A Day Behind

I've fallen behind already. Got here yesterday at what would have been 1:30 AM eastern time. Here it was 7:30 AM. I slept a bit on the plane on the flight from Boston, but not much. Upon arrival, I found the train and road into Termini, the Grand Central Station of Rome. Then took the metro to stop nearest my hotel. Dragging my bags down the street proved a real adventure as the streets are VERY narrow and cobbled. I passed my hotel several times before asking someone and being helped by a very nice fellow from a nearby ristorante. Here is the doorway to my hotel:

It is the brown door on the right. How could I have possibly missed it? Here is the front desk:

That's right! It's right behind that pillar! My room is very nice actually. Brand new and very modern. And orange!! There is, however, no coffee maker or alarm clock. And no dresser. Very odd. The woman who works the front desk does not speak english. I love it here!

So far the only thing I've found to dislike is the 'orange' juice. It's actually red and very sweet! Ech!! The coffee, however, makes up for it. I am already addicted to caffe americano which is very black, but smooth and is served in small plastic cups. The Italians would freak to see the gargantuan cups of coffee we cart around in the US.

My hotel is one block from the Spanish steps. Here is a view from the top:

I explored here yesterday and then to the Piazza del Popolo:

Like everywhere I've been in Rome so far, there were many wonderful sculptures here:

Wait until you see where I went today!!

Other things I have noted about Rome:

• There are T-Shirt vending machines on the street.
• The subway is WAY crowded.
• The cars are small, but big enough to knock you over and it's hard to tell the sidewalk from the street. The cars drive right down the alley ways next to the people eating outside.
• They sell beer on the street. This is my favorite part. You can pick up a sandwich and a Heineken from a street vendor.

I fell asleep yesterday at 6:30 PM (Roma) and slept until 7:00 this morning. Perfect! No jet lag!