More Day 1 "Activities"

I would like to add a couple of things to my Day 1 posting. I was committed to avoiding the extraordinary cost of using AT&T overseas to access the web for email, post to my blog and follow the news on line. After doing a ton of research on line, I went to an Italian telephone store at the train terminal near our hotel and asked about replacing my AT&T "SIM" card for my iPad with one that would access the Italiaan phone system. It cost me 8€ for unlimited access to the Internet (like a cell phone - not Wi-Fi). That is about $10. With AT&Y it would cost $159 for the same amount of data.

Ann replaced the SIM card in her US phone with an Italian one and can now call home for $0.30/minute instead of $1.29/minute with AT&T or Verizon.

Debbie and I are finding our return visit to Rome to be more comfortable than our first with the Rick Steves tour and we are both enjoying the return visit more than we had expected. The guided tour with Rick Steves was one of our best European visits. However, we had little sense of how sites we visited were connected (geographically). This time we poured over maps and made mental connections in advance of our arrival. As a result we were able to move about the city without taking time to review maps and try to figure out where we were. I think Ann &Skip will attest to our facility for knowing the city in a manner much like our recent visit to NYC. Having a hotel across the city from the main train station means we can ride the city bus to ANYWHERE in Rome and take the Metro (subway) as well. The same station gives us access to the "Obama" bullet train that will whisk us to Florence Thursday afternoon in 90 minutes. For our Chicago friends it's like having a single station for the CTA buses, Elevated trains and the METRA. It is totally cool!

Finally, I have to comment on our first night's meal. After falling into our hotel rooms (after miles of walking the streets of Rome) everyone showered and headed up to the roof top lounge where we sipped wine and had some snacks with the cool breezes in our face and a view of the city lights down below. We were pinching ourselves with delight over our accomplishment of the last 48 hours and were unexpectently refreshed as we headed out to a recommended restaurant for dinner at 10:00pm. This restaurant added to our pleasure by being a small (again, roof top) Italian place that made us feel like we were in someone's home. We took great interest in watching the waiters zip between the tables serving food but mostly engaging the diners like folks they knew intimately. What was particularly noteworthy was the waiters were all men in their 60's wearing white jackets and sporting graying facial hair. They engaged the diners with passion and attention to detail. While not meaning to sound sexist I was struck by how they multiple-tasked and were always moving! You could tell this was not only their occupation but their vocation! While we couldn't understand what they were saying to each other and to the guests it was obvious that their expression-filled remarks were about the beauty of the food they were serving and the enjoyment they were getting out of waiting on people. It was something to watch and added to the pleasure of our evening. Mind you, this was not an expensive high-end restaurant! It was simply a representation of how the Italians love their food and how they enjoy sharing that love with others.

I think we finally all crashed about midnight.

Location:Rome