Buon Viaggo

So far the most useful Italian phrase I know has been "capisce l'inglese?". If the reply is "no", I am not much good! Learning phrases from a book is one thing, but understanding the chef at a trattoria in Roma is much different. Fortunately, after 15 hours in the air I was able to communicate that I wanted "della pizza margarita, per favore." It was a little after 9 am here, 12 am in California. Either way a strange time for pizza, ma è stato buona!

The trip was long. Very, very long. I slept as much as possible, but I kept being woken up by flight attendants asking if I wanted a pepsi. I sat next to an old Italian lady on the plane from D.C. to Roma. She spoke very little english (less than my Italian), but I was able to understand that she was born in Argentina and now lives in Sicily. She really warmed up to me when I was able to explain to the flight attended that "succo d'arancia" was orange juice, and not coffee. She gave me half her chicken (very insistently) and invited me for a stay on Sicily. Typical Italian I suppose... ma Sicily è molto lontano. 

I took the train from the airport to termini, the main train hub in Rome. By the time I got to termini and locked up my luggage I had two hours before I had to leave for Montefiascone. The area immediately around termini is not so nice, but a few blocks to the north I began to see some restaurants and parks. I got some pizza and ate near a ruin in a park. I have no idea what it was. Also I stumbled across the church shown in the photo. Only in Rome...

More to come!