When in Rome

I have to begin by praising Lufthansa airlines - the Airbus was a pretty nice plane - not a lot of legroom, but comfortable seats. Mixed drinks, wine, and beer are all free on the pond-hop. They fed us lunch about an hour into the flight and afterwards, they came by and offered us cognac. Imagine that on
your American Airlines flight to Dallas!

The 9.5 or 10 hours passed quickly, and Kate was a total trooper - they had her sitting all by herself and she kept busy. Then we had an 8-hour layover in Frankfurt airport, which was more than a little boring. All the nice restaurants and shops they boast about aren't near the gates. So we made do with sandwiches and actually, about the best Chai Latte I've had in years. I got a couple hours' sleep on a waiting area bench. My back will forgive me someday, but not today.

I got some interesting shots out the window of the plane in the Alps and as we encountered the Mediterranean Sea and flew down Italy's west coast.

We landed in Rome and waited for about 45 minutes for the second half of our group. While we waited for them to arrive, we had our first gelato of the trip (but far, far, from the last.) The other folks arrived and we went for a sundown drive through downtown Rome. Dinner was at the Via Veneto at a small restaurant.

We had a nice salad and penne amatriciana - the traditional pasta dish of Rome. It's got tomato sauce, cheese, and pancetta in the mix, and it's fantastic. After 24 hours of airplane food and airport food, it was bliss - as was the bottle of house red that I bought and guzzled.

And while we dined, two of the restaurant's employees came out and played guitar and flute and sang some Italian songs to us - which, for me anyway, completed the picture. Kate took this picture because I was too busy slugging the Vino Rosso. After that, we took the bus out to our hotel outside of town - it's a sprawling place reminiscent of a Villa, called L'Oasi. Needless to say, after a 26-hour journey with only a catnap in the airport and the better part of a bottle of red working with a big plate of pasta, I slept like a rock.

Tomorrow - into the Eternal City and on the road with the MX-5 Passion club of Rome!