We Arrive in Rome

Well, the good news is that I got a good night’s sleep. The bad news is that I got more than expected, so that I got downstairs late for the breakfast that we were to have with John and Elaine: I had slept right through my 6:00 wake-up alarm! 

We had a very nice breakfast nonetheless, and in the way of Lavezzi meals it went on for a while. None of us had a printed address for the convent we were to go to tonight, and that made internet access especially important. One of the oddities of the hotel is that unlike most free hotel WiFi, theirs requires separate credentials for each device. Last night I had internet on my phone but no power for the iPad. Now, finally, I had the iPad recharged and was able to get internet credentials and get to my records and get the address.

First, though, lunch! We headed down the beach again to the same café we had visited last night. We made our way through the menu with help from our new friend Andrei, the proprietor of Sotto Vente, where we had eaten yesterday. John had octopus, which I had never had, and I enjoyed a taste of that. After lunch it was time to bid farewell to our beachfront hotel in Ostia and take the 35-minute taxi ride to Casa Santo Spirito, where we will stay until Tuesday.

We were greeted by a vivacious young Neapolitan sister named Gisella, whose English is quite good. I’ll write more about Casa Santo Spirito some other time, but in the meantime you can find out more about them at casasantospirito.it. Basically, this is a convent of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Sorrowful Mother, which they operate for tourists, pilgrimages, and youth groups. Despite the name of their order, there is nothing sorrowful about these ladies.

The Casa is just off St. Peter’s Square, but for our first night in Rome we headed away from the Square to get find an Ottica (optician) to repair Elaine’s glasses, which had lost a nose pad. Eventually we found one: the optician fixed her glasses and refused payment.

We had wondered where Judy and Lew were, but back at the Casa we found that they had arrived while we were away. John and Elaine’s daughther Lisa and her husband Kyle are staying nearby, and we met up with them for dinner. So now there are eight of our eventual group of eleven in town, and the eight of us got together for a lovely dinner (and more wine) at a ristorante a few blocks away from the convent.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we head to the Catacombs of Priscilla, the Capuchin Crypts, and the Basilica of San Clemente.

We’ll post pictures when we can; for now, internet is a challenge.

Ciao from Roma!