We made it to Rome intact and with our luggage Our flights were pleasantly uneventful, though neither of us really slept on the long flight. The only (small) issue was connecting with our ride from the airport who was supposed to have a sign saying “landsharkz” but had a different sign which Jana deduced.
My roommate for this adventure is my friend Jana who I met c. 2005 thru geocaching (surprise). I am amused that while this is Jana’s first time in the European Union (EU) but not mine, it is my first time in Italy but not hers.
After checking in to our nice-but-nothing-special lodging we considered what to do to meet the day’s goal of staying awake until 8pm as the best way to minimize jet lag is to begin functioning on the new time zone. We ventured out for lunch, ending up at a nice cafe about 2 blocks away. It seemed appropriate that after all of the bolognaise dishes I’ve consumed elsewhere in Europe that’s what I ordered for my first Italian meal and it did not disappoint. Jana was pleased with her gnocchi. We concluded the meal with fruit, alas our plan to split a plate of strawberries and a plate of pineapple was foiled when our server informed us that they did not have strawberries.
Although we’d cleared customs in Amsterdam, we confirmed our arrival in Italy with, what else, a geocache. Appropriately for two science-oriented women, the first cache was in the location where Enrico Fermi was born. We were searching when someone else also came to look, a very nice man from the Czech Republic who found the cache. While we considered what to do next, not one but two teams of Canadian geocachers came to search for it and we ended up joining them for what turned out to be a delightful walk to the impressive but very crowded Trevi Fountain (and a total of 5 cache finds for the day).
We came back after 6 to put our feet up and log caches, successfully resisting the temptation to sleep. Then we considered dinner options — do we go to the place with the coupon from our new Canadian friends? Roy posted something positive about a nearby cafe, Jana checked for nearby vegan options which mentioned the nearby cafe, so we went for the first of what turned out to be 3 meals. Extensive menu including 4 pages (!) of vegan options including vegan cheese. We were both pleased with our selections and Jana expressed an interest in returning. The only disappointment was the strawberry sorbet — I expected something resembling a bowl of ice cream and was served a small glass of a virgin daiquiri which tasted ok but clearly had not been made with Hood strawberries.
We went to bed about 9:30. Looking forward to tomorrow’s tours that will include the Coliseum and the Vatican.
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