Italy- The 2015 Vacation

When you embark on a vacation that is inundated with aggressive schedules of sight seeing, time has the funny knack of becoming far more dense. The launch of our journey from Logan airport seems almost as distant in my mind as the trip we took last year to the Pacific Northwest. I have a vague recollection of the Saturday we left, the rushing to do last minute errands, and the long convoluted notes I wrote shortly before leaving to my parents who came to our house while we were gone. I recall the taxi arriving to shuttle us on our way just as I had realized that I made the tactical error of forgetting to dry some blankets in the washer. I hurried to set up the folding drying racks in the spare room as Kate was shouting to me from the door that the cab was here.

Once our journey began, and Kate and I sat silently in the taxi as it brought us to the airport. I remember wondering whether or not the driver thought we were weird because we were not more talkative. I asked Kate about her day, as she had just returned home from a work shift prior to leaving. We didn't say much, I suppose it wasn't necessary to appear normal when we most clearly are not. I think that we were so busy with all of the little nothings and big somethings that comprise our lives that we didn't have the proper time to properly digest that we were heading to Italy. We were numb, perhaps a little ill prepared, but excited, anxious, and looking forward for a brief escape from the ritualistic routines.

The driver insisted that we were not going to be in the international terminal because we were flying delta (actually Alitalia operated by Delta). We allowed ourselves a generous amount of arrival time, and therefore it was easy to choose not argue with him. I was confident that we did need to be in the international terminal. I fly a decent amount and I've never flown international from any other Logan terminal than Terminal E. Regardless I gave the driver the benefit of the doubt because it is after all his job to know. I was correct. Thankfully the driver hung around and offered us a short drive to the correct terminal. Once in Terminal E, we eventually made our way through security and had a marvelous meal at Burger King, the first of the vacation I joked (see picture above). The picture was an opportunity for me to test out the new "point and shoot" camera I bought for the trip, since the one I've had since 2004 finally bit the dust.

The flight was unfortunately on an "outdated" plane. No seat back monitors, and the food wasn't very good either. Regardless of these shortcomings, it was a comfortable flight and I was able to nap a little bit. The pictures are from the Alitalia travel magazine. I enjoy a good weird cartoon, and the ad for the wine, I thought it was just really stupid, even by bad advertising standards. Bored on a plane, this is what happens.

In Italy our airport experience was "unique" to say the least. It was our introduction to what would be systemic Italian disorder. At customs there was a huge bottleneck, we probably were delayed at least a half hour with no progress and finally a couple guards just waved all of the American and Canadians through customs with nothing more than a quick glance at our passports. Completely ridiculous, and frankly I was worried about the return since we didn't get "stamped" as usual.

We had a half hour train ride into Rome Termini, the main transit hub. The neighborhood around the train station could at times be rough around the edges, and at other times showcased a beautiful melting pot of cultures, architecture, and side walk markets and cafes. Some might not be particularly keen on this area, and maybe I would agree that it isn't for a "family," but for us it worked out perfect. We would stay here for a couple of days, and would return to a different B&B in the same neighborhood before heading home.

Our Bed & Breakfast "Buonarroti Guest House" was quickly located. Buonarroti Guest House is situated in a discrete apartment building on a side street. We were on the 7th floor and a tiny elevator with brass doors brought us from a dated wood paneled lobby to the entry way to the B&B.

Our room (see photos below) really was equipped just as nicely as a regular hotel room. The downside to this location is you have to schedule your arrival ahead of time. Paying up front may also be wise because your checkout time may not necessarily coincide with the hours that the "desk" is staffed, which was the case for us.

Modern fixtures made good use of a small space in the bathroom. The room had a beautiful parquet/herring bone style floor, which I'm guessing existed in apartments prior to conversion into the B&B. There were doors that opened out to a small balcony. Our weather was nice enough to open them in the evening before heading to bed. Since they faced a courtyard/ alley, noise was not a concern.

Coming soon- the touring begins! We wanted to prioritize the most important Roman attraction, so after freshening up it was the Colosseum that we would head to!