Day 1 - Roma

After an uneventful flight over, arrived in Rome around 8am. Passport Control was another story. Two flights arriving at the same time brings together 400+ anxious, over tired travelers trying to get through to FOUR agents….. What a mess and, of course, you always get the one traveler, I  won't mention that she's a woman, pushing her bag in front of her to get ahead. After an hour, finally got up to the most adorable looking man who stamped my passport….. WELCOME TO ROMA.

Traffic was typical… scooters dashing between lanes, stop and go, unnecessary traffic lights…. But finally got to the hotel. As usual Grand Circle does a great job, the only problem was that all the sites are on the other side of the city.

After meeting Sergio, our tour director, we went on a little excursion of the area, where Sergio pointed out a couple of places to eat. We headed over to a daily market with fresh fruits and vegetables that would make any farmer jealous. We finally settled on a place to eat….Pasquarelli's on Via Po, where I had a salami panini.

 

Headed back to the room and crashed for 3 hours.

Dinner was at Hysteria Po where I had a delicious pasta dish with pistachio pesto, prawns, and tomatoes along with a half bottle of wine o shared with Cindy.

 Got back to the hotel and needed something sweet, so I went across the street to a small restaurant, no English spoken here, and had tea and cheesecake.

 Crashed about 10:30, sweet dreams dancing in my head of wonderful food, new friends, great sights, and handsome Italian men. Ah, Italy……