When in Rome

We have arrived in Roma! We touched down in Fuimicini airport, which is about 25 minutes outside the city. Rather than spending an outrageous amount of money on an Italian taxi, we decided to try our luck figuring out the train system. In just 10 minutes we learned enough Italian to get us around (including uscita or exit) and managed to find the train we needed. We walked down the platform as the train was there waiting to leave. Apparently, however, we missed the Italian sign that said we needed to be on the other side of the train to get on. We figured this out after walking halfway down the platform, and as we turned around to walk back around an older man looked at us and said “uno minuto!” So we ran as quick as we could, got on the train, and it left 10 seconds later. Welcome to Rome!

There were helpful people everywhere in Rome, which really helped now that it came time to locate our hotel. Walking there we enjoyed the small cafes and ristorantes along the streets. But we finally arrived at our hotel, which it turns out is in a building that’s older than America.

When the hotel worker behind the desk and the owner saw that we had heavy backpacks on, he grabbed a room key to a room only a few steps away and carried our bags into the room. They were super nice.

We had not eaten much since leaving Dublin, so we went down to a cafe steps from the hotel. When we walked in the owner was standing behind the counter and he came running around to the front of the restaurant with his hands up shouting, “I’m so happy to see you! Welcome!” He then shook our hands and told us we were his new friends. Given it was past 10pm, we thought everyone was quite lively...or perhaps he had just enjoyed a few glasses of wine already...not sure. We ate while he danced around signing Sinatra, which we thought was funny, but it was a nice way to start our time in Italia.