When in Rome,
originally uploaded by Andy Fowler.

Well I’m here safely, and I’m settled into the hostel. My flight arrived around 11 to Rome’s airport. I only slept about 4 hours on the planes, and it was pretty restless. My mini TV screen did start working, but despite 6 channels of movies, there was nothing on.

Paris was a bit of an adventure, going through customs without knowing any French (now I know about 5). Got to my plane just in time.

As I said, I got to Rome around 11, and the drug dog sniffed out the airline peanuts in my pocket. I waited for Laurajo’s plane to get in 15 minutes later, and we took the train from the airport into central Rome. After I helped her figure out her plane ticket, I left for my hostel. 4 blocks later, here I am.

As you can see from the pictures (there should be several on Flickr), my room is very clean and has an amazing view. No safety regulations here, so the whole window opens up entirely!

I unpacked and bought a lock for my locker, and even though I almost fell asleep making my bed, I realized I shouldn’t go to sleep yet. I found a perfect little mini-cafe where I ordered the best ham and cheese sandwich I’ve ever had. It was an undescribable flat bread and delicious cheese, heated and toasted to perfection. They had an espresso maker the size of a refrigerator, so I think I’ll try that tomorrow. Only 2 euros for the sandwich, too!

Everybody here is very well-dressed. Even the sandwich man had this dressy B&W pinstripe uniform that made him look like a candy man from 1952. After I ate (outside: it’s 55 here), I walked a few more blocks and found a really classy candy store, where I had my first gelato. It’s a texture I’ve never experienced before: as smooth as ice cream, somewhere between soft and hard ice cream, but not quite Bruster’s either.

And now I’m back at the hostel. Still no phone card, but I’ll get that tomorrow. Even though it’s only 5:15 here, I think I’m going to go to bed. I’m confident in my ability to sleep for at least 13 hours. Which is how much I’ve slept en toto for the past 4 days. Goodnight, friends.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 28th, 2006 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.