Sunday, May 22, 2011

Day 1- The trip out

The first day actually began around 7pm on Saturday the 21st. We all met up at BWI's international terminal, went through security, and began what would continue throughout the next twelve hours: LOTS of waiting around at the airport.

We sat in the British Airways terminal at BWI for about an hour and a half before being able to board the plane. No trouble, although there were like 10 TSA guards in the terminal for one flight. Very weird. It was also incredibly boring-- to the point that we began touristing early and took some pictures of our home airport:




Once we got on the jet, having been greeted by very friendly and chipper British stewardesses, we were up in the air with no delay, thank God! The flight was uneventful, but long: about 7 and a half hours total. The transatlantic flights are nice because they have in-seat entertainment, with lots of movie options. I ended up watching The King's Speech in tandem with Nick and David. (Great film, by the way. I liked it a lot.)

Within the first hour and a half of the flight, they actually served dinner! If you ever fly transatlantic, British Airways is the way to go! They filled me up good with chicken curry and rice, cheesecake, and other such goodies. They also had the usual miniature booze selection of rum, gin, vodka, etc. That made the sleep come a little easier!

We started watching Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but we all fell asleep pretty quickly. I didn't get to sleep much at that point; probably just because I was flying along at 600mph... So I woke back up and read for a bit before the sun came up, and then I was done for!

Since Heathrow is so insanely busy, we got stuck in a waiting pattern until a gate opened up for our flight. Talk about aggravating! After that long of a flight, we just wanted to get out and stretch! After finally landing, we took a shuttle to the main terminal to wait for our connection to Rome. Terminal 5 is rather interesting... it's nothing but gates, overpriced food places, and REALLY overpriced duty-free shops (which mostly consisted of enough makeup to paint a Geisha for ten lifetimes and enough booze to make an alcoholic want to quit). The terminal itself is really nice looking and well-designed... it's a recent addition to the airport that really makes it look like part of the 21st century.

 Nick and Chris were pretty tired. Although I woke Chris up...

 Matt was also wicked tired. Heck, he slept most of the trip.

 David got sick of waiting around in Heathrow pretty quickly.

 I mean, it WAS really boring...

 This is a shot of the inside of the terminal. At least it's nice-looking!

Once we got on the plane to Rome, we sat on the tarmac for a good half hour before even driving over to the runway. The best part about that was that I was able to take a power nap. Sadly, that only got me through takeoff and lunch (they served sandwiches). After I ate, I was basically dozing in and out of sleep for the rest of the flight. Not really doing much to recharge, unfortunately.

After landing in Rome (which was greeted by much excitement by the group), we picked up our bags while listening to Italian parents yell at their whiny children and then got in a cab to head into town. To clarify: We're staying with the Pallottines this week in the middle of downtown Rome. Fr Frank, out of the kindness of his heart, arranged for this great outpouring of hospitality, God bless him. He even made a reservation with a cab service to take us straight to the Pallottine Generalate!

 We were SO excited to be done with flying and finally in Italia!

 Fr. Kyle and Vince just made a beeline for baggage claim.
We're going to have to put those two on a leash so we don't lose them.

 Just a shot of the drive from Fiumicino (Da Vinci) Airport to downtown Roma!

 Welcome to Italy! Here's a crash-course on how we deal with traffic!!

 And we were greeted by rain. Wonderful...

 Ponte Sisto bridge! We're here!!!!!

 The first duomo we saw on the way into town.

We were greeted by rain, but more importantly, Fr. Frank's brother Pallottine, Fr. Vinko. He's from Croatia, but fortunately speaks English and Italian very well. He showed us to our rooms, gave us a tour of the Casa Generalizia, and then showed us the small crypt chapel where he and Fr. Kyle celebrated Mass. It was a really nice, intimate setting for our small group of guys to begin this trip together.

By the way, this is the view from my room:

You can see the Ponte Sisto bridge, crossing the Tiber. Very classy!

After Mass, we had dinner in the cafeteria (or refectory, as it's called in religious communities) with the rest of the men who live at the Generalate. They were all very kind and welcoming, in the typical Pallottine style. Their cook, a little old Italian woman, made a delicious dinner of ziti, chicken, soup, potatoes, proscuitto, and much more. There was also plenty of wine (which her husband makes) and beer, which she told Vince we could "get crunk on". (Yeah, Vince said she basically told us to "get crunk"... gotta love those Italian women!)

Following dinner, we got to take a peek of the best view of Rome I could imagine. The Generalate is, in its highest part, 8 stories. There's a rooftop terrace above that floor, which had a spectacular view of the city. The Capitoline Hill and the Duomo of St. Peter's were VERY dominating. I was actually in shock as to how massive Basilica di San Pietro really is... for perspective, that duomo is about a 20 minute walk away from where this picture was taken. To me, it looked about as big as the US Capitol dome from maybe a mile away, if that. WOW! I can't wait to go there tomorrow...

Last item on the evening's schedule was a 30-minute stroll around the nearby part of town. We went to Piazza Novona, the Pantheon, and got our first gelato of the week. This time: Tiramisu :-)

 Not sure what building this is, but it's beautiful.

 The Pantheon. Be back later this week, when it's light out.

 Some Roman ruins just chilling downtown.

And here are some evening shots from the rooftop terrace of the Generalate:

 Basilica di San Pietro. Need I say more? It's flippin' HUGE!

 Ponte Sisto bridge at night. Ahhh, Roma...

Rooftop garden terrace next to the Hotel di Ponte Sisto.

That's about it for today. Tune in tomorrow for details on our tour of the Scavi under St. Peter's, the Vatican Museum, and hopefully the Duomo as well!

5 comments:

  1. It looks like you all are having a blast! The pictures are beautiful, and I can't wait to see more.

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  2. "Ubriacatevi stasera!" That's the thing about Italian grandmothers: they know how to take care of you.

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  3. Why are there always pictures of me sleeping?

    Nice pics by the way!

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  4. fly air france next time---food is 5 star. <3 it! oh and i watched a special on TV on the food network saying how all of the airline meals for every airline are made in 5 different mass kitchens depending on which airline you fly with...isn't that crazy? 50,000 meals are prepared each day. it's a pretty intense process.

    the king's speech looks like a great movie--i watched some of it when i was studying for finals. i paid $4.99 for it on ON DEMAND and i'm sorry to say that i didn't watch it all.....and you did and yours was FREE.

    i bet the reason why you were waiting so long in heathrow was because prince william and kate came back from their honeymoon and everyone was taking pictures of them in the airport as commoners would (i may be making this up...)

    david burkey's face after leaving the airport is a HUGE contrast from the picture of him earlier in the blog. <3 it!

    the picture with the caption "we were greeted by the rain" looks like you're in the US--i can almost see the Capitol building in the distance...

    bravo! you've already had wine and gellato on the first dayt....now you just have to find fair trade :)

    the first picture of the night-time cafe....a girl from mount de sales who went to rome to visit her boyfriend went to a cafe like that to meet him for dinner....and he proposed to her.

    I LOVEE YOUR PICTURES

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  5. Maria...will you be writing essays in response each time Jay posts? hahahahaha

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