5/18/2012- Take off

        Well- it's Italy time!  I haven't traveled on a plane in almost a decade, and even then, that was a short two hour flight.  The SLC Airport is much larger than I thought it would have been on first inspection, but to be fair, it's still just as drab as I imagined airports to always be.  We connect from SLC to Dulles in D.C., and I find it amusing when we pass over Chicago and the whole city of skyscrapers looks flat and significantly smaller than a city of that size should, the world at 35000ft. I guess.  We arrive at Dulles, and yet again, just your regular airport, complete with sitting and waiting in their generously comfortable seats.  Oh well, in 9 hours time, I will be in Italy, and to Hell with any discomfort now.  The flight over was unremarkable, except for the fact that for the first time in my life I saw the Atlantic Ocean, and at 35000 ft. no less! But, having pulled an all-nighter the day before, I quickly succumb to sleep on the flight.

Jet lagged and luggaged!

       We land at the airport in Rome.  The surrounding area is really similar to the way the airport around SLC or Boise looks, and I find it humorous.  Of course though, the airport in Rome is vastly larger than SLC, and possibly even larger than Dulles, because we had to get on a cart to get to the baggage claim area.  We grab our luggage, and head out to the meeting point to try and find out who our tour guide, this "Flavio" person, was.  Of course, we see a tall Italian man bouncing around to a song only he can hear- we know he's going to fit in with us perfectly almost immediately.  We head over to the bus, only to be delayed, because somewhere along the lines, we had lost a couple that belonged to our group.  Go figure-20minutes in, and we're already getting behind.  Well, we're introduced to Antonio, and his magic Rocket Bus (really, it's just a tour bus, but man, he's a speed demon!).

Top of Spanish Steps

        Our first stop was to downtown Rome- straight for the Spanish Steps.  On top of the Spanish steps lies a beautiful Church, as well as one of Rome's many Egyptian Obelisks.  Well, it is a nice way to be introduced to a city that has over 3000 years of history, and just as much mystique to it as history.  The writing, the sculptures, the people, all seemed to be perfectly preserved despite the thousands of years of existence.  The most striking part of this first experience was the fountain at the bottom of the stairs- there were people not only hopping around in it (not that jarring) but drinking straight from it.. Never in America is it smart to drink straight from a fountain! But Flavio explained that the water in Rome, and the fountains themselves, were the best in the world, and perfectly clean.  (I had read a book before going on this trip that actually called Rome the City of Fountains, since it had the acquaducts to direct water pressure for some smaller fountains in ancient times).  The second thing Flavio tells us, there are no sky scrapers in Rome.  Why? Because they don't want to overshadow a few places- like St. Peter's Bascillica (despite the fact that it's in another country) and the Colluseum, making Rome unique in the world's metropolises.

Statues above Trevi Fountain

        The next stop was over to a place I've heard a great deal about, though for whatever reason, can never remember the name to- the Trevi Fountain, my name-sake.  Everything around that piazza is named Trevi, and gave a bit of an ego boost to be honest.  It was also cram packed with people, tourists all crazy to
throw their coins over their left shoulders.  Flavio explained the tradition of the fountain- in ancient Roman times, the soldiers would solute each other by crossing their right fist up to their left shoulder, and in tradition of this, many of them when going to war would throw a coin in hopes that it would buy fate's fortune to letting them see Rome again.  So throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, and you will see Rome again.  The next part I think Flavio might have made up, but if you throw two coins into the fountain, you will find love in Rome, and throw three coins in, you will find and love and successfully get away from them before it gets ugly (Flavio, fits right in with us).  Here also, I have my first tastes of real Italian pizza and espresso.  There is no comparison to it's American countrerparts, none.

The Pantheon

        The Pantheon is our next stop (Rome, and Flavio [by extension a Roman] are just gogogo).  It is just within walking distance of Trevi, and all I can think is, "Honestly, there is something of major historical significance around every corner in this city."  Nothing, and I mean nothing, could have prepared me for the sight of the Pantheon.  Remarkably tall (I've never lived in a big city, so maybe I'm easy to impress), ancient, and amazing.  Originally a Pagan temple, the place is characterized by its large dome roof, columns in front, and a giant hole in the roof.  The hole symbolized the Sun, and the rotation of its light touched each of the planets (i.e. Gods).  The tomb of Raphael lies within this temple, decorated by flowers by adoring fans, hundreds of years after his death.  The reason why this temple wasn't scuttled (or harvested, depending on your view) by the Church, was because it was converted into a church-specifically because they loved the dome (yes, this decision predates St. Peter's construction by a few hundred years).  We were allowed to sing one song inside this space, a rare honor not given to many people ever.  We sing Palestrina's Sitivit Anima Mea with a great response from the crowd of sight seers.  A lady cries over how wonderful we sounded, and tries to convince our tour guide and maestro to sing another song, she insisted so much that after arguing with Flavio, she went to the people in charge and tried to convince them to let us sing another song- talk about flattering!
        This was my first taste of really, honestly, why we keep ancient music.  We not only sounded beautiful, but we became part of the exhibit, another artifact in this museum, but one constructed of sound.  I was flabbergasted by the feeling.
        Well, after walking around and a long plane flight we were finally dropped off at our hotel, Domus Marie Palazzo Carpegna.  The building itself used to be a nun convent, but renovated to become a four star hotel.  It was fully modern, the bedrooms modest, but perfect for the busy sightseer or businessman.  Right behind the hotel is a quaint, beautiful park.  It requires walking around a block to get to the entrance, but once in there there are a series of fountains that are fantastic to see (they were, unfortunately, not running at the time).  Me and my friends opted to go for a walk in our downtime instead of nap, because there is no quicker way around jetlag than to tough out the sleepyness.  In the park, I saw typical Roman life- a couple of older gents talking on a bench, groups of teens clustered around having a good time, younger kids playing football (euro style), couples passionately showering each other with affections (one couple even going so far as really getting into the whole dry humping bit), and most importantly, drinking fountains.  These were normal fountains, but sculpted with the intent of people drinking from them- so of course, when in Rome, I did as the Romans did.  The water was the best water I've ever tasted.  Coming from Idaho though, that's not too hard.
        Jetlag is an interesting bedfellow.  Despite having pulled an all-nighter before, having slept 8 hours on a plane ride, my body was still zonked and not sure what it should be feeling.
        Dinner was held at 7pm (Italy time) and 11am (Idaho time).  So, I wasn't too sharp for my first, full three course, fancy-pants dinner ever.  Delicious pasta, succulent meat, and fantastic dessert, it was a great first full meal for a great trip.  With dinner done, massive jet lag, and having walked several miles that day, my roomy and I were ready to test those beds in our room.  I crawled in, got into a curled up position, and blacked out.  So ended my first day in Rome, and Europe.