Ciao a tutti a Roma!

Hello everyone from Rome!

Well, we made it! We left Missoula at o-dark-thirty on a blizzardy “emergency travel only” day. I was really worried that we were going to have delay after delay but was pleasantly surprised that every flight left on time and actually arrived earlier than scheduled. It took 18 hours to get here. Woof. Brutal.

What a treat when we arrived though! Sunshine and 60 degrees. A gorgeous spring day. Don’t get me wrong, the trees are just budding right now, so not really spring. But that sun though! I’m pretty sure all the shirts I brought with me are going to be too warm!

We were swept along with the throng of people through customs, it was pretty easy. We got some Euros from an ATM and were off on our adventure. The first goal was to find the Leonardo Express which takes you from the Rome Airport to the Rome Termini (the main train station). We stumbled our way through purchasing tickets – getting through the turnstile and then, wait, what?. All my research shows that the train we are taking says Leonardo Express and is red. The train sitting there says Jazz! and is blue. Hm. I ask the conductor if we are at the correct train and he nods in the affirmative.

I didn’t really trust that we were on the correct train, but we did arrive at the Termini along with a sea of humanity. Rome is always busy, but this year it is special. It is the year of Jubilee for the Catholic church which finds its seat right here. Thirty-seven million pilgrims will flow through this year.

What an age we live in. We explored our entire foot route from the train station to our hotel on google maps street view before we even left. It would have been quite the chore otherwise. It is on the second floor of an obscure building. We need to buzz the hotel, 30 seconds later the door will open, go up to the next level, put a code in the door and an envelope with our name and room keys will be on a little table in the hallway. I booked it through booking.com and we didn’t pay even a deposit; so there is a lot of trust going on here. Yep. Just as described.

Haha. Our room is just as described as well. We have two twin beds and the usual hotel room amenities. I chose it because it was close to the train station and figured we would be beat when we arrived and would need some time to adjust. It is nice and clean and includes breakfast. We dropped off our luggage and headed out. Goal: stay awake until bedtime. It’s not even noon yet, this is going to be a tall order.

We are very close to the Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore. It is one of the four papal basilicas that has a holy door unsealed for the Jubilee. They literally cement the door closed for 25 years. We waited in line – we had to go through security – xray machines for our bags and a metal detector for us. Once through, we headed in. I asked permission to take a photo. The volunteer says yes. He is waving that I should be taking the photo from a different angle to include the whole door. I think he is waving because he is happy to be in my photo. Haha.

The basilica is stunning. There is a mass going on in one of the vestibules. There is a sign, no visitors during mass and no photos. There are people stepping in, looking around, snapping a photo. DURING MASS. What is wrong with you people?

We stop and have a caffe`. They do not serve Starbucks type coffees here. If you order a latte, you will get milk. After 11 am it is bad form to order a cappuccino, so we order two espresso. They come in adorable little porcelain cups with a saucer. We stand at the counter, drink them and head off. They were delicious and what we needed.

We wandered around a grocery store. We’ll stop back by here for some dinner supplies. We are fading fast so decided to take a 30-minute nap. We were pretty disciplined. ONLY 30 minutes. We set an alarm and got up immediately and left. We got a second wind and set off for a little exploring.

Around 4, we went to the rooftop bar at the Hilton for aperitivo. This is an Italian tradition – it is like happy hour 2.0. Think tapas in Spain. I have been alcohol-free for about a year and a half now. I explored NA options so I can drink socially as well these next three months. I ordered a Crodino. Wow. Delicious! Jim got an Italian beer, Peroni. In this region, most get an Aperol spritz. They brought us out some chips, a little dip, olives and some fried vegetable dough balls with a thai sweet sauce. Yum. We enjoyed the sunshine and the evening.

When the sun set, it got chilly pretty quick on the roof top. We decided to go get some dinner at the grocery store. We got a little pack of salami, cheese, some cut up fruit and a box of crackers. Jim got a box of wine for 1 euro 39! We enjoyed our dinner and flipped through the Italian tv stations to see what folks are watching in Italy. We made it until 8:30 and then turned in.

Oh boy. It will take some time to adjust. I’m up at 3 am. But we’ll talk about that tomorrow.

parleremo presto.