Six hours into the future
Oct. 7th, 2004 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deguspiceOn Tuesday I flew with my father to Italy.
For nine hours, we were trapped in the airplane (the first hour was spent waiting to take off). I rarely sleep on red-eye flights, and Tuesday/Wednesday wasn't an exception. My father said he didn't sleep on the plane. However I could hear him talking in his sleep.
Once we landed, qoing through Italian immigration was easy. The official doesn't look at us and he only looked at the passport long enough to find a blank page to stamp.
Trying to take the train from the airport to the hotel was a disaster. My father got advice from a friend on how to get to the hotel. First he said to take the train to the main train station in Rome and then take a Metro train to the hotel. Later his friend said we could take the train straight to the hotel. It turns out both of his answers were correct, but it depends upon which train you take.
When we got to the airport's train station there was only one train there, so we get on to it and get squeezed into the middle of a crowded car. From the train I call back to Boston, where it is still 4am, to let Ann know we landed safely. But I didn't know our adventures weren't over.
When the train slows for our stop we push our way through the crowded aisle towards a door at the end of the car . As the train stops we're still pushing through the crowd. To make it more challenging, no one is getting off the train. But before we reach the door, the train starts moving. So we're trapped on the train and it doesn't stop until we get to the main train station. When we get there, I suggest taking the Metro to our hotel, but my father wants to try the airport train again. So we get back on the same train we were previously on and take it back towards the airport. This time the train doesn't even slow down for our stop. Eventually we find ourselves back at the airport station where we started from more than an hour ago. Getting off the train, I notice that the side of the train says "Express", now I understand why it didn't stop. Above of the head of the platforms there's a large sign which displays info about the departing trains. Looking at the descriptions of the trains that are in Italian, I figure out that trains of the other platform are locals. So we go over there and wait for the train that stops near the hotel. Walking to the hotel is a bit of a challenge because the map in the back of the guide book isn't quite detailed enough. Perhaps we might have had an easier time of navigating if we we more awake (by this time it was roughly 6am back in Boston).
After checking in to the hotel, we went of in search for lunch. Near the hotel there a two "Gelateria"s, little restaurants. That serve coffee, beer, sandwhiches, and gelato (ice cream). After lunch we qo to the metro station station and look for the train to Ostia Antica. It turns out to be a bit of a challenge because the metro line doesn't go their. Eventually we figure out that it leaves from a little station next to the Metro station.
Ostia Antica is an ancient city (from 200 BCE to 400 CE) at the mouth of the river Tiber. I'll write more about the city later. It's a really interesting place. The three hours we spent wandering around there wasn't long enough.
When we qot back to Rome we went off to a restaurant near the hotel that my father liked from a previous trip. The place serves pizza, pasta, and other stuff. When we arrive at 7:30pm, it's empty and the kitchen staff are chatting at the outside tables. By the time we leave, the non-smoking is full, and the larger smoking area is half full.
After dinner we qo back to our hotel room at 9pm (3pm EDT) and quickly fell asleep until the alarm clock goes off at 9:30 am the following day.
[typed and sent to LJ via my PDA]
For nine hours, we were trapped in the airplane (the first hour was spent waiting to take off). I rarely sleep on red-eye flights, and Tuesday/Wednesday wasn't an exception. My father said he didn't sleep on the plane. However I could hear him talking in his sleep.
Once we landed, qoing through Italian immigration was easy. The official doesn't look at us and he only looked at the passport long enough to find a blank page to stamp.
Trying to take the train from the airport to the hotel was a disaster. My father got advice from a friend on how to get to the hotel. First he said to take the train to the main train station in Rome and then take a Metro train to the hotel. Later his friend said we could take the train straight to the hotel. It turns out both of his answers were correct, but it depends upon which train you take.
When we got to the airport's train station there was only one train there, so we get on to it and get squeezed into the middle of a crowded car. From the train I call back to Boston, where it is still 4am, to let Ann know we landed safely. But I didn't know our adventures weren't over.
When the train slows for our stop we push our way through the crowded aisle towards a door at the end of the car . As the train stops we're still pushing through the crowd. To make it more challenging, no one is getting off the train. But before we reach the door, the train starts moving. So we're trapped on the train and it doesn't stop until we get to the main train station. When we get there, I suggest taking the Metro to our hotel, but my father wants to try the airport train again. So we get back on the same train we were previously on and take it back towards the airport. This time the train doesn't even slow down for our stop. Eventually we find ourselves back at the airport station where we started from more than an hour ago. Getting off the train, I notice that the side of the train says "Express", now I understand why it didn't stop. Above of the head of the platforms there's a large sign which displays info about the departing trains. Looking at the descriptions of the trains that are in Italian, I figure out that trains of the other platform are locals. So we go over there and wait for the train that stops near the hotel. Walking to the hotel is a bit of a challenge because the map in the back of the guide book isn't quite detailed enough. Perhaps we might have had an easier time of navigating if we we more awake (by this time it was roughly 6am back in Boston).
After checking in to the hotel, we went of in search for lunch. Near the hotel there a two "Gelateria"s, little restaurants. That serve coffee, beer, sandwhiches, and gelato (ice cream). After lunch we qo to the metro station station and look for the train to Ostia Antica. It turns out to be a bit of a challenge because the metro line doesn't go their. Eventually we figure out that it leaves from a little station next to the Metro station.
Ostia Antica is an ancient city (from 200 BCE to 400 CE) at the mouth of the river Tiber. I'll write more about the city later. It's a really interesting place. The three hours we spent wandering around there wasn't long enough.
When we qot back to Rome we went off to a restaurant near the hotel that my father liked from a previous trip. The place serves pizza, pasta, and other stuff. When we arrive at 7:30pm, it's empty and the kitchen staff are chatting at the outside tables. By the time we leave, the non-smoking is full, and the larger smoking area is half full.
After dinner we qo back to our hotel room at 9pm (3pm EDT) and quickly fell asleep until the alarm clock goes off at 9:30 am the following day.
[typed and sent to LJ via my PDA]
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no subject
Date: 2004-10-07 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 01:19 am (UTC)Do your best to enjoy yourself, and I do not envy you for enduring the train mixup... especially with your father. (He's a very interesting person, a very smart person... and a very very annoying person...)
no subject
Date: 2004-10-08 11:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-11 06:57 am (UTC)