After 30-40 tense minutes where either someone claimed we were sitting in their seats or someone else claimed those people were sitting in their seats, we had a nice, easy, 8 hour flight to Rome from Philly in 2 of the 6 first class seats that folded back into a bed. It was still difficult to sleep but it was nice to have the option.

Arriving in Rome we knew a) we needed some more Euros and b) we had to take the Metro to the main station, Termini. First lesson: never exchange much money at one of those exchange places in the airport. What a ripoff. Surcharges and fees and next thing $600 turns into $350. It wasn’t that bad but it felt like it. The second lesson was that after buying a ticket for a train or bus you have to get it “validated”. Validation is just a stamp with the time and date right before boarding the train. That lesson didn’t cost anything but if we were “caught” we would have had to pay a 50 Euro fine. Each.

Getting a hotel was easy and we even got to check in at 9am. So we slept. Then got up to go look around and get dinner. It was dusk but mostly I noticed there was a lot of trash on the ground.

More later . . . .

Sheldon