8 Hours and 4,000 Miles Later - Day One!

Eight hours and 4,000 miles, give or take, to get from New York to Rome. It was a relatively easy flight from JFK and I got in a viewing of “The Bridesmaids” (pretty funny but no “Hangover” for those who compare them). Cheryl snuck in a good 6+ hours of sleep and I got maybe 1.

There’s seemingly no real process for entering Italy as there is in the US. Yes, there’s Immigration and also Customs, but no one was checking anything. My passport got a perfunctory stamping. Guess that’s one of the advantages of living in a western country that (hopefully) no one wants to attack through terrorism! Our driver was waiting for us and his name was something I couldn’t even hope to pronounce with about 6 or 10 syllables. And, driving in Rome traffic is really like no other place. The streets are very windy (given their ancient footprints) and cars go two abreast in one lane streets (or three abreast in two lane streets).

As expected, when we got to the Domus Romanus just about noon (6 hours ahead of the EST we’re accustomed to), our room wasn’t ready which means time to hit the streets. A check with the desk attendant told us that two popular attractions were nearby. First came the Spanish Steps, built by a Pope (I believe) to connect a massive cathedral at the top with the populace below. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the crowds were out in force.


From there, we walked to the Trevi Fountain, famous for its role in “Three Coins in a Fountain” movie. It was beautiful and packed with people. Cheryl had her first (of what will undoubtedly be several) ice cream and a bite of it proved it was absolutely delicious. From there, we walked back to our hotel to take a short break.

After the heat, long walk up and down hills, and no sleep for the past 24 hours, I was a bit on the crabby side, and when we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the room light, I went over the top. And, Cheryl is never shy of responding to my crabbiness, so we had our first (and probably only) fight of the trip. I give her credit for determining that our room key had to be slid into a slot on the wall in order for the lights to work.

After a couple hours of nap time, we got up and took a cab to Piazza Navona, a large public square (one of the most visited in the world according to Wikipedia) and a great time (as promised by my friend Tod Augsburger). We had a wonderful dinner of carpaccio and parmesan cheese, and then a small pizza of ham and goat cheese. It really made us realize just how much crap we Americans put on our pizza when we call Donatos (and how crappy it really is, not to sound like the snobbish Americans we are!)

Back to the hotel for sleep, then up in the morning for more on-our-own time, with a tour of Ancient Rome scheduled for tomorrow afternoon into the evening. So, until tomorrow, Ciao!

PS - Our cab driver on the way to the hotel told us in his broken English that our hotel was "absolutely beautiful". And, by European standards it is. The Ritz Carlton, however, it ain't. An example . . . we couldn't figure out how to turn on the television until we checked with the desk. With a look that said "Oh you stupid Americans" he told us that you have to "Press the button marked '1' to turn it on" - despite having three buttons that looked like Power at the top of the control. Who knew?