It was SOOOOO nice to be able to sleep in until 7:00 !!!!!!!!!!!! No getting up early to pack suitcases and hit the road. Will be in this room for 9 days.
I was a bit worried about getting to sleep last night, as the road noise is horrendous, even with the windows closed. It's not so much the cars, but outside is a hub for buses and trains and a lot of motorcycles with the usual "non" mufflers.
Around 10:00 last night the traffic lessened and I conked right out. Woke up a couple of times in the night to an ambulance siren and the occasional honking of a horn (which is constant during the day). The bed is comfortable and the sheets are wonderful.
The view out my window.
Monica arrives tonight around 10:00pm. She has about 7 hours on the train from Wales to get to London, and then she flies to Rome. She's such a traveller. I'd be exhausted, but she reminded me that we have a tour tomorrow and have to get up early. We are going to see "Ancient Ostia", which apparently is similar to Pompeii.
Monica's sister has booked us in to see the Colosseum on the 17th which will be by night. I went with the tour group by day which was interesting, but sounds like on the 17th, we'll be shown all the dungeons below where the animals and the slaves were kept.
Anyway, today is a free day. I thought I'd stay in the room catching up on my blog, but it's getting hot in here and I can't figure out how to work the fan. Supposed to go up to 25 today. I checked Babelfish and wrote down how to say, "Does the fan work?" in Italian. Housekeeping is outside, so I can ask one of them.
Communication breakdown .... Just left my door and windows open for a breeze through.
Told housekeeping to come in while I work on my computer, but I think she thought I meant come back later. She's gone. Didn't have the right words ready for that conversation. I'd rather be in the room anyway, so I don't have to zip up and lock all my suitcases everyday. That was supposed to be the luxury of staying in one place for 9 days.
**** Asked the front desk about the air conditioning. It only runs between 3pm and 9pm. I would hate to be here in July and August when it supposedly gets between 40-50 celcius during the day.
Also, might as well mention here while I'm thinking about it. Not sure if I wrote this down earlier or not.....
It's siesta time for the Italians after 1pm until about 5pm. The kids get out of school at 1 and go home. That's when the Italians have their big meal of the day. Shops close while people go home for dinner and then they come back to reopen them. Office hours are often until 7pm with the break in between. Makes for a long day. The tour guide said yes, they come home from work and go to bed.
Not sure why, then, they have the other tradition of restaurants not opening until 7pm and everyone showing up around 8 for a four-course meal, if their big meal of the day is during the siesta. (Don't know who I can ask, as very few people speak enough English to explain stuff like that.)
Our tour group was starving by the time they took us out to dinner at night.
I've loved most of the food here. It has NOT been all tomato based, believe it or not.
I've been getting fish when I can, as it's all caught that day, but I'm afraid none of it beats the fish caught on our Pacific coast !
