Primo Giorno a Roma!

We’re back in Rome,…however, what it took to get here is nothing short of a miracle. We started off very early from Pasadena to the Burbank airport at 5:30 Sunday morning. We cleared through security in a breeze and were at our gate with time to kill. Excitement was slowly beginning to settle in when we were dealt a hard blow. Our first flight was delayed for five hours due to a “maintenance” issue. This meant that we would miss our connecting flight out of the international airport in Oregon which we were supposed to fly out off. Long and agonizing story short, the kind people at Delta airlines were eventually able to send us directly from LAX to Rome on a 3pm flight, we still would arrive at the same time we had planned on. Everything worked out; they even paid for the cab to LAX and our lunch at Wolfgang Puck. The 12 hour flight was okay, except for the Indian sitting close to us who decided that it was okay to take off his shoes allowing for his “heavenly” aroma to penetrate the cabin for the first six to seven hours.

Upon our arrival in Rome, we booked a shuttle which was crammed like a sardine can. We were literally dropped off at the door of our apartment. When we exited the vehicle, we were greeted by Juan, a Colombian ex-pat and by a BEAUTIFUL courtyard fountain. We were shown the ropes as far as the automatic 20ft doors, the tiny elevator which requires a specific sequence of operation. The apartment is tiny, but cozy. It is definitely made for a shorter person or a hobbit. We both truly feel at a home. Although the comforts of a five star hotel would be very welcoming, there’s nothing like feeling truly “Romani”. The only drawback in the apartment is that the internet is still not working.

We spent the remainder of our day exploring our neighborhood, Piazza di Spagna. With such a perfectly situated locale, 5 minutes from the Spanish Steps, unfortunately come the excessive Easter tourists. It looks like an ant colony. We still loved walking to Piazza del Popolo to marvel at the twin churches. It was on our walk that we discovered that Italy is definitely our second home. There were dogs everywhere, good food, a lot of loud people, it’s like any night at the Chavez house. After finding an internet station at Mail Boxes Etc. we had our first Roman meal at Canova Ristorante. We dined al fresco in perfect spring weather. The bruschette mista (bruschetta sampler) was very good. Cindy had a bellini with lasagna and Pox had a colibri with pennette all’arrabiatta. Everything was delicious. We casually strolled back gawking at the expensive fashion that adorns the displays in all of the designer shop windows. We ended the night back at Piazza di Spagna, were Cindy could not resist her evening snack temptation. Cherry and Panna Cotta (Sweet Cream) gelato,…CHECK!