Wome (Welease Bwian)

Friday was a travel day.  I was up at 6:30am UK time and took a rapid succession of cabs, buses, trains, and planes (as the last post's title suggests) until I arrived with Morgan in Italy.  It was dark as we rode through Rome to her apartment, and I squinted tiredly out the taxi window to try to catch a glimpse of whatever had been deemed important enough to be lit up (there wasn't much).  We sat outside at a little restaurant down her street and sipped Chianti Classico while eating risotto and ravioli, and I was reminded again of how easy it is to romanticize European cities.

At 4:30 the next morning, a few hours after a halfhearted attempt to go to sleep early, Morgan and I stumbled out of bed and made our way back to the airport to retrieve Sarah, who had made the ungodly decision to arrive in Rome at 7am.  We were picking her up under strict instructions from Judge Booker, who was extremely concerned about Sarah's ability to make her way from the airport to Morgan's apartment.  Judge Booker was also worried about Sarah's lack of working cell phone and how we would find each other in the airport.  Luckily, we made a foolproof plan to meet at baggage claim.  I promised Sarah that I would be there, even if I was a little late, and she promised not to wander off.  We were very confident that no problems could possibly arise from such a scenario.

Not surprisingly, we were wrong.  Baggage claim, as it turned out, was actually inside security, and from 6:52 until 8:oo Morgan and I stood just out of sight of Sarah, trying everything we could to get word to her that we were there (including asking people coming out of security to go back in and tell a girl who looked a little like me that her sister was there, and imploring the police to please just go find her).  As I was planning a mad dash past security (I had decided that it would be easier to explain to my parents that I had been arrested and detained in the Rome airport than that I had lost my little sister), the girl in question stepped cautiously into view and looked around carefully.  Morgan and I were somewhat ecstatic and found ourselves jumping up and down and screaming Sarah's name.  I should say that some of that excitement may have come from the two cappucinos each of us had already downed.

Despite a total of about five hours of sleep in two nights, Sarah, Morgan, and I rallied and took a walking tour of Rome.  After successfully buying towels (more difficult than anticipated, since we had to first find a shop that sold cloth and then figure out how to buy the things), we hit the Piazza Navona, the Parthenon, the Fountain di Trevi, and Santa Maria della Concezione; we ate pizza Rome-style for lunch and had an early supper (more pasta, of course) before crashing back at the apartment.

All in all, I'd have to say that my first day in Rome was a whirlwind of success.  Today we plan on a flea market (really), the Piazza del Popolo, Colluseum, Arco di Constantino, and Roman Forum.  Sarah and Morgan have been asleep for 12 hours, so I'll probably be attempting to wake them soon to start our adventure.

Regarding this post's title: if you haven't seen Life of Brian, watch it ASAP.