Finally in the land of pasta.

Today I landed in Italy. Unlike the movie and much like the real world my driver was at the wrong terminal I did get a photo of my sign though. As I was on my way to my hotel it all started to hit me. I'm in a foreign country alone and I don't speak the language. I get to my hotel and flot down on my bed. Every thing that could go wrong is flashing thew my head plus I have no internet and have no clue how to get into the city. As I lay there psyching my self out I realize I'm being stupid I'm in Rome grow a pair and get the hell out of this room. So I do. I go to the front dest and ask how to get to the Parthenon I mean it's in the middle of the city and who doesn't know what the Parthenon is. He gives me a piece of paper that tells me the busses and points me in the direction of the bus stop. After buying my ticket from the bar witch I found kinda weird. I grabbed my stuff and headed out. I met a nice mother and daughter from England at the station who were headed in my direction so check right buss. As I look at my lovely picture map I relies as long as I cross the river I can walk ever were. So I plan to hit the Parthenon and a church close by. Then I get off the bus. Everything is beautiful the architecture is amazing and the statues could keep me interested for hours but I don't think the police would appreciate me climbing up to them to see them as closly as I would like to. So I decide to walk. At this point I said screw my map I'm going to pretend I'm Italian for the day. I stroll around the city stoping here and there to admire a building or a huge door witch let me tell you there are a lot and I love all of them. Untill I run across a small honey and tea shop. As I restrain my self from spending all my money on tea I leave with a small jar of honey. I wish I could tell you exactly what kind but that's more Italian then I can read. However it is from Italy and the flowers here are diffrent then those in the US so I am excited to see the diffrence in the taste. After the honey store I stared to think about food. I keep walking until I find a little street were very few tourist had strolled. Here I came across a man calling his dog into the car for a trip, as I love dogs I couldent help but stop and watch Then there it was a small restaurant across the street. The door was lined in Ivy and the room was no bigger then a small classroom. I wondered inside were Alexander the owner sat me at a table. I ordered a glass of the house wine and the gnocchi. Across from me sat an older man In a flannel named Bryan. He is a retired Dean from Australia who now lives in Italy. He knows Alexander and the restaurant very well and is great fun to talk to. As I sip my fabulous wine and talk my gnocchi emerges from the kitchen. I take a bight and instantly feel like I'm in heaven. The cheese in the gnocchi along the the fresh sage and butter sause is so light it melts in my mouth yet still dense and savory. I couldn't have asked for a better meal to start off my trip. Then I meet Anne, Anne and her daughter are here on vacation from France. She tells me about her travels and all the wonderful places she has been. Even jots down a hotel for me to stay at when I go to visit one of them. Even though I have just met Alexander, Bryan, and Anne they welcome me like an old friend. The people here are wonderful, they defiantly know how to live. They taking on each day one at a time and just enjoying themselves, I'm envious. This is the first meal in a while were I ate every last bit of my plate which was a gracious amount of food and didn't feel like I had just stuffed my self silly. As I ate I also talked with Bryan and Anne and just enjoyed my self. There was no rush to get anywhere or any deadline to meet, Yes lunch took me two hours to finish but I got to enjoy every bite like it was the first. Rome is truly a remarkable place. Then I said my goodbuys and stared to walk again. After lunch I was so relaxed and happy nothing could touch me. The wine may have had something to do with it but shhh I was enjoying myself. I stumbled across a market were I wondered and ate my first pistachio gelato of the trip. Unfortunately it was closing so I decided I would return tomorrow morning. After a bit more walking and never actually finding the Parthenon I decided to head back to my hotel were I instantly crashed after a wonderful first day in Rome.