Day 3: Our day from h...

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Well Monday was supposed to be when we casually took a bus to the airport, leaving the beautiful city of Paris and be liesurely strolling the streets of Rome by afternoon..I wish! No, instead, this is how things went from bad to worse...for starters, dumb old me thought that arriving 40 minutes to departure at the airport would be ok...NOT! Because I didn't read the small print on page 2 that explicitly stresses one has to arrive 90 minutes prior. We were denied the flight. Which then meant I had to purchase 2 new tickets, for a later flight of course, at a modest rate (HA,HA,HA, sigh) As we had a few hours to kill now I decided it would be a good idea for me to go it alone back to Paris via the shuttle bus and return our Paris hotel key we had accidently kept. I asked the Shuttle driver if he was going to Le Meridian Hotel, he says oui, I hop on. But being the cursed day it was I end up at suprise...the other Le Meridian, a 20 minute cab ride from the one I wanted! Now what? Well since I had left Rhonda waiting at the airport and not wanting to risk missing flight number 2, I hopped back on the shuttle to the airport.
Close to flight time and waiting in line to get on the plane wouldn't you know it we lose the printed tickets for our new flights..more stress, delay. Then finally we are at the boarding gate..sorry delay of flight, major downpour. Waiting...waiting..finally on the plane, phew...no wait, malfunction with something on instrument panel...waiting...waiting...waiting...as it turns out our 4:30 flight finally takes off at 7! We finally arrive in Rome and take a shuttle bus to our B & B. The driver, a relative of Mario Andretti I believe, takes us to our B & B in record time (He hit 160 KM's at one point!) But upon arrival our B & B is closed for the night. So here we are stranded on the streets of Rome at 10:00 at night. Lucky for us it was Hotel Silla across the street to the rescue. After checking in he directs us to a restaurant across the street, which was heaven sent, we hadn't eaten since 9 that morning and after finishing a multitude of courses including a litro of vino blanco it was nighty, night. What a day!

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