Day one in Italy complete. And it was a taxing one. That bike bag is heavy, especially because my awesome little studio apartment is a third story walk-up!
The trip started off splendidly. Upon check-in at Philadelphia International Airport, I was expecting to have to pay $200 to get my bike on the plane. When asked by the check-in clerk what was in my gigantic black bag and I replied, "my bicycle", he said, "Ok, I'm not even going to charge you for that today, that's just the kind of mood I'm in." AWESOME!
So, when I arrived in Roma this morning, I figured I'd just grab my bag and be on my way. Unfortunately, they lost a bunch of bags from my flight and I spent about a half hour waiting on line and worrying when my bag didn't show up. Luckily, the gentleman pointed me to a door with a sign that I clearly missed that said "Oversized Baggage" and sure enough, my bike was sitting right there. Phew!! I do feel bad for the other new "friends" that I met in the lost luggage line, but I guess somewhat selfishly I was very relieved to see my bike bag in Roma.
Interesting, as compared to US Customs, EU Customs is a walk in the park. They don't even stamp your passport, nothing. They have a guy in a booth, you hold up your passport and he waves you through. No questions asked, no security check points, etc. I felt like it was 1970 security.
The rest of my day consisted of me trying to catch up on some sleep, running some errands, etc. boring stuff, but it's gotta get done in order to make the rest of the trip a success. I did eat some amazing food at my favorite little restaurant here, Osteria Cento Poveri. I was so hungry, I didn't get a pic of the food once it came out, but that's ok, I'm sure I'll eat the same thing there again some time in the next two weeks.
Tomorrow, it's off to buy a jacket, buy some produce and cheese at the Mercato Centrale, and going for a short-ish ride.
Well, that's all for now. I'm exhausted. Hoping to beat the jet lag in a day because that Granfondo is fast approaching. Buona notte!
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