When in Rome

Here we are in Roma, the Eternal City. After a sleepless flight and an agonizingly long layover in Venice, we arrived with little incident.

Although a couple things stand out from our recent experience: if you're travelling on a plane, it's best not to wear a belt decorated with bullet replicas; also, if you like to sit in an airport bar & grill to be ignored and watch people seated after you be served before you're even approached, the Playwright Bar & Grill is the perfect place for you. (Shelley and I were looking forward to a hot supper before boarding the plane, but after being ignored by the waitstaff, despite our repeated attempts to attract their attention, we no longer felt like giving them our business and our good tip money.)

Once we met with our tour group and travelled to our hotel (the very European "Beverly Hills Hotel", 4 stars, no less) we headed out for some authentic gelato and a walk around the neighbourhood. We saw lots of SmartCars, VW Golfs and other compact cars here, not an SUV or Hummer or mini-van in sight.

Tomorrow is a sightseeing tour (St. Peter's Square, Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps) before boarding the ship and setting off for Genoa. I can't upload any pictures right now, so that will have to wait until later.

Even though it's only 2:45 p.m. EDT, our 7 a.m. wake-up call is going to come early so the nightlife of Rome will have to wait for another visit. Ciao!