Sono arrivato

After an eight hour and forty minute overnight flight, my feet have finally touched European, specifically, Italian, soil. I consider it to be a successful flight when I am not stuck waiting on the tarmac for engine maintenance and when I do eventually see my luggage on the conveyor belt. 

Now to get a taxi to the hotel… With my American dollars already exchanged to Euros, I approached a friendly and older looking cabby and off we went. I don't even know what type of car we were in, but it was small or "eco-friendly", just like all of the other cars piling into the city. Between the airport and Rome proper I saw a bit of the countryside. It is just the way anyone would picture it, hilly and filled with olive trees. A picture does not do it justice though. Much like my entrance to any other large metropolis, I was somewhat taken aback by the graffiti ridden neighborhoods we drove through before arriving at the center of Rome. The cabby spoke not a word of English and made a feeble and unsuccessful attempt to teach me how to say my hotel's name. Rather than making another failed attempt of spoken communication, he merely pointed to the taxi's meter when it was time for me to get out.  I think I managed to say the right thing when he helped me with my luggage: "Grazie". 

First thing first, Rome is much larger than I imagined it would be. I am beginning early on to grasp the fact that not everything I will go and do will be by foot.  I am going to have to continue to be a brave soul and figure out the public transportation system because my meager pile of Euros will dissipate even more quickly if I continue to cab it around this town. 

So, into the hotel I go. Seems nice enough from the outside... By some miracle, my room was actually ready for me at 9:00 a.m.. For this, I am extremely grateful, as I have been awake for nearly 24 hours. Fortunately, the majority of the hotel desk staff does seem to speak English. So on my merry way I go with my room key to my four-star room. Ahem. After several failed attempts of using the room key to enter, to what to my wandering eye did appear? A 6' by 10' "room" containing a twin sized bed, a desk and a chair. The bathroom is also modest, but does house a bidet, of course. 

Next issue de jure, how to turn on the lights? None of the buttons on the walls seemed to work and I began thinking about how creepy it was going to be to have to sit in a dark room all night after completing my daily activities. But, then I got a grip and thought, "wait a minute, there has to be a solution to this absurdity." Some more searching revealed a slot in the wall for the insertion of my room key. In it went, I pressed a light switch button again and there was light. Amazing. 

I'll get to my next adventure later today....