I Remember ... Philadelphia to Rome

I have never traveled by air for more than six hours so part of our journey to Italy included a long flight during the night. We came prepared with our electronic gadgets ... iPod, iPhone, books, magazines, etc. We even watched a movie on my iPhone and split the headphones ... anything to help us lose track of time. Walt introduced me to Rummikub on my iPhone and we played each other on our phones for hours. I just could not get to sleep and time-wise, I was so turned around. I think there was a bit of excitement and anticipation keeping me on high-alert.
We finally arrived in Rome at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 23rd and de-boarded the plane on the tarmac. What a warm, blue-sky sunny morning. It was wonderful to be on land again ... a place I had only dreamed of visiting!
After a bus ride to the terminal and going through customs, nothing looked better than seeing our luggage waiting for us ( : Whew ... that worry was behind us. We had arranged for a taxi service to pick us up at the airport and drive us to Rome. The driver was dressed in a very expensive suit and drove a Mercedez. Where he lacked in speaking fluent English he made up for in his savvy driving skills.Wow! What a ride! He maneuvered his vehicle right up on someone's bumper going about 50 mph and then made quick lane changes over and over. The route he drove seemed like back roads so we got a tour of Italy ... one I wasn't expecting ... graffiti everywhere and rundown neighborhoods.
We arrived at the Cosmopolita Hotel around 10:45 a.m. to find our room was not yet available. We checked our luggage and explored the area ... I felt like pinching myself realizing that I am really there. We experienced our first gelato and it was wonderful. The day was quite warm and by now I felt like I'd been in the same clothes for days. It took a long time before I wanted to wear my red sweater again!
The Italians don't eat lunch until later in the day so we had to wait for the restaurant to open in our hotel. It was wonderful to eat a delicious meal. When we finally went back to the lobby my eyelids were so heavy and I kept falling asleep. I think the staff felt sorry for us and finally gave us the keys to our room. Despite what everyone warned us not to do: we took a two-hour nap. We then felt refreshed and energized ... ready to go out exploring.