3 Days of FABULOUS Southern Food

July 28

So Thursday.  I woke up at 4:20 in the morning, so I could make my plane to Austin.  Tricia lives in Austin.  I arrived in time for lunch and we went out for Tex-Mex (LOVE).  We had tamales & veggie molettes (DELISH!!).  And an avocado margarita – yes I said AVOCADO.  Sorry no pics, I was hungry and halfway through our meal, I realized.   

For the afternoon we toured Austin.  We drove through downtown, and stopped at Sugar Mama’s for cupcakes.  The bakery was gorgeous, light blue and red throughout.  It was gorgeous.  We also went to Whole Foods (the original and largest).  It had a number of eateries inside it as well as a bar, a candy island, a bakery, and a walk in beer cooler.  Lovely.  We also tripped it out to the library for books on CD for our trip to Arkansas & Tennessee.  We got 8 books (including Beginner’s Italian).   

Me & Tricia on top of Mt. Bonnell

Then we headed to the house (Tricia is dog sitting two crazy lab mixes). We took the dogs for a walk & then hiked up to the top of Mt. Bonnell for a beautiful view of downtown Austin and the river.  It was GORGEOUS!!! When we got back from our walk through the neighborhood we found that one of the dogs had jumped up and knocked a cup off the counter and then licked the broken grass and left blood all over the kitchen floor.  AWESOME!

one of my favorite houses 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

candy apples @ Whole Foods Austin

July 29

Friday was the best.  We woke up early so I could drive Tricia to work, then I went home and went back to bed.  Lovely.  Amazing.  Back up to go have lunch with Tricia.  Thank goodness for GPS – I don’t think I could have done anything without it at this point.  DAMN YOU TECHNOLOGY for making me so dependent on you.  GRRR.  We went out for Chinese food.  On the way back to the house I missed a turn (on purpose) and ended up in a mall (actually not on purpose, I was trying to get to somewhere else).  $60 later with a new dress, belt, headband and 2  rings… whoops, so much for not shopping when I don’t have an income. Oops.   

I went back to the house to hang out and pack the car up before I picked up Tricia from work and we left for Little Rock (halfway to Tennessee & Julie - and also to see Bevin).  It was a very fun drive.  We stopped every hour for a while for iced tea, which meant we had to pee, and we stopped for more tea… and here are the highlights:

 - Waxahachie – it’s just fun to say

 - homes / huts built into the shape of a caterpillar

 - a giant church in the middle of a strip mall

 - beautiful cloud formations

 - a huge thunderstorm out of nowhere

 - fried pie – need I say more

 - the last stop for chocolate (in TX) that had closed

 - a whole stretch of land & time with nothing but darkness and trucks

 - we listened to 3 books.  The Cat who dropped thebombshell (love), April & Oliver (depressing so we stopped), & The Diary (still working on it, but enjoying it a lot)

 - I drove most of the way and that was awesome – Tricia

 - I thought a football stadium was a drive-in movie theater

 - arriving in Little Rock!!!! & getting to hang out with Tricia’s friend Bevin!

 

July 30

live music with breakfast

iced coffee with
coffee ICED CUBES = GENIUS

Tricia's hazelnut french toast

And then there was Saturday.  We slept in way late today (because we didn’t go to bed until close to 2).  Up and moving around 11ish and out to brunch.  We went to The House in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Little Rock.  It was amazing!  I had eggs, potatoes, bacon, a biscuit, and fruit.  (Pay attention to the fruit because it was the only healthy thing we ate today).  Then we walked around the neighborhood and found a coffee & tea shop where we stayed for about an hour chatting with the owner.  Then we got another tea & coffee before we left.  I thought about getting a feather put into my hair… but I resisted.  We drove through the neighborhood (really cute with lots of porch swings) and found an estate sale.  We thought – what the hell!  It smelled like death and looked like it hadn’t been renovated since the 50’s – CREEPY!  Both Bevin and Tricia found things to take home, but I couldn’t find anything I could take on a plane – oh well.   

 

Then we went for to Cupcakes on Kavanaugh for cupcakes!!! It had a beautiful bathroom (brown and blue) and we got a half dozen cupcakes to take with us (red velvet, carrot, chocolate on chocolate, buttercream on chocolate with cream cheese filling, margarita, & strawberry).  Then we headed over to the Clinton Library (where Bevin works) & saw the exhibit on Elvis (Bill loved him a lot – although probably unrelated, I didn’t ask).  It was really interesting.  A photographer followed Elvis around right before he made it big and the pictures are stunning and are Elvis in his element.  We also look at the Clinton’s history in the White House.  Bevin showed us the behind the scenes tour where all the extra information and all the paper are stored – it was overwhelming.  Tricia found a list of the trees on the property (not in the stacks), and zeroed in on one, the Farkleberry Tree, and we had to find it. Tricia looked and looked, but was not successful.  But we had a nice walk along the Arkansas River in the sweltering heat.   

chicken fried steak sandwich

Then we headed South – out of the city to Scott, Arkansas.  To Cotham’s Mercantile for dinner.  It looks like it was the general store way back when and now it is a dive on the outside but was a dive on the inside too.  But the food – was all fried and all delicious.  We had a heart attack on a plate… I mean we ate fried green tomatoes, chicken fried steak, onion rings, fried catfish, hush puppies, corn fritters, French fries, & Cole slaw for a vegetable.  Then we had fried sweet potato pie with ice cream for dessert – hey wait did you see another vegetable on that list? 

Back in the car and back to the city.  We drove past the Governor’s Mansion (but there were no good views) and past Central High School.  Central HS is where integration went to hell.  The Governor (at the time) forbid integration and then the President sent armed guards to help escort 9 black students inside.  The school is the hugest public school I have ever seen.  It just kept going.  Then we headed back to Bevin’s apartment to digest.  We ended the night with cupcakes (as if we were still hungry). 

Mid Summer Book Review

I love summer vacation because I have time to read!  Here are the books I have read so far this summer and my thoughts.  Click on the titles to go to Amazon and read the whole review.

1. I started Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks. 
   I started it.  I couldn't get into the storyline at all.  I kept trying to get into the story, and maybe if I had kept going, but I didn't.
   
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. 
   I read it with Colleen & Sarah for our "book club."  I loved it.  I cannot wait to see the movie.  I hope they live up to each other.  I couldn't put the book down.  It takes place in Jackson, Mississippi during the 60's - right in the heart of race problems.  My favorite part of the book...were the story telling moments.  That doesn't mean much I guess, but I enjoyed the characters talking about their processes for the stories. 
   
3. The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen.
   LOVE LOVE LOVE.  It was a story about a family and how it changed, expanded, and survived.  It was a book about a daughter's love and the evolution of that love.  I couldn't put it down to save my day.   
4. Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
   OMG - this book was so beyond intriguing.  The story is similar to the movie 50 First Dates, with Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore.  A woman wakes up and doesn't know who she is or how she got there.  And then she is much older than she remembers herself being.  There is a phone call and a notebook but I am not going to tell you anything else about the plot because it will give away the whole book.  This was my favorite book of the summer!!!!!!!!
5. Sarah Addison Allen.  Garden Spells, The Peach Keeper, The Sugar Queen 
   I love this author.  Her books, the words leap off the page.  I cannot stop reading them.  I loved loved loved both The Peach Keeper & The Sugar Queen and I cannot wait to start reading Garden Spells.  What I have noticed so far is that the supernatural exists in her books and there might be some small tragedy in them as well.  Oh I cannot wait for another one of her books!  
6. The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean.
   This is my current book.  I have started this and I am loving it.  It starts with a family disaster and goes way uphill from there.  I cannot wait to keep reading it!

and those are my books so far.  not bad.  have to run though, my books are calling me

I am trying very hard!

What is my nemesis, downfall, pitfall, the one thing I wish I could do better?  ORGANIZATION!  And well, in general keeping my stuff put away and down to a minimum.  You know, the stuff I do that drives Matt up the wall and out the front door pulling out his own hair. 

It is no secret that I have recently grown to love blogs and reading about other people's lives - sounds creepy, but it isn't.  And I love reading about how all these other families are staying organized.  And they all have children, which I do not.  So if they can keep their houses organized and not live in chaos, I feel that I should be able to also.  And without much effort.  Okay, well with some effort because if it was really "no effort" I would theoretically already be doing it. 

So I was reading a favorite blog, A Year of Slow Cooking, and Stephanie has written a book, Totally Together: Shortcuts to an Organized Life.  One of the things she has included in her book is a Daily 7 - 7 things to do every day (as a start I believe) to keep your house looking organized and put together.  I am definitely going to invest in this book and see what I can learn. 

So I have started with 7.  Seems manageable enough.  In fact, I started 4 days ago.  I have been able to get at least 4 done each day - which is more than half! So I think I am on my way to success.  I didn't use all of Stephanie's because they don't all jive with me and our house.  Matt & I came up with 7 items for me to do every day to make our lives better.  So here are my 7:

1. Make the bed.  I do this anyway, so it felt like an instant win!  I included that the sheets get changed every Wednesday and the towels get changed on both Monday and Thursday.  
2. Garbage cans.  This is Stephanie's idea and I like it.  Empty all the cans first thing in the morning.  So I grab the garbage can from our bathroom and empty it into the kitchen garbage.  This way all the cans get emptied with some kind of regularity.  
3. Kitchen sink - also not a stretch.  But my list on my desk also says "DON'T COMPLAIN!"  Matt does a lot of the housework (because it bothers him before it gets a change to bother me).  He is pretty good about dishes getting into the sink, but not the dishwasher.  I can do the last step without complaining.  
4. Kitchen table.  EVERY DAY!  This is the one thing that Matt wishes I did without ever being told.  I cover the kitchen table with stuff as soon as I walk in.  If I turn around right now... I can see our bowls from dinner, the pool bag, my purse, a bag of stuff that needs to be returned, an old purse, and some stuff for decorating cupcakes.  And that is not all of it.  So I am trying to keep my stuff to a minimum on the table.  I am actually trying.  It is not easy, let me tell you.
5. Chores - shoes, clothing, electronics.  Those are my big three that I carry with me and leave behind.  I get to the couch and take off my shoes.  When I walk in the front door after work, I leave my sweater on the table instead of taking it upstairs when I change clothes.  And my laptop, it goes everywhere and stays there.  
6. Bathrooms - wipe them down.  I am not sold on this one.  I get it, it makes sense to me to do this every day to keep it clean and then keep the cleaning day short and sweet.  I haven't gotten to this yet.
7. Right before going up to bed, take 10 minutes and clean up the house.  This has helped me get the last dishes into the sink (to be washed in the morning) and make sure that there is nothing else that could be easily done.  In these 10 minutes I have also started making my "to-do" list for the next day.  Normally I wake up and have no memory of what I want to get done.  

So, those are my 7.  I have been good at getting numbers 1, 3, 5, & 7 done every day.  That is halfway there and all odd.  So I think I may be getting good at this.  So now I am focusing on that table and making sure I don't leave it a mess.  I lump it in with number 7.  It is making a dent if not a difference.

Chicago Visit 2011

Chicago skyline from our view
at the park for music

So after 6 days at home, we went away again, as if 6 days was enough to be at home... We were back to Chicago to visit with Janna & Dan!  We flew out and landed in time for lunch with Dan.  We had hummus, because it had been over a week and Matt was going through withdrawal.



This was a packed trip, but then again, it wasn't because we had a lot of down time (a new thing for us).  During this trip we went to the Art Institute, zoo, aquarium, Broadway in the Park, BareNaked Ladies block party, and swimming in the Lake.  We had a wonderful time - wait that doesn't even begin to cover how much fun we had.  We also ate a lot of great food.  Dan cooked breakfast, went out for brunch at Sprout (Dale from Top Chef's restaurant - YUM), Thai food, BBQ, delicious.  I feel like we might have been eating for days.  Oh and frozen yogurt and cupcakes.  DUH!

BareNaked Ladies!!!!!

We are barely home from this trip and we are already talking about what we will be doing next year in Chicago - Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me...

Home. Lovely.

So we got home!  We made it all the way back to MD!  And the grocery store.  And read the mail.  And paid the bills.  It was lovely and boring.  And we did so much laundry.  We have also woken up at 6:30 every day since we got home.

We went to Happy Hour on Friday.  And were asleep when we got home. 
We had everyone over on Saturday also.  There was a ton of food, cornhole, and other things that make us happy.  It was nice.  I really want to be able to write something worth reading, but this is kind of what my brains feel like - still tired. 

So Sunday I woke up really early and drove to Pittsburgh for Emily's birthday!  We tailgated and went to a Pirates game.  They beat the Cubs 9-1.  It was a fun game to watch.  Then we walked along the river and met Josh for dinner.  I have missed them so much.  I also got to meet Emily's BF Steve.  Initial reaction - I liked him. 

Then I met Josh for breakfast in the morning and came home.  Now we are getting ready for the second trip...

Home (almost) (Trip Day #15)

Honestly, I thought this trip was longer than 2 weeks.  I thought it was more like 3 weeks, but according to the count at the top, I am wrong.  Oh well.  

This morning we woke up at 5:45 and got out of that awful bed for the very last time.  Oh thank goodness!  We checked out and went to the metro, then to the train, and finally got to the airport.  Italian airports, actually just the one in Rome, is bizarre!  All the terminals are separate and you need a bus to get to each (not that weird granted).  But then you check in for your flight more than once.  First they looked at our passports for a whopping 15 seconds and identified that we only had 1 suitcase (the other went home with my parents).  Then we waited in another area to actually check in and get rid of our suitcase.  Bizarre.  Onto another bus to get to the gates.  Seriously? Overkill much?

Wait for an hour.  Try to get rid of euros - kind of successful (we still have 4).  Plane.  Plane. Plane.  The two Italians in front of us were very popular - other guys kept coming over to hang out and bounce their seats.  And they smelled.  Sorry, I needed to complain.  10 hours later, we arrived!!!!  Customs, luggage, found my mom. HOME! Well, almost.  Tomorrow we are waking up and driving home.  We have to pick up our pool passes, go to the grocery store, and .... there was something else I think. Eh.  We are home for a total of 7 days before we leave again for the next leg of our plane travels this summer. 

Here are some things we have learned on this trip.

1.     Israel has strange sized beds - generally wide enough, but length is questionable at best

2.     Israel has one sheet for the bed, medium weight, definitely not long enough

3.     Too much hummus exists, but only for a little while (2 days most)

4.     Hot is a relative term and changes even though the temperature didn't

5.     Israel has amazing breakfast!

6.     Italian breakfast is lacking in so many ways

7.     Tour guides are important and they take care of knowing everything so you don't have to look like a tourist with a book in your hands

8.     You need good walking shoes and a backup set of inserts

9.     Armpits smell really bad

10.  This trip was too long by a day

11.  Bring shampoo and conditioner.  No one gives you conditioner and only some give you shampoo. Everyone gives you body soap and says it's okay to use on your head.  Weird.

12.  I only took 1995 pictures.  And I deleted about 75-125 on the plane on the way to Rome.  My camera & memory card are AWESOME!

Rome, Day #5 (Trip Day #14)

Day 14/5

Is it me or are these getting shorter?  It might have something to do with wanting to go home. 

Yesterday afternoon it was overcast, did I tell you that? Oh yes, I did.  This morning when we got up around 9, it was POURING!  And beautiful.  We got breakfast and then went back up to the room to figure out what to do.  After about 90 minutes it stopped and we headed out. 

Today we had two places we wanted to visit.  First, the Coliseum; then Castle Sant'Angelo.  We took the bus over to the Coliseum and headed straight in skipping all of the lines.  We found out that yesterday's ticket to the Forum would also get us into the Coliseum - sweet!!  We decided that after all the other days of disappointing ruins, this one we would pay for a guided tour.  It was definitely worth all $5.  We learned that after the Coliseum was no longer used for sporting events people started using it as a quarry and looted the hell out of it.  Granted it had been badly damaged during an earthquake and that's why they stopped using it.  So steal away!  It was looted continuously until Napoleon came and said it should be revered and cherished.  And that it has.  We wandered around.  I took lots of photos.  Then we made our way towards the Piazza Venicia, where the Venicians stayed for diplomatic purposes.  Or something like that.  We toured the whole thing.  It was big.  There were a number of small exhibits inside, but I don't think I looked at any of them; I was just happy to be out of the sun because it had gotten very hot and muggy.  Then we walked towards the island in the river and our bus stop, but went down the wrong street and ended up near where Julius Caesar was stabbed to death.  Cool.  Small pizzeria across the street - AMAZING!! I had eggplant, Matt had potato pizza.  Delish!  Onwards (again with that word) past the Synagogue  - very pretty.  On the bus towards St. Peter's and the Castle.  The Castle was huge, so much bigger on the inside than I thought on the outside.  It was used as a mausoleum, a prison, a fortress, and the papal residence (not all at the same time, but close).  We went the whole way up and could see the whole city from the rooftop.  Gorgeous view.  I took our last picture of the two of us (Matt made me pinky swear I wouldn't take another) and we started climbing back down.  Then we came back to the hotel, realized we didn't have any cash left and showered.  Now we want to find somewhere cheap for dinner before going to bed and getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the airport and GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Out for dinner.  Had one last pasta meal.  Matt likes minestrone with rice in it.  I can make that.  Met a couple on their honeymoon from Dallas.  Talked with them about Rome for about an hour.  Gave them our inside tips to Rome:

I.      Buy tickets for the Vatican ahead of time.  Then skip all the lines.  If you have tickets you don't need to be in the line!

II.    Get your ticket for the Coliseum at the Forum - there is NO LINE and the same ticket works at both places for 2 days

III.  Audio guides - YES @ the Vatican, NO @ the Forum & Palatine hill.  Guided tour @ the Coliseum

IV.  Pompeii - it's cool.  We could have done without it.  There were no bodies we could look at.  And it was a LONG DAY.  We could have done without it.

V.    The hop on/off buses - if you are there for an extended period of time (i.e. 4 days) they are worth it because you don't have to pay for taxis/metro.  They get you there, eventually.  But are super convenient if you are not in any rush.

VI.  The water in the sketchy fountains is very clean & fresh even though the fountain itself looks questionable.

Rome, Day #4 (Trip Day #13)

This just keeps going doesn't it?

Day 13/4

Happy 4th of July!  We are soooooooo beyond ready to go home.  It brought me to tears last night thinking about it.  And we tried to change our flight - that's how serious we were about it.  But with today being America's birthday and everything, black out dates and for $1000 we can do anything, and stay here.

So we did NOT set any alarm clock today and slept for a whopping 11 hours.  We got up at 9:30ish and went about our day.  We bought a two-day pass for a hop on/off bus and saw the rest of the city.  First stop, the Coliseum.  But the lines were forever long, so we abandoned ship to the Forum and Palatine hill.  Again we were spoiled with Danny and found the ruins here in Rome to be impressive and yet still lacking.  Where are the plaques with information?  We did get an audio guide, but found it dull.  It didn't answer any of our questions or make us think at all.  The Forum, also cool, huge, impressive, and boring.  It didn't help that I didn't eat breakfast and it was hot as hell.  Well it was until we left.  Then there were these things called clouds that we haven’t seen in 2 weeks and had to be reminded what they were.  Ha-ha. 

Back on the bus to the island in the river.  It was formed by Romans throwing crap into the river and it built up.  Then it was a hospital.  We walked over it to the other side and got lunch.  Close to 3.  Back on the bus, past St. Peter's, the Church of Sant'Angelo, and back to the hotel.  Showers.  Chilling in AC.  Felt some rain on the balcony.  Thinking about dinner.  Done.

Hello, it's July 4th - so we went up the street to the Hard Rock Cafe.  Burgers and club sandwiches!  They even sang the National Anthem, well Whitney Houston did, at the 1991 Super Bowl, and they played it.  Everyone clapped.  Then we passed out from a food overdose.

Rome, Day #3 (Trip Day #12)

Day 12/3

So I guess today started at some time in the middle of the night.  Matt stubbed his toe really bad and there was blood everywhere.  He is fine.  Neosporin and Band-Aids.  Then he had stomach problems for the rest of the night, which we cannot account for because we shared everything yesterday and I am fine.  So today had a rough start to say the least.  But we got up and had breakfast and got on the metro and train and headed towards Naples.  Sadly, we didn't do anything there.  On the way in Matt wanted to get to Pompeii (the plan for the day) and on the way back he wanted to get home.  Makes sense, he felt like shit but was a real trooper.  Way better than I was the first night in Israel.  So 2 hours to Naples.  30 minutes to Pompeii.  Attacked (figuratively) but the tourist shops after getting off the metro and walking 100 feet to the entrance of Pompeii.  Stopped for lunch.  Matt had bread.  It was 12:30 and I had not taken a single photo.  Inside Pompeii, I took enough.  We saw the Basilica, the forum, two theaters (one amphitheater) and enough houses.  I didn't know Pompeii was so huge.  And so hot!  We poked around for about 2 hours (same as the Vatican) before Matt was too exhausted to continue.  Not to mention that his contacts had been bothering him since we were on the ATVs.  So halfway through he threw out his contacts and put on his glasses - since he is much happier, well in terms of his eyes.  30 minutes metro. 2 hours train.  Back at the hotel.  Still sweating and happy to be back only to still hate this bed. 

Rome, Day #2 (Trip Day #11)

Day 11/2

Oh my this was a seriously long day.  We woke up and had breakfast, which was nothing like Israeli breakfast and therefore sucked.  We had tickets for the Vatican at 9:30 this morning and so we got a taxi and were off.  It dropped us off in front of St. Peter's Basilica, which was not right and we spent the next 15 minutes trying to find the museum around the back.  The Vatican museums are intense to say the least.  We spent the next 2-3 hours there and were overwhelmed by the volume of stuff they have: Egyptian, statues, baths, old art, new art, and the Sistine Chapel.  And we being dummies decided to go today, on Saturday, when anyone and everyone was there.  We were overwhelmed by the volume of the people there and couldn't enjoy it at any pace.  We did splurge on the audio guide, but it was nothing like Danny or Arthur.  It was in fact boring. 

We decided to walk back towards the hotel with as many stops as we could along the way.  Every time we turned down another street there was another gorgeous old building.  But without Danny and Arthur we had no idea what it was.  We stopped at Castel Sant'Angelo (where the crazy Christians were in Angels & Demons); we walked across the bridge, through Piazza Navona, to the Pantheon.  We got all the places where you needed to be covered up out of the way.  Somewhere in there we stopped for delicious Panini for lunch. 

It's two o'clock and we headed back towards the hotel.  We were sweaty and in lots of clothing.  Shower #2 of the day.  And then we napped.

Around 4 we headed back out.  We are getting on the train tomorrow (for a secret trip, well until tomorrow) and we wanted to figure out if we were going to walk or Metro.  I don't think we decided.  Eh.  Then we walked around.  We saw the Republica, Santa Maria Maggiore, Giardini Piazza Vittorio, and then took the metro to the other end of the city.  And saw Piazza del Popolo.  Here there was a beautiful fountain and above it an overlook we just had to climb to see.  That was sarcastic.  Matt wanted to see it, I loved it when we got up there and could see the whole city below us.  Then we walked towards the Mausoleum Augusto (but we couldn't find an entrance), and onwards to Piazza Colonna and down the street.  It is Saturday night and the main street was blocked off to cars, so we walked down the center.  We saw the Spanish steps again in the distance and walked on towards a giant something that looked like a wedding cake.  No name that I can find on the map.  Then hunger struck.  And hard.  I rejected, he rejected, and I rejected a few more times before we found pizza for dinner.  Then we walked on to the Colosseo.  It was spectacular.  We walked the whole way around it and discovered that lots of people go there for wedding pictures.  I started to follow the wedding dresses and Matt was not pleased.  Then we metroed back to the hotel.  It is 8.  We have been up and moving around for 12 hours, well 10, and we are exhausted. 

Rome, Day #1 (Trip Day #10)

Day 10/1

We slept in, but couldn't. Our wake up call was for 8:45, and we were at breakfast at 8:15.  We were ready to go and so we went to the airport.  They wouldn't let us check in because we were too early.  So we waited.  Then we went through security, checked into our flight, and then went through security again.  More time to wait.  Checked out duty free, it was huge and had different shops as well, including household appliances.  Explain to me why I would buy an appliance that uses different plugs than I have at home... seriously!  Okay, flight to Rome.  It is one of the planes with 3 seats on each side of the aisle.  It has a total of 32 people on it, including flight attendants.  It is also the smallest plane I have ever seen.  Matt's legs didn't fit in between the two rows and his head is higher than the seats.  He has no headrest at all.

When we arrived in Rome, we went through Customs.  This was an interesting experience.  We waited in line and then showed our passports and all he did was look at our county (maybe) and say go ahead.  I don't think he even stamped them.  And we were off.

We found the train, and tried to use the automated tickets but they wouldn't accept our credit cards.  Grrr. On the train.  To the metro.  The train and the metro are technically in the same building, but getting from one to the other, I think we might have walked a half-mile in tunnels.  Out of the metro, found the hotel across the street.  Our plane landed at 4:30 and we got to the hotel at 7.  Crazy.  Next time we are taking a taxi.  Up the elevator, down the stairs, and up the stairs to our room.  It is small.  The bathroom is miniature and there is a faucet on the wall.  We tried it; it is a bidet.  Awesome.  However, for no reason whatsoever, we have a huge interior terrace.  I don't know what we are going to need it for.

Out for dinner.  We walked and found our first piazza and fountain.  Then up another street towards the Piazza de Spagna.  We ate dinner at the bottom in another piazza.  Caprese salad, gnocchi, and walnut & truffle ravioli.  Delicious!  We walked around and turned a few times and by accident we found the Trevi Fountain.  We stopped in a grocery store for water for tomorrow and headed back to the hotel.  We passed 13 gelato places on our walk.  Then we got help figuring out what we needed for the Vatican tomorrow and got an insider's guide to Rome from the concierge.  It is 10 and we are exhausted.