there from the Best Western Spring House.

I finally got her to agree to see a doctor. (The hotel offered doctors on-call.) I got the consierge to call one and a very nice, English speaking doc. arrived quite quickly.

After examining her and determining that she had a stomach virus, he gave her a shot and wrote a perscription as well as detailed instructions in English!

The consierge arranged for a taxi driver to take me to a nearby pharmacy. The ride one-way took longer than it did to fill the perscription. (I wish that American pharmacies would take lessions on timeleness from these people!!!) The taxi driver waited for me and returned me to the hotel. Surprisingly, the whole ordeal took very little time to resolve.

Kathy felt much better the next day and we were able to enjoy our tour by starting off on a plesant note! Kudos to the Sheraton staff at this hotel for helping to take the edge off of what could have been a very miserable situation!!!

We arrived on the evening of my 50th birthday. The conscierge learned of the occasion (innocently) from my wife. He sent a magnum of the house reserve champaigne to our room along with all necessary "tools" to enjoy it. (This was surprislingly done at no charge to us.)

Regardless, the kindness and thoughtfulness of this man made quite an impression on us and certainly added to the completion of a long, but nice day!

Neat to visit the original Hard Rock again! This allowed me to buy another tee shirt to add to my collection. Funny, since this was the location where I started my tee shirt collection in the first place.

They now have a new attraction. It is called the vault. They have a very NEAT collection of rock memoribillia there, to include Jimmy Hendrix stuff (I got to hold one of his guitars!), Elvis stuff, Stevie Ray Vaughn stuff. It all is housed in a real bank vault (from I don't know where).

Nice, older building in good neighborhood. Close to tube station. Friendly staff, helpful conseirge, clean. Breakfast was varied and good, not necessary to pay for "upgrade"

My main complaint is that there is a bit of a walk to reach the nearest Tube or Bus stop.

Thankfully, I remembered seeing this hotel during my trip research.

We were originally scheduled to stay at a B and B at this stop. However the hostess refused to help us find a way to understand each other, so we chose not to stay there.

While we ate dinner at a Burger King in Wuerzburg, I noticed an internet kiosk in a corner of the restaraunt. I went on-line (1 Euro for 20 minutes) and was able to book a reservation and find directions to the hotel in about five minutes time.

Nice, economical little car, fairly "peppy" for being a diesel. I was disappointed though, as I reserved a BMW and had to settle for a Benz!!!