All Roads Lead to Rome

Work trips are usually not fun. Part of it is that you have to work while you are on work trips, which is always a downer (hence the name, “work trips”). The other part, at least for me, is that I always go to the same two spots. Not this time, this time I get to go Rome. I have been to Rome before. I fact, Rome is one of my favorite cities I have traveled to. I had a great introduction to it. In 1995 I traveled here and a local, of sorts, took us around. We ate at all the local places and were treated like we had been living there our whole lives. So I have always had fond memories of Rome.

The trip itself was uneventful…for the most part. The first flight was empty, well the seats next to me were empty and that is all that matters. A small layover and then a second flight on a smaller plane. Here is where the trip became a little more eventful. The guy next to me was a bit weird. Firstly, he smelled really, really bad. I had to cover my nose to be able to breathe. I would have moved to get away from the smell, but the flight was totally full. So I attempted to hold my breath for almost 3 hours. The other thing about this guy is that he was just weird. You could tell he was nervous about something. Plus he continued to touch himself (and I do mean touch himself). I was so ready to get off that plane and was thankful when I finally got to.

Took a taxi to the hotel, which was super easy from the airport. My hotel is placed perfectly in the historical center of Rome. From the front door you can see the forum and the coliseum. I am ready for food, being a tourist and more food!

4 Days, 6 Nights

Warning!!! If you have a ton of luggage, then the Milan train station is not the one you want to go to. We got there from Switzerland without any problems. N loved the train, of course. It is just that since we got kids, we travel with suitcases, which is perhaps the worst part of having kids. I miss my backpack!

The train to Verena was interesting, and a far cry from the Swiss trains that I could totally get use too. Since we had so much stuff (lugging the car seats with us as well, otherwise it really is not too bad), we really did not get seats together. Plus the train was super full. Z was happy though, for perhaps the first time on the trip. She loves Italy. All the older ladies go crazy over her (even if they think that she is a boy. Later in the week, we put her in pink and ruffles, still they thought that she was a boy).

Our flat in Verena was nice. It had a view over Lake Como. It took all of a half of day to discover it all, but it is a beautiful city. Of the four days, two were nice weather and two were really crap weather. Unfortunately the crap weather days were really crap. We did not leave but once the second of the two days. If we could have avoided that, we would have. Though we did get our Italian Ice Cream. Mmm, good stuff.

The highlight, besides the ice cream, was a little grocery store in town. They have two of them. The one I liked had a little old lady who worked it. She did not speak a word of English, at least she did not speak a word of it to us, but the store was a piece right out of Italian guidebooks. The type of place that you hope you find.

We left the flat at 5 in the morning for the long day of traveling. Off to the next stop- Utah!