flying. A Roma

First thing, i was rushed out the door and wore the wrong shoes. Lol. Will have to buy new sneakers in Rome. US TSA was ok, though i had no idea what i was doing. No airline even hinted at taking a bag from me to check. I dressed in layers, warmly, but Tucson airport was an oven, so i had to change in a restroom.  Flights all fine. Turbulence, but not bruising levels. The worst was in clear skies over Tucson, from a combination of mountain winds and 95 F temps. Floated off the seat a few times, the kind of experience I used to pay for on amusement rides. 🙃

My flight to Madrid was on an Iberia Airbus 330, which is huge, a flying city. Every seat was full. Announcements were all in crackly Spanish, which French and Italian don't help much with. I stayed calm in my ignorance, figuring if they were truly important messages, passengers would be screaming. Food was... well, airline food. No protein, so was glad I took jerky. I slept on the 10 hour flight, but after a week of sleeping on Rome time, I had to sleep later than ideal. 

Passport control/immigration happened in Madrid, zero questions. Once you are stamped/approved in any Schengen country, you're good to go for 90 days. It is open borders otherwise, through all 29 countries of Western Europe. Madrid Airport isn't signed well, and no one would speak English or Italian at security. It was long going though that checkpoint. What this? A cord. What this? Another cord. What this? A european adapter plug. And on and on. Was it his first day?  Was it a test? Weird. I was one of the last 3 people to board as a result, running over a km, panting as i boarded. Advice: don't try to run a mile at age 70 carrying 20 extra pounds strapped onto you. 

Bus from Rome Airport dropped me at Vatican. I walked to the hotel. 2/3 of the way there, a nice man said he lived 3 blocks away, and he walked me to my door. (Down, girls, he was 25 years too young for me.) i met my host for first days, Francesco. We slipped back and forth between  2 languages and talked for 30 minutes. Here is my sweet single room in a great old building with ancient cage elevator! (Think:noir movies) Full bathroom, with bidet, and a common room for his 3 guests with fridge and coffee maker and table Tomorrow, hunt down new shoes, walking early, and tennis ! Jannik  🦊❤️ at 3. Casper and Matteo at 7:00. (Ask Charlotte)

 Everything went as planned... Except for forgetting shoes, Size 39, European. Tomorrow at 8, experience a real Roman coffee bar, at 9, atm for euros €€, at 10 shoe store, wander around perhaps St Peters Square then walk 20 blocks to Tennis.