When in Rome...

Scott and I had been told many times before taking our trip to Rome that it was all about the food.

We are currently at the Marriott Hotel in Rome, starting off a week-long trip that will take us to Italy's capital city as well as Florence.

It really is all about the food. In fact, when you plan your day here, you can't help but plan it around your meals. Today, we are having lunch at a pizza place outside the Vatican that comes highly recommended by my friend Kim. Dinner will likely be back near the Pantheon, where we ate last night. In between those two meals? Well, there is the tour of the Vatican and a trip to the Vatican Museum. But that's just to kill time before we eat again.

Yesterday we expected rain, and luckily the heavy stuff held off for most of the day, until we reached the Trevi Fountain, when the heavens unleashed not only rain, but a nice little thunderstorm in the middle December.



The word for the trip is "expeditious." Our US Air pilot included it in various comments more than a couple times during the long flight from Philiadelphia. The ironic part being that the flight really wasn't very expeditious. We were delayed leaving Boston because of low clouds in Philadelphia. We were delayed on the ground in Phili for a variety of reasons. First, our pilot showed up very late. Second, we were held in line for de-icing (a light dusting of snow gave the plane a confectioners' sugar appearance). Third, there was something about one of the booms on one of the de-icing trucks. Fourth, well I don't remember. I just know that each delay was to take "a couple of minutes," according to Captain Expeditious, but wound up taking so much longer.

We did finally arrive, and day one took us to lunch at a nice Italian cafe near our hotel, dinner near the Pantheon, coffee in Eustachio Plaza, Gelato near Trevi Fountain, and a late-night drink at Harry's Bar. In between... well, we saw the Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Piazza Navona and Trevi Fountain.

Harry's Bar, by the way, had a piano player and piano singer. Scott and I coundn't figure out if she was an ex-Pat or a native Italian, since she sang in both English and Italian. She was quite talented, though.