Day One in Roma

Tomorrow will mark two weeks since I left for Rome. My vacation flew by and I'm left wondering where the time went.

As I was sitting on the plane to Rome with mom it hit me that I hadn't been on a plane in nearly a year - my last flight was the one that brought Les and me to Sicily. I also marveled at the fact that I was on my way to Rome for the second time - just six months after my first visit. I was excited but missed my husband already. Since our move to Sicily the most time we've spent apart is one night.

We arrived in Rome without any problems, caught the train to Termini Station, and then the Metro to the flat we rented for four nights. The flat was great! I could live there. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, small kitchen, and a living/dining area. It even had the same entertainment center that I bought from Ikea in San Diego, that now resides in our Sicilian home.

We settled in and went to the supermarket around the corner to pick up some food for a late lunch and a few goodies to have on hand for breakfasts. Once back at the flat we feasted on bread, cheese, speck, apples, and a couple cookies.

After lunch we took off to see the rest of our family - two aunts, my grandmother, and my cousin. We took the Metro and met up with them at their hotel. It was so good to see them after a year of being away! We enjoyed a glass of wine at the hotel bar and chatted until a pianist decided to "entertain" the guests. He played so loud that we couldn't hear each other speak so we took off in search of dinner.

We ended up in tourist central - not my first choice for finding good local cuisine but by that time it was getting late and we just wanted to find food. We ended up at a decent but overpriced restaurant. In spite of the expensive and ok food I soaked up the company of my family. I miss family get-togethers so much now that I live so far away from them.

After dinner mom and I felt somewhat energetic and decided to save the cab fare and walk back to the flat. It didn't look too far on the map. We walked for over an hour and finally found our way back. It was a lot farther than we thought. Our feet aching and our bodies exhausted we fell into bed and slept like babies.