When In Rome

Apparently there *is* an upside to getting a major operation on your head every year, and that is being able to travel afterwards. I seemed to have stumbled across the perfect trifecta of head surgeries (the ultimate justifaication machine), being unemployed and having great opportunities in my lap.**

Right now its 248am and I'm totally jetlagged. I'm also totally in Rome.

While I am often jealous of Em and her world-travelling lifestyle, I really appreciate the fact that she has invited me along more than once. And now, lo! Minnie and I are meeting up with Em and a few others for her 30th birthday (*cough* bitch *cough*) They don't start arriving until Friday night, though. So for right now its just me and Minnie taking Italy by storm.

Well, slowly, anyhow. We did start this whole trip with a 3 hour delay in SFO, which made those well-timed drinks (and dare I admit a Brownie for myself?!?) not so well timed? Yeah, I'll only speak for myself, but I was pretty well rocked and flying before we even got on the plane. Nearly missed our connection in Amsterdam, but in the end it was all quite uneventful. Sleeping was a bit of a bitch, but the free booze and good amount of surprisingly tasty airplane food took the edge off.

We've pulled off the plain-train-automobile trifecta, all in one very long day, and are now staying at a small hostel in Rome proper. Its not fancy, but the rooms are clean (and private) and the concierge is beyond helpful. He's already pulled out several maps and shown us what to see, what buses to take, and where to eat. Dinner was pretty much the only thing we accomplished today before going to bed, but it was quite good. And I think I'm going to really like the bottle-of-wine-with-all-meals aspect of Italy.

The only thing we're going to have to watch out for while here is pickpockets. Pickpockets and jet lag. Two! The two things we're going to have to watch out for are pickpockets and jet lag, and not being run over by Roman drivers. (pause) The three --- let me go out and try that again.

(door slams)

The three things we will have to be careful of while in Rome are: pickpockets, jet lag, not being run over by cars, and the european keyboards at the hostel.

Sigh. I need a comfy chair. And some sleep. Not necessarily atthe same time - had plenty of that on the plane, thanks.

Tomorrow's forcast is more rain, so we'll probably find something indoors-y to do after we buy our transportation pass. Friday is supposed to be nice, though. Luckily it sounds like Minnie and I have pretty similar tastes in what to see/do so far, like fabric shopping (!), so we've got that going for us. Will be taking lots of pictures as I've hauled all of my camera gear with me this far. Will hopefully be less zombified tomorrow.

Ciao ciao!


** For the record, I want to get a job and I want to have no more surgeries on my head. Can't lie about the travelling part though (two outta three ain't bad?) But I realize this is not sustainable regularly. Le sigh.