Rome: Nov 26: Arrival

On the morning of our flight to Rome, a Friday, we stopped by my work for a quick breakfast and to make sandwiches for the plane for lunch. When I say quick, I mean it--it turned out we had only ten minutes to eat. We then caught a train to Gatwick Airport. I like watching the world go by from a train, especially under blue skies like this day. Gatwick Airport's train station is in the airport terminal--much more convenient/a shorter walk than from Heathrow's train station to the terminals themselves.

We flew easyJet, a discount carrier. Our plane was late, which might've been a blessing because when scheduling our timing I didn't realize that gates can be up to a twenty minute walk from the security checkpoint. I wasn't keeping an eye on the time but I think we had enough time that we would've made the flight without hurrying even if it wasn't delayed. Boarding was, as Di Yin described it, "a cattle call." easyJet doesn't assign seats, so once the gates opened, people jockeyed their way forward. It was definitely more polite than it would have been in China but it certainly lacked the orderliness of Southwest.

The flight was easy. As we landed, I noticed Italy near Rome looks like California: sea and ground, hills and plains, and the coloring and style of the vegetation. No wonder people say the bay area has a Mediterranean climate and geography.

We landed at Leonardo Da Vinci Fiumicino Airport, Rome's main airport. It was surprisingly empty on this Friday afternoon. I can't explain it. Immigration/customs was the easiest ever. The staff-person barely even looked to see if my passport had a picture in it, and asked no questions.

We took a train into downtown Rome. I began seriously taking pictures at this point. Di Yin, meanwhile, had been taking pictures since we arrived at Gatwick Airport. The latter link goes to her first picture from this trip (which happens to picture #4 in this album). When you see a picture of Di Yin posed in front of our hotel window (picture #15), you're done with her pictures for the day. I'll link to the next day's pictures in the following post.

Once downtown, we walked a couple of blocks to the hotel where we'd stay for the length of our trip: Yes Hotel. It was a perfectly nice, comfortable place to stay; certainly not luxurious but exactly the level of quality we intended and expected when we booked the hotel. Modern, linear decor, neutral colors, soft lighting. I took pictures of the hotel and our room on the following day.

We left our hotel to walk around and find food. We passed some large, old buildings (ruins?)--they were hard to make out in the dark (I'd photograph them another day)--and a piazza. Eventually we decided upon dinner at L'Angolo di Napoli, a pizzeria/restaurant. The food made us happy; it was a good indication that random restaurants in Rome are good. Details are in the pictures.