Day 1 of my vacation was definitely a day of being derailed. I got to PDX on time (with lots of time to spare), and got on my plane for the first leg of my journey--Portland to Chicago O'Hare. Seems simple enough, right? About half an hour before the time I was scheduled to arrive in Chicago, the captain comes on and says he has bad news. There is a thunder and lightening storm in Chicago, and no flights are going in and out, so the flight was diverted to Milwaukee where we had to stop to refuel. In my mind refueling again seemed like a simple task....nope, it wasn't! About 2 hours later we finally back in the air and on our way to Chicago. For those of you that know me well, you know that organizing myself and having a plan/schedule is something I generally do. At this point in time I'm stressing out because I knew my departing flight to Rome had also been delayed, but had no idea how long it would wait and whether I would get in on time. I didn't.....my flight to Rome left about 10 minutes before my arriving flight landed. *SIGH* So, I get an email from the airlines saying they have me booked on the next flight out.....24 hours later. :-( Day 1 of vacation definitely not off to a good start!
After finally making it to Rome the derailing didn't quite stop there. Upon arrival to the airport my friend Sarah found out that her luggage had apparently never left the Chicago airport, so here we are on a vacation we have both dreamed of, and she has no clothes. Shame on you United Airlines!!!
In addition to losing a day of vacation I missed my Pompeii/Amalfi Coast tour, which was one of the things I most wanted to see. Luckily I was able to rebook a short tour I had also missed for today, so I will share a few pictures of todays 'Welcome to Rome' tour.
Let me say that the rumors about Italian drivers being crazy is 100% true. They make bad American drivers look good. So, first stop after checking into the motel.....lunch. I had a Panino Vegerariano (bread with green olives cooked into it, mozzarella cheese, and eggplant). It ended up being more food than I could eat, but it was delicious.
As we made our way to our 'Welcome to Rome' tour we passed by the Forum of Nerva, which is very close to our motel.
Continue just a little further on and one finds the Forum of Augustus.
The tour started at the top of the Spanish Steps....at the top of all 135 of them during the hottest part of the day. Then we walked half way down them as our guide told us the history of them, the piazza, and the fountain all right there.
Our guide took us all over and we got a brief introduction to Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the many Obelisks and Columns that are all over the city.
We ended out tour at a Gelato shop (and these shops are everywhere around Rome), that had 150 different kinds of gelato to choose from. It was a tough choice but I chose green apple and the fresh berry fruit sorbet--it was delicious! I have a week to attempt to try as many difference flavors as possible.
Keep watching I will be posting pictures from today and throughout the rest of my vacation....but internet is slow here and it is almost midnight right now, so time to sign off and head to bed (I'm too tired to wait for pictures to upload).
Ciao!
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