I've never experienced culture shock until today.
I've never been claustrophobic until showering in the itty-bitty showers over on this side of the world.
I've never stayed in a hotel with a bidet in the bathroom before.
Note to self: coming to Italy when neither Kristy or myself speak Italian may have been a bad idea...
Other note to self: exchange money at the airport in Rome. In Paris there were change places everywhere. No here, in the area we're staying in.
We got up this morning and said good-bye to Paris. I was not prepared to love it here as much as I do. I'm excited to see some of the site in Rome and experience Italy, but I don't want to leave Paris!
We packed up and checked out of our hotel. We were too late for the hotel's breakfast, so we left our bags at the front desk (with a lot of other people's bags) and went to have breakfast at the cafe next door. It was so good! We had the "International Menu", which was hot chocolate (that was the BEST I've ever had!), a croissant, some fresh squeezed oj, and then an omelet. Seriously. So good.
After breakfast we walked across the street to the little pharmacy on the corner. Kristy got a really bad sunburn on the back of her neck yesterday at Disneyland. She needed some aloe vera and I needed some bandaids. My sandals have been rubbing one little spot on my big right toe. Other than that they've been really great shoes to have on this trip.
After our purchases we went back to the hotel to wait for our driver to pick us up and take us to the airport. He showed up without a problem. He was so nice and funny. He asked us all about our trip and taught us how to say a few things in French. When we dropped us off he gave each of us a little golden Eiffel Tower key chain. I love it!
Everyone here has been SO nice!
We flew into Paris through the Charles de Gaulle airport and we left today from Orly. Oh my goodness it was crazy! No English anywhere and people everywhere. I began to think perhaps this plan of ours to travel to a country where neither of us speaks the language may not have been such a smart idea...
Getting through check-in and security was interesting. We weren't allowed to get in line to check our bags until exactly 2 hours before our flight - which meant we had to sit and wait about an hour. At 1:15pm they finally let us start lining up. It then took 45 minutes to get up to the desk to check our bags. Crazy.
They told us we couldn't have any liquids in our carry-ons, so I had to quickly put my contact solution and hand sanitizer into the bag I was checking. Finally we got our bags checked, and our boarding passes, and we went through security. We were both hungry so we stopped to get a sandwich (which really wasn't very good), and water at a snack shop. While we were eating they made an announcement that our flight was boarding. I took one more bite, then threw the uneaten other half of my sandwich away, and we hurried over to our gate. But when we got there, there was no one there. Weird. So, we sat and waited.
A weird, older lady cam up to use saying she worked for the government and was doing a travel survey. W told her we were boarding soon and didn't have time. She said something French, handing Kristy an English packet, muttered some more in French, then walked away and disappeared. SO WEIRD!
Finally an attendant showed up at the gate and we boarded. We flew through Iberia Airlines, but it was a Vueling operated flight. So, we flew to Italy, from France, on a Spanish airline. Too funny.
The flight was uneventful. Except! We flew over the Alps! It was so cool and so beautiful. Even as huh up as we were flying the mountains were huge with TONS of snow. Incredible!
We landed in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere - surrounded by nothing by fields. We tazied for a little bit then stopped on the tarmac and got out right on the tarmac (like when I flew into the Provo airport last week. Kind of crazy.). We disembarked and holy cow humidity! Yikes! Maybe coming to Rome in the middle of July wasn't such a good idea...
We made a pit stop at the bathrooms inside the terminal (which were the grossest airport toilets I've ever seen and/or used), and then down to baggage claim. There is a lot more English here on the signs and advertisements, so that made us feel a little more comfortable. We waiting a while for our bags but they finally showed up. Whew! We met our driver outside customs (which we didn't have to go through since we were flying from one European Union country to another). Our driver was so different from the two we had in Paris. He helped load our bags into the car - a VERY nice Mercedes - but then he was silent the whole drive. Weird. He drove us through town past the Colosseum on our way to our hotel!! It was so cool to get that first glimpse of some of the sights. I'm finally here! Going to see the Colosseum! I can't wait!!
Our hotel was not what I was expecting based off the pictures online and reviews I read. I mean, it's fine, but way different from our hotel in Paris. The floors are all tile, there's a bidet in the bathroom, and the beds are basically just cots...
I'm starting to feel a bit like I'm going through culture shock. It is SUCH a change from Paris and you can feel the difference in the air. It's not a bad feeling just...different. We tried to get acclimated to our surroundings a bit by going on a walk around the neighborhood. Kristy needed to find an ATM and we wanted to see what was around. It was a nice walk. The hotel is in a quiet neighborhood and close to a bus stop, which is nice.
We came back to the hotel and had dinner at the little restaurant that is attached. We each had the "Muse Menu" which consisted of a first course, a main course, a side, and dessert. Oh my goodness! So much food but so good!!
I had the tortellini (meat filled pasta in a sage sauce) as my first course, then some smoked, grilled mozzarella with prosciutto and a green salad as my main and side. The pasta was amazing and the smoked mozzarella was really good. Oh, and as an appetizer they brought us a crostini with olive oil and fresh tomatoes and basil on top. It was delicious! For dessert we had some really good watermelon. We were both so stuffed neither of us finished our meals, and Kristy wasn't feeling well. I think the stress and anxiety and culture shock really got to her today. After dinner we just went up to our room to go to bed and plan our day tomorrow: Pompeii!
Steps walked: 5518
**I'm starting to get a really good tan from all the time walking in the sun this past week!
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