I’m happy to report that we’ve arrived alive in Italy. There was some doubt 24 hours ago as we waited for our flight from Chicago which was delayed two hours. Fortunately, we enjoyed a relatively smooth flight and landed in Rome around 9:30 am local time this morning. We’re staying about 5 miles form the airport in the small port city of Fiumicino. We’re in a lovely little hotel located about four blocks from the Tiber River. Our room was ready when we arrived this morning, so following my obligatory inspection of the linens and mattress (past experience has shown this to be essential), we decided to head off for Ostia Antica, the sight of ancient Roman ruins . The hotel gave us directions to the bus stop for the 20 minute ride to Ostia. Sounds simple enough until a West Virginia boy and a North Carolina girl try to buy a bus ticket in Italy. Apparently, the usual ticket outlets carry a minimal number of tickets for Ostia. After hitting five different places, I was ready to throw in the towel; however, Charlie persevered, and low and behold, we located four tickets in a small shop across the river from the bus stop. We caught the next bus, and you would’ve thought we had scaled Mt. Everest. For those of you who have never experienced public transportation in Italy, I can only say that it was a truly harrowing experience. After a bumpy 20 minute ride–punctuated with a number of lively verbal exchanges and hand gestures between our driver and others, we arrived at Lido Centro station in Ostia. There, we caught a train for a quick trip to Ostia Antica. Upon arrival, we couldn’t spot the ruins; however, we fell in behind a group of school kids, and followed them to the entrance. The site was much larger than we expected, and we spent the remainder of the day exploring and , of course, taking photos It’s amazing that we here so little of this sight. It usually finds its way into the late chapters of the guide books; however, this is one of the most impressive sights we’ve seen. It was well worth the adventure getting there. We are back at the hotel and waiting for any restaurant in a 5 block radius to open…. most don’t until 7pm. Meanwhile, I’ll share a couple of photos from today’s adventure. Tomorrow we will return to Rome to revisit some of our favorite places Ciao!
