Tuesday 13 May: Gary arrives in Roma!

I never did sleep much; the club outside my window was playing bad disco until 3 am. I got up at 6, got ready, and was out the door by 7. I walked through the drizzle to Viale de Trastevere, caught the trolley to Stazione Trastevere, and then the train to Fiumicino. I’m getting familiar with this trip! Gary’s flight, due in at 10 am, was listed as “on time.” It was really an hour late, but I didn’t know that until after it landed. I waited at the New Arrivals gate, and finally at about quarter after 11, there was Gary! He had a good flight, had been able to sleep some, and his luggage was there, so we immediately left the airport to find a city cab into town. By law, the flat rate for official cabs from Fiumicino to the city is 40 euro. Of course, to get to the cab stand you have to run the gauntlet of limos, shuttles, and private cabs, all of whom pose as official municipal taxis, but charge twice as much. We finally got into a taxi and headed through lunch rush hour traffic toward Rome. Of all the cabbies in the city, we had to get the one who didn’t know his way around Trastevere. He stopped and asked directions twice and finally let us out about three blocks from my apartment because he couldn’t get through the street. We didn’t care, we were just happy that Gary was in Rome.

We got Gary’s stuff inside and unpacked, Gary cleaned up and changed, then we went for a short walk around the neighborhood. We got pizza to go at the bakery across the street (some plain tomato, some with thinly-sliced potato and cheese, and some pizza stuffed with mortadella and buffalo-milk mozzarella) and took up to the room for a snack. It was now official siesta time, so we had a short nap.

It was still raining on and off that evening, so we stayed in the ‘hood, looking in shops and eateries at the merchandise and food. For dinner we went to a really good place near Santa Maria della Scala, the same place I had the rigatoni with oxtail. Gary and I ordered antipasto, salad (with mozzarella and walnuts-tasty!), wine, and our traditional first-day-in-Rome dinner: spaghetti alla carbonara, with eggs, cheese, and pancetta. Pics on Flickr! Dinner was great, we were beat, and the rain kept the partiers mostly inside. That night was the best sleep I’ve had in months.