Hi Fockers here is the first installment of my Italian adventure:
My trip started on May 20th with an evening flight to Rome. I actually chose to work from home to help the pass the time that day. The car service picked my up around 2pm. There was quite a line to check in for my flight, but moved quickly. Off to security and then I settled in with my book (Lost Symbol by Dan Brown) and my iPod. Boarding started on time and I unfortunately found my self next a Pooh size woman. Now, I know the airlines make these seats too small, but I paid full price and am not sharing, especially when it’s an 8 hour flight. We were in the middle section of the plane and her husband was on the other side of her. They should have switched seats since he was not Pooh sized. Call me what you want but each time she moved into my space I quickly said excuse me. Sorry I’m not sharing.
On this flight they had the individual entertainment units. I watched Shutter Island, It’s Complicated and fell asleep watching Up in the Air. When I woke up the flight was nearly over and I just read my book for a bit.
Arriving in Rome you quickly learn the Italians do everything with an organized chaos.
When leaving the plane you walk down the stairs and board a waiting tram to take you to the terminal. It was a beautiful Rome morning (8 am local time). As soon as you walk in there is a mob of people that as it turns out I need to be a part of. It’s the Immigration line. After a surprisingly quick moving, very long line, I got my passport stamped. Yeah, they are letting me in. Woo Hoo
.
With that it’s off to find my suitcase. I find the carousel and wait, and wait some more and just for the heck of it wait some more
. Oh there it is. Yea, I’m off. I follow the signs for customs where you have nothing to declare. You know what, there is no customs, I walked through the door and am in the main part of the terminal. I see the sign for the Trafalgar check in (that was the tour group I was with) and waited a few minutes for the 9:30 shuttle into the city and my hotel.
This was very interesting. There were 17 different Trafalgar tours arriving that day and we followed this woman through the terminal to a fleet of busses where we were divided up according to tours. Again it was very chaotic but in an organized way.
On my bus there were 2 tour groups that the hotels were around the corner from each other. There were only 2 others on my tour on the 9:30 shuttle. Mother and daughter from Michigan. The rooms weren’t ready but Trafalgar had a room that we could safely store our luggage. By this time it was nearly 11 and I was hungry. I took off in the direction of the Coliseum and found a little pizza place where I got something more a flat bread and bottled water for about 5 Euros. I continued down to the Coliseum and just took it all in.
It was getting warm and this was a hilly section of Rome. After a few hours I headed back to the hotel hoping my room was ready. Yea it was. Now this was a very nice, recently renovated Hotel. The only complaint was it was too Western, I wanted a Hotel that felt like Europe. It was beautiful and clean but I felt like I could be in NYC, not Rome.
After snapping a few pics I settled in and took a much needed shower and a short nap.
At 4 pm there was a welcome drink and orientation meeting. I sat down and a few minutes later 2 coworkers from Edmonton (Camille and Stephanie) sat down with me and fast friends were made. Tonight was an opportunity for an optional night tour of Rome which I was looking forward to. Camille and Stephanie were opting not to.
I boarded the bus and a very nice woman from Ontario (Barb) sat down with me and we immediately were chatting away. On this tour we saw a lot in a short time which in included:
Pantheon
we approached the Pantheon from the back
The piazza out front
Raphael's tomb
the Queen that pizza Marguerita was named for
Capital hill and the Forum
This building is still used as the Rome's city hall
Drove by Mussolini’s headquarters and saw the balcony he spoke from (very unimpressive building)
And Piazza Navona (those that have read/saw Angels and Demons, this is where the Four Rivers statue is that the last cardinal was left at)
After the guide finished speaking about Piazza Navona, we were given time to get dinner.
We all wandered to a place off the Piazza. I was at a table with a couple that I had met on the Trafalgar message boards and a wonderful woman from Australia (Tracy). The food was great and then we went and got our first gelato!
What is amazing is that all of Rome is built on ruins and many of the current buildings are simply built around them. Also, there is a building code in Rome that no high rises are allowed in the city limits.
Some pics of the ruins around Rome
On the way back to the hotel they surprised us with driving by the Vatican and Castel San Angelo at night. WOW!
A very good first day!
I'm so glad! And I can't wait to hear all about it!We then played golf and Ellie got to play too which was good, I then sweet talked my way into a free round of golf at a different course next week (we have a competition there the following week and they wanted £25 to play (they normally charge over £100
) and I got them to speak to the lady captain who said we could
and they're worth £70 so good day
They've ceased all forms of school work at this point; no homework, teacher's packing up the room and they're mostly watching movies. Why on earth did they bother extending the school year?! 
Oh well; it's basically free day care.
Could it be the same thing as last week? 
BTW - Did you see the highway robbery in Detroit last night with the blown call on the perfect game
The guy did shoot himself so it's over but...... also I can never understand why kill innocent people if you're going to kill yourself anyway?
Glad the flight was uneventful, except for the uncomfortable seating situation.
, so we are all going out to eat once the men clean up. Yum! Sounds like showering is being discussed, so that should be soon. 
Hope we don't pay for it tomorrow :sacred:
