All Roads Lead To Rome

On March 17, 2005, Craig and I left Newark Airport on Alitalia flight #645 for Rome and for meetings about "Stargazer" with people from the Vatican. The flight left on time. Craig went to sleep the second we got in our seats; I, despite having taken an Ambien, was up the entire 8 hour plus flight. We arrived at Rome's Fiumicino Airport at 7:40 a.m., I was in my usual delirious state after an international flight, Craig was fresh and ready to go. We were met by a driver sent by  Giorgio Fanara (our guide and "consigliore" for all things Italian and the Vatican especially), and taken to the Grand Hotel Parco dei Principi. When I heard we were staying at the Grand Hotel, I thought it was THE Grand Hotel; alas, all the more well known big hotels in Rome were booked up, so Giorgio had put us up here (he explained that normally he would have put us in the Excelsior on Via Veneto), and all I remember about the hotel is they weren't very welcoming, the rooms were tiny with not a lot of electrical outlets -- Craig had to re-charge his blackberry in his bathroom and at some point it almost got flushed down the toilet and was rendered useless for the entire Roman stay -- and while watching MTV Italia on TV in the room, I saw James Blunt for the first time. He was singing "Beautiful," and I remember thinking he might make a good candidate to play Galileo in something.....In another room, Craig was also watching MTV Italia, and asked me later if I'd heard of Hoobastank.

To be continued.
                         

 --- Lisa Robinson
      December 5, 2009