Welcome to Rome

My flight touched down at 4pm on the dot, but it was an hour before I left the airport. It was not an immigration or customs issue as you might suspect. Just the amount of time it took to get off the plane, locate my bag & exchange some cash. Actually I never encountered immigration at all, which kinda concerns me. Beyond the fact that I like all the stamps in my passport, when I depart won't they be curious to know why there's no indication of my arrival or visa? I could stay here for the next decade or when I leave in ten days I could be accused of having overstayed my nonexistent visa.

I navigated public transit and utilized my iphone's gps walking directions. SO AWESOME. All on its own it figures out where the hell I am and how to get wherever I wanna be. Used it thrice today. We had dinner at Costanza and utterly randomly ran into a middle school friend of A's. Dinner was superb...the house antipasto consisted of some kind of hot chopped liver/pate, a super firm and rich greek yogurt, delicately fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with cheese & anchovies. Bizzare combination but each dish was just amazing. A had some kind of crepe & I had gnocchi. Afterward we wandered around with her new/old friend and her husband. Through Campo dei Fiori, the Pantheon and tons of curvy cobbled streets in search of their favorite gelato joint.

Overall a perfect relaxed intro to Rome. The apt we rented is really lovely. The elevator is intricately wrought iron. Pix to follow.