Two weeks to go
Trip Start
Jun 23, 2009
1
3
5
Trip End
Jun 30, 2009
Cordova,
Tennessee,
United States
Sunday, June 7, 2009
As I mentioned, Megan and I will be married for 10 years this month. We had talked about getting a cabin up in Pigeon Forge and taking a long weekend to celebrate, but of course our Rome plans led to that idea being dropped. Instead we're going to have dinner at La Pergola in Rome the day after we arrive, as I was able to secure reservations. I've been poring over maps and train timetables for weeks now, and Megan has started to get into this as well. I told her a few days ago that once we get there I will know generally where we are and how to get elsewhere, but if she doesn't study her maps she'll be lost while I'm at the conference. It's kind of unbelievable that we'll be celebrating our anniversary in Rome. I wonder what it will be like walking along the Tiber at night - I can promise you that on our wedding day we never could have imagined where we would be 10 years later. I wonder what it will be like.
I'm going to try to update this blog from JFK on our way out of the country, but of course I'm sure I'll be writing more before then. The question for the last few days has been whether we'll take a side trip to Pompeii while we're there. We have just enough time that we could go either there or Florence, but we decided that if we leave the city at all we'd rather go to Pompeii and see something different. As much history and art that we could see in Florence, we will be seeing plenty of that in Rome as well. I asked Megan last night if we could catch a flight to Istanbul so I could see the Hagia Sophia, but that didn't fly. :P I started a pile of stuff that we need to pack to make sure I don't forget anything; so far all it contains is a step down transformer and a cell phone charger. I suppose it's still too soon to start thinking about packing. My mom sent me a check for my birthday (thanks mom!) that I'm going to cash into Euros, if the stupid exchange rate would quit getting worse and worse. Come on, Dollar! You can do it! Another bit of reasearch I've done is on customs and what items you're
allowed to import. The plan is to bring a 12 pack of Diet Coke into
the country with us so Megan can get her daily fix without us having to
pay 8 Euros a serving.
Since this blog is mainly supposed to be a Foodie report, I should mention that we tentatively picked a place for lunch the day we arrive. We know we'll be jet lagged, but we get there mid-morning and can't check into the hotel until 3:00, so we might drop off our luggage and walk down Via Sistia to Ristorante di Fontanella near Piazza di Barberini. After that, who knows? Sightseeing of some kind I'm sure, maybe the Fontana di Trevi, maybe Santa Maria di Vittoria, maybe the Gardens of Medici. Like I said in a previous entry, we're trying not to make too many plans. I can't wait to see our room though. Everything I've read online (and if you know me at all you know I've read just about everything I can find) indicates that it will be beautiful.
Another thing I've recently discovered that we have to do is visit the market at Campo dei Fiori. Two words: Fresh cheese.
