Rome Day 1

We woke up early this morning and got into an airport transport with a couple from Hong Kong and a group of 4 from England -- the folks from England came for a weekend get away and they stayed a ways out from the center of Paris because they said it was "old." They were lame and hung over.

Nonetheless, we got to the airport and caught our flight. It took us longer to get checked into due the "budget" airline's policies and rules, which weren't very clear (if you want to know why not to fly Vueling let us know).

Once in Rome things went very smoothly. We hired a driver in advance; he was waiting there with the sign in hand; we hopped in his nice Mercedes ride and got to our Flat in no time -- passing through the country and the ruins of old Rome (by the way getting the Flat was another very very good choice -- the location is awesome two blocks to the Spainish steps in the heart of the luxury shopping, great furnishings in the place, totally updated, private, much cheaper than a hotel of similiar quality, etc.).

We then struck out for a lunch in a near by cafe (got some chanti of course). We then changed quickly and went out to see Adam Rust -- the reason for our trip. He is the one that gets ordained in two days. We took a taxi to the North American College at the Vatican and along the way ran into a protest which locked down traffic for 15 minutes (we captured video).

The wait was worth it; once we got the College we captured some awesome views and pictures from the roof top of the College and got to meet up with Adam.

We then walked back to our place, grabbed some dinner in Piazza Navona, walked to get some gelato, ran into the Pantheon by accident, and intentionally went to the Trevi Fountain.

We have to get up early again for the Papal Audience . . . So I need to sign off. More to come.