Rome Day 1: Wow, this place is… is… zzzzzzz…(take 2)

Forgot that email posting to wordpress has to be plain text, so
reposting again (from my balcony in Rome (which is just still cool to
me))

Great flight from Phoenix to Philadelphia. Got separated in Philly
airport, which is the size of New Zealand. Marco Polo covered less
ground than we did going from Terminal B to Terminal A. These are
neighboring letters of the alphabet, yet we got Memorial Terminal A
Connecting Flight 5K Run shirts when we finally made it.

No less than ten security officers and dogs (“We can’t tell you what
they are sniffing for, but it is many things.”) were on the concourse
as we boarded. Fortunately it didn’t seem to involve us for a change,
and we boarded smoothly. We had very comfy, spacious seating courtesy
of cashing in a heinyload of Frequent Flier Miles, and were handed
tasty mimosas as we sat down.

These chairs had 16 different adjustable buttons for doing things like
moving your headrest, extending your leg support and extending “the
bump”. Sadly, these comfy chairs were almost impossible to sleep in.
We nodded in and out, but that was it. And our fancy in-flight
entertainment system BSOD’d on us, AND they didn’t have a power
adapter so I could charge devices like my netbook. Quite silly.

Rome’s airport was a bit confusing, but nowhere near the nightmare of
Heathrow. I even spoke the native language and Heathrow and it was
worse. Eventually we found our way to the train station, caught the
“Leonardo Express” to Termini Station, got lost again, and finally
found a taxi to our hotel.

I have never seen so much graffiti as I saw on the train trip from the
airport to the center of Rome. Not just scrawls but full on artwork.
Even saw a few “Ave Cesar!” which I’m not sure what to make of. And
traffic here is as batcrap crazy as you may have heard. Even
batcrappier. I gladly pay money to the cabbie to navigate it for us.

Our hotel is in an alley, which concerned me at first, but I was being
a pansy. This is apparently quite normal, and the hotel is fantastic.
The people are great, and we have a balcony on the fourth floor that
overlooks some rooftop gardens. It’s beyond ridiculously gorgeous, and
I may not want to leave. The only downside is there is no lift, and
the steps are steep little buggers.

We’re trying to get ourselves on Rome time, which means trying to stay
up until nighttime. Since we came in at 9am local, that’s a full day
of it. We walked around Piazza Navona, and then over to the Pantheon,
up past Parliament, and across to the column for Marcus Aurelius
before we were just on total fumes and headed back (about 3pm). I’ll
write more about the sites later, but I have to comment on the
Pantheon.

I’ve never had outright goosebumps being somewhere before. Such a
sense of power and history in a place… erected by an Emperor,
dithered over by the Popes, and ultimately saved by its conversion to
a Catholic Church. Nearly two thousand years old and populated with
Gods the entire time. Its dome a marvel that Bernini felt surpassed
that of St. Paul’s Cathedral itself. I heard Spanish, French, German,
English, Japanese, and ton of other languages I couldn’t identify as
people from around the world marveled. Across the ancient square, past
the marble fountain, a McDonald’s sold Big Macs. It was a completely
surreal experience.

Bandwidth is a lot trickier here than I thought, so pictures are going
to have to wait until I can find an internet cafe tomorrow. Oh, I
also had two of the best Cappucinos I have ever had. Just… ever.
Austin needs to come here just to try these things. The Italians do
know their espresso drinks, no question

I’m about to die, and the wife is already toast. After I figure out
how to post this, we’ll get some rest and recharge for tomorrow’s
target… the Vatican!