Beautiful Roma!

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Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823

September 26, 2009 ~ Rome, Italy

We are in Rome!!! (pronounced Roma by the Italians) Let's start with that fabulous 9-hour flight. It wasn't so fabulous. It started out great because we got onboard and I realized every single person had their own little TV, pillow, and blankie ~ I was giddy. Then I realized they have a selection of approximately 20 movies and everyone gets free headphones so you can watch whatever you want ~ I ended-up watching Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Hubby watched the Star Trek movie (again). Then, they fed us free wine (and beer if we would have wanted it) and a huge, really-good meal – a full salad, hot roll, chicken, rice, veggies, plus a blonde brownie ~ it was the best airplane food I'd ever had. So, here I thought… free wine, filling food, a good movie… I'll drift-off to sleep soon. Unfortunately, I was not able to sleep upright in a seat. It was tormenting. Ugh. I finally slept about 1 or 2 hours near the end of the flight (sorta). Hubby didn't sleep even for a minute. We spent the last hour playing Bejeweled on our TVs and I kept nodding-off doing that. Unfortunately, there was also a medical emergency on our flight ~ an elderly lady had heart problems (so we were told by another passenger). Around 3 hours into the flight, just as the lights had been turned off and most passengers were starting to get sleepy, the captain came on the speakers and ask any doctor on the plane to please go to row 29 immediately to assist a passenger. We could see her since we were in row 39 but we did not know the extent to her situation until prior to landing when they asked everyone to stay seated due to a continued medical emergency. Three odd-looking ambulances came speeding to our plane and an array of medical personnel helped the poor lady off the plane. So sad. Well, at least the plane didn't require an emergency landing or anything.

So, we got off the plane, went through some rather un-friendly-looking customs agents, wondered around looking for our luggage pick-up station ~ there are atleast eleven of these in the Rome airport and yet our pilot did not tell us where to get our luggage so the entire plane was just lost. We finally got our luggage, took a train to the main terminal, located "5 minutes" from our hotel (per hotel brochure) and actually walked n' walked n' walked and found our hotel a good 2 hours later. A bit of advice for anyone flying into Rome ~ take a van/taxi to your hotel!!!! Seriously. A polite man with a white van offered us and our luggage a trip directly to our hotel for practically nothing compared to the price of a train ticket for two, the wait, and the hassle. Never, ever again would I bother with the train to or from the airport. But I digress... When we finally found our hotel by foot, tired and not in the greatest mood ever, they said they didn't have any smoking rooms left and no American plug-in converters left. So, no Internet access or curling iron for me. Hubby went to the bathroom and was furious that they only offered Kleenex tissues for toilet paper – little 2 x 2 squares. His reaction was really quite hilarious. So, hot and tired, we decided it was time for a power nap and some new perspective. So far, Romewas not winning our hearts.

About 3 hours later we were changed, semi-rested, and in much better spirits!! We walked to an outdoor café and had a fantabulous meal ~ some sort of black olive and capers paste on bread for a starter, then an assortment of cheeses and bread, and then tomato, proscuitto, cheese, and mushroom pizzas. We both ordered 7,00 Euro pizzas and thought they would be small ~ they were LARGE pizzas! So, we ate tons o' bread & cheese, almost half our pizzas, and drank a carafe of house white wine and our spirits were sailing! Which reminds me, the water here in Romeshould be just fine for drinking ~ it is always cool coming out of the sink ~ yet they serve bottled water everywhere and at dinner the waitress said “gas or no gas?” Gas? “Yes, Gas or No Gas??” Finally, Hubby realized she was asking if we wanted our water carbonated or not. Ha Anyway, the cool evening weather and wonderful meal had us excited about Roma again so we decided to go see the Trevi Fountain! It was an awesome time! The taxi driver drove like a madman there (no turn signals in Rome apparently) and then he dropped us off at the fountain square and there were people everywhere! It was like a big, outdoor party at 9 or 10pm at night! The fountain is beautiful and huge. The sound of the water is soooo nice. The buildings around the fountain are textbook classic Rome ~ huge towering buildings with ornate carvings ~ beautiful. The fountain area was gorgeous and the atmosphere could not be beat – lots of tourists, lots of locals strolling hand in hand, everyone with a gelato or bottled beer or bottled wine in their hand, lots of smiles and “Chao” which is Hello. I can't even begin to describe the ambiance besides to simply say it was a great experience, something I will remember for a lifetime. We shared a small gelato ~ Malaga flavor ~ which tasted like lemon and caramel mixed ~ wonderful!! Then we went to the small supermarket on the square where there was a huge display of pastries ~ I don't know how these Italians stay so thin ~ there are pastries on every corner and at every meal and they eat pasta and bread and wine all the time ~ I think it is the walking because they have to walk, walk, walk everywhere. Hubby thinks this is because gas is so ridiculously priced over here ~ like 7 or 8 Euros a gallon (which is nearly 12 U.S. dollars a gallon) ~ another reason there are smart cars, Mini coopers, and lots n' lots of tiny, smished-up cars everywhere ~ we have yet to see a truck or an SUV! And, not to be ugly about Italians, but another thing we've noticed about them is they all dress like Rick Springfield and Debbie Gibson ~ black jeans, tight leggings, hats, hair with bangs, etc. It really is like all those British flicks you see. It can be entertaining at times. They also makeout and kiss-kiss-kiss everywhere ~ even men. Being newlyweds, Hubby and I fit in well here with our constant PDA. And so, to wrap-up this evening, we picked-up two bottles of wine (bottles of beer size) and walked around the fountain looking at everything and smiling. It was wonderful. We finally hailed another crazy taxi cab back to our hotel room and went to sleep full, happy, and feeling as though the day ended on a much better note than it started! We luv Roma!

Tomorrow we board the ship..

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