While you were all going to bed at 11 o'clock back home on the day we left, we were trying to pretend it was 8am and roll out with some bounce in our steps.
That is a tricky proposition but the airlines were super helpful.. here's how the day went....
We slogged through Spokane and Denver airports. Denver was a wee bit of a push but we made it. We had several hours in Chicago so we decided to spoil ourselves and hang out in the United Club. Certainly worthwhile. Free bar, free food, lots of comfy seating, places to work or crawl up and read. Tena even introduced us to a Campari. Hmmmm. I think an acquired taste, but that's me. We finally got on the plane and the airlines have done this a time or two, obviously. They get you up in the air and immediately start serving free wine and beer and the snack. They turn right around and make another pass and pick up the garbage and then turn right around and bring us dinner. Then while you're enjoying your dinner, they make yet another pass with more free wine and beer. They clean up dinner service and regardless of the time they set the ambiance and dim the lights. I've never seen so many people popping pills at the same time since college. Lol... Just kidding.
But honestly, everybody got up and dug in their bags and came up with their version of sleepaid to go on top of that free wine and beer. (Hint: drink more water). The airline gave us all blankets and pillows and everybody snuggled in ignoring the fact completely that it was only six thirty.
They bring the lights back up when it's about an hour out and run down the aisle handing out coffee and breakfast. I did notice they still had free wine and beer on that cart but I didn't see any takers. As soon as breakfast is served and cleaned up it is really time to get off and you almost feel like it's morning. Strangest thing.
We had a driver pick us up and I checked the prices against the taxis and it was the same price. Our wonderful host at the Air BB arranged this for us. It was so very cool to have a young Italian driver with my name just waiting for us to take us to the very doorstep of our place. By the way this particular airbnb is super cute and an in a fantastic location, you should check it out. It is very inviting with bougainvillea crawling up the sides. Hope you like church bells....
We spent the day roaming Rome.
Found a cute little cafe across the street from the church Santa Maria Della Scara. BTW, all the churches are open and you can just wander in, it's like being in a museum...fantastic. Back to the cafe Wikiwiki and you could choose either american breakfast or italian breakfast. Both came with cappuccino's and freshly squeezed orange juice. The american breakfast was scrambled eggs with italian bacon with a caprese salad. Italian was a pastry. Our table was pretty democratic we went fifty fifty.
And then we began to roam.... We saw the old roman ruins right downtown. (also now a cat sanctuary). We saw the Parthenon, Spanish Steps, Bernini's Fountain, Treveni Fountain, the Elephant and the Obelisk, and more art, statues and historic piazzas than we were aware of. Actually we kind of lost track of everything we saw because everywhere you term there's a dome or spectacularly aged historic building that you've seen in a book and should know more about. It's crazy and it's definitely overwhelming. We have chosen to not go inside and take tours of everything yet and I'm glad. It feels good just to run around and get a sense of what Rome feels like. It is so steeped in historic tradition that it feels like no other city I have ever been to. This would be a good place to spend more time to learn about the art and history, but I suppose that goes without saying.
For lunch we tried some unique pizzas, one with mushrooms and truffles that were literally shaved all over it, very bouchy for us. But then they threw some tzatziki sauce on it so that was kind of bizarre in a fantastic way. The waiter was not having it to have us take a beautiful table on a beautiful street and just have a glass of wine and one pizza between 4 ladies. He insisted we ordered 2 so we did. The 2nd one was mortadella and basil which is kind of like American baloney. Who knew it was delicious. And luckily we had leftovers for dinner because after walking 6 miles on cobblestone. We were pretty zapped after a full day of travel. Off to bed and try to sleep off schedule until we see what tomorrow brings! Buonanotte a tutti!!!
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