My Thoughts on our first 24hrs in Rome

Door to Door it took Kris and I 20hrs to get here.  Luckily 15 of those hours were spent in either the British Airways first class lounges in San Franciso and Londo or the First Class Cabin of the Boing 747 we took most of the way.   I have to say it was quite a luxurious way to travel.  The new first class pods on the plane were fantastic.  We began with a couple glasses of champaigne before we took off.  It was nice to relax and meet some other traveling couples right off the bat.  After we got to our cruising altitude, we enjoyed a delicous 4 course dinner with white table cloths and wine to go with each course.  After stuffing ourselves and each watching one of he 100 or so movies available to us on our own flatscreen, the stewardesses made our beds and off to sleep we went.  By the time we woke up, there was only and hour left in our flight.  We were served a nice breakfast and a few minutes later, we were in London.  After a couple hours in the BA Lounge and some more delicisous food we took the relatively short 2hr flight to Rome and we were here.

We planned all along to train in from the airport, but we could not get the automated train tickets to print.  Luckily a shuttle just happened to be leaving and for the same price, we got dropped off right at our hotel for the same price.  Good timing.

Ok...enough on the travel thoughts.  We arrive at our hotel around 7pm, unpack and then hit the town.  We have done all the prep, we have our maps and we know what and where we are going....or so we thought.

Lesson #1 - Rome is not laid out like a modern city.  City planning was at it's infancy when this city was designed.  There are so many little streets going all different directions that is very easy to get lost and end up going the opposite direction than you want.  Our 10 minute walk to the Trevi Fountain took probably an hour.  At one point, we had no idea where we were.

Lesson #2 - The streets and allys are so narrow and the buildings so tall that you cant really tell where you are.  You could be a block away from where you want to go and have no idea where it is.  We finally ask directions from a shopkeeper and after a few more attempts we find our first destination...The Trevi Fountain.  It did not disappoint.  Seeing it at night, all lit up, is a must and was a great way to start our Rome experience.  Unfortunately we had to share it with a hoard of people, making it a bit difficult to even get good pictures.  We got a few, but I couldn't help think how much better it would be if there were just a few.....hundred fewer tourists there.

The Pantheon is next.  We have our map, plan it out thouroughly and are sure we can get there without much trouble.  After all, it is only about 6 blocks away and it is a huge building that you just cant miss.  Wrong again.   Lessons 1 and 2 smack us in the face again and after another 45 minutes we finally find it.  It was so worth the efforts... WOW is all I can really say.  It was incredibly impressive....everything about it is just SO BIG and SO OLD.  It really took my breath away.  It sits on a little piazza with cute restaurants and a lovely fountain.  You could here live music playing and it wasn't nearly as crowded as Trevi Fountain.  It was just a perfect setting lit up at night in all its glory.  It was our highlight of the night.

Off to Piazza Navonato people watch and get some dinner.  Two blocks away...piece of cake.  HAHAHAHAHA....right.  Lessone 1 and 2 kick our ass again but we finally found it.   After 20hrs of getting here and another 3 wandering around gettng lost, I don't think we had the energy to really enjoy it.  We did find a nice quiet restaurant down a little ally and enjoyed a lovely dinner around 10:30 at night.  I had spaghetti carbonara and Kris had black pepper and parmesean pasta.  Of course a caraf of wine and some bread rounded out the meal perfectly.  It was nearing midnight and we were exhausted.

Lesson #3 - When all else fails, catch a cab.  It was a 10 euro ride back to our hotel and it was well worth it.

A really great first night in Rome.  We are so looking forward to getting a good night sleep so we can get lost again tomorrow.

Throwing our coin in to ensure a return to Rome
So ok, that wasn't my first 24hrs in rome, but it was the first 24hrs of the trip.  You will have to check back for our Coleseum/Forum trip on morning 1.  I am sure there were more lessons to be learned and fun to be had.