Adventure – Part Two

I love Paris… I will be back. I even felt comfortable enough with the metro to go to the Eiffel Tower at midnight to watch the lights (most definitely a different vibe and more colorful people in the middle of the night though). There is still so much I haven’t seen! I hate to leave. Plus other places in France I’m sure will be different and wonderful in other ways!

I left Paris from the other airport (Orly) and arrived in Italy today… and yes, today we had a driver. (So appreciative!) I’m in the Campo deFiori part of Rome. The buildings are amazing… almost feels like a ruins in places… amazingly old, yet full of life. We have rented an apartment. The building is very old, hundreds of years… FYI if you turn on all the air conditioning units and the washing machine at the same time in a building this old, you will blow a fuse and you may very well sweat to death waiting for a fix! After our lesson in fuse panels, we went walking. I discovered at lunch that I thought I knew what pizza was, and I was so incredibly wrong! The pizza here is so amazing I have been spoiled for life now. I’m sorry but no American version – even at a fancy Italian restaurant can compare! Not even the same food! (Mental note – must buy a pizza oven and learn to make real pizza). 

Also after wheeling heavy luggage down cobblestone streets in two countries now, then hoisting it up two flights of the craziest randomly sized and heighted skinny marble steps, I will never travel with normal luggage again. Besides, I’m finding I don’t need much… I have some favorite dresses I keep throwing on… all I really need is a backpack (this time of year anyway). 

I’ve also learned you can’t always be open, friendly and trusting… sometimes you have to be cold and shut someone down (not a natural strength for me)… in Paris a Serbian man decided he liked me, wouldn’t leave me alone… sang to me, followed me, and kept trying to kiss me. The girls had to step in and get me away from him. Apparently making eye contact – which I am accustomed to doing when I speak to people – can be misinterpreted in other countries. Who knew?

I have also learned that Google maps combined with Google translate opens the entire world to me! I do not speak Italian (yet), the girls do – but with these two little tools, I feel like I could go anywhere! 

Welcome to Rome… dinner was meat from the butcher, fresh veggies from the market and bread from the bakery, followed by a walk for gelato.