Rome

Today has been another long day of travels - busy and stress free. Our taxi arrived at promptly 6 a.m. this morning to take us to the Liverpool St. Station where we picked up the Stansted Express to the airport.

We bought our train tickets from one of the staff members and once he handed us our receipt he said pointing, “Well, that’s your train and it leaves in 30 seconds so you better hurry!” We did and even had a few seconds to spare before the doors closed.

At Stansted Mom and I had enough time to grab lattes for breakfast before walking down to our gate. We were able to board after only a few minutes of waiting in the queue and landed seats in the first row of the airplane, so no fighting for luggage space or a place to sit. Once we pulled away from the gate it wasn’t long before the captain came over the loudspeakers saying that we had brake trouble (more like “the emergency brake light is on and we don’t know why” problem) and had to return to the gate. We ended up being about an hour late but that was the good news because if they hadn’t been able to address our brake problem we would have had to change planes and there’s no telling how long that would have taken.

When we arrived at the Rome airport we took the bus into the city and then the metro to our hotel. Our room is very nice; Priceline didn’t lie when they said it was a 4-star so everything is tidy and new. After a short break to unpack and regroup, we hopped back on the metro and headed out to see the Trevi Fountain. It was packed but we managed to take a few pictures before walking down the steps to throw in our coins for good luck and a return to Rome someday.

I received a phone call from my friend Robert and we agreed to meet at the Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. for drinks – that gave us about an hour to see the Spanish Steps and pick up our tickets to see the Pope tomorrow at the Church of Santa Susanna. Mass is set to be indoors and we were told by the priest to arrive at least two hours ahead of the 10:30 a.m. start time. So it will be another early morning for us tomorrow!

We successfully navigated the metro to meet Robert at our set time. He had hoped to take us to an Irish Pub but we couldn’t find it as hoped and opted for a nice little café with a beautiful view of the Coliseum across the street. It was fantastic to see Robert, since I haven’t seen him since we were in high school at AFNORTH. He is doing well working at the UN here in Rome and hopes to continue work with a non-contract position. Very nice, I can’t help but be a little jealous he is still overseas and I’m back in the U.S. – I was born on the wrong continent, what can I say?

Following drinks and tapas we took a walk around the Coliseum before saying goodbye for the evening. If schedules allow, we’ll meet up with Robert again tomorrow to either visit him at the UN or to have pizza and wine (either option sounds great to me!).

Now back at our hotel room, it’s time to get situated and somewhat unpacked since we’ll be here for more than one night.

I hope to have more pictures posted tomorrow after mass with the Pope!