I'm not really sure when I'll be able to post this, considering we've only been able to get wifi in the lobby of our hotel and now we're on the road again... But it will get posted eventually!
We got to the Ostia Antica Park Hotel without a hitch! Besides, you know, having to plow through the streets of Ostia in a bus. What everyone says is true: driving is ridiculous in Italy. It's a free-for-all and everyone drives their tiny Smart cars and goes wherever they want and parks wherever they can. I think the biggest car I've seen so far was a GMC SUV, and it even looked out of place. It's kind of funny because all the street signs say "fermata" to mean "stop" and the musician in me is geeking out. But anyway, we spent last night in the Ostia hotel after visiting the ancient Roman ruins at the Ostia archaeological park. I got some beautiful pictures, and we met a couple of cute cats there.
Our hotel was very cute; I was in a triple and it was pretty small but it was good for one night. My two roommates were fascinated by the bidet but I haven't tried it yet... Haha! Oh, side note: European toilets are weird. The beds were small and not too fluffy but really, I was so tired I think I would have slept on a slab of concrete if I had to. I wasn't really able to sleep on the plane; I maybe got an hour of half-sleep collectively. So after being awake for basically 24 hours, last night's sleep was amazing and I took one of the top five best showers of my life in the tiny European shower.
We're currently on a really nice Mercedes Benz charter bus heading to Florence, where we'll check in to the Hotel Maxim. It's a three hour bus ride to get there, but that beats the crap out of that 9 hour flight we took over here. We're driving on a freeway and we're passing by these beautiful rolling hills. Cypress pines are abundant here, and they're beautiful. Everything is just BEAUTIFUL. It's a bit overcast today and it's probably in the 60's outside. Everything is in Celsius and kilometers and grams and I'm over here like "Help me, I'm American." I brought my rain jacket to wear today, so of course, it probably won't rain. Once we check in we'll get our orientation and walking tour, then we'll go to a grocery store, and then we're having a nice dinner tonight at 7:30.
It's really hard to believe that I'm in Italy right now... It's all kind of surreal, and the sleep deprivation and jet lag hasn't been helping. Everyone's using their fancy DSLR cameras but I've been taking pictures with my iPhone 6 and they're turning out really well, nice job Apple! Maybe I didn't need to buy a digital camera after all. But we shall see.
Update: Dr. Murphy just told us that we have been driving though Lazio (the region where Rome is) and now we're driving through Umbria. These views are breathtaking and my camera is not doing them justice, but here are a few of the pictures I've taken.
Ciao for now! See you in Florence!
Dani
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