Ciao from Italia

We've made it to Rome after a very long day - all 32 hours of it.  We were p at 3am to be on the 6am flight from Sydney to Dubai (14 1/2 hours).  At Dubai we had a brief stop with just enough time to walk to the gate and board our plane to Rome, another 6 hours.  All capped off with a total 8 hour time difference.


This is the first time we have flown with Emirates and we'll be happy to fly with them again.  We have had good seats on both flights and although the food service was slow, the food was delicious and there was plenty of it.  The flight from Dubai to Rome took an interesting route.  Once we left the United Arab Emirates we skirted the coastline of Saudi Arabia.  Then we flew over Kuwait, across Iraq and into Turkey.  We saw plenty of snow capped mountain ranges in Turkey.  Then is was over the Aegean Sea and across Greece, over the Adriatic Sea and on to Italy and Rome.


Once we cleared Immigration and Customs we boarded the train to take us to Roma Termini - the main train station in Rome.  From there we found our hotel, only a few minutes walk, and all without a map.  We've realised that our maps and Italian tour books are all in storage in Sydney.  The 2* Hotel Urbis is comfortable and we had a good sleep.  We chose this hotel on the internet for its proximity to the station.  Not a bad choice and quiet after about 10pm.  It had a very small lift and we can only fit ourselves and our 2 bags in it.


We've bought a passenger with us, one of Tash's dolls, "Penny", is travelling with us and will appear in photos from time to time.  Our usual travelling companion "Baa the Sheep" is in long term storage so will miss out on this trip.