Getting to Italy with busy start

After our night in Boston, we got to the airport and boarded our flight to JFK.  The plane was in the configuration for JFK-LAX flights, with large First and Business Class sections and a good part of the Main Cabin being Main Cabin Extra.  We had those seats at no extra charge when they were assigned by the airline at check-in.  The plane left the gate on time but we were instructed to hold because of New York weather.  We waited 35 minutes to take off, and circled before landing, but landing was essentially on time.  They passed out water rather than doing a regular drink service.

The connection was between gates about as far apart as possible within Terminal 8 at JFK.  We  had three hours to connect.  We eventually boarded, and took the seats we'd paid for in Main Cabin Extra.  This was a 777 configuration with three seats on the side, and even with the extra legroom I couldn't sleep.  We eventually had our views of Europe in the air, and landed at Rome FCO with applause from the passengers.

 With this arrival at 7.10 a.m., we had the train from the satellite to the main terminal.  From what I could tell, U.S. citizens now can join EU citizens in e-passport lanes, putting their passport on a scanner while their picture is taken, and it goes quickly, but people with wheelchair assistance were directed to the crew lane, where not many booths were staffed at that hour and it was slow going.  We eventually got through to claim our bags and proceed to the rental car area.  We were helped right away and assigned a Fiat 500L. 

Now off to Soriano nel Cimino.  I hadn't gotten my Italian SIM card to work (more on that later) so Margaret, using the International Day Pass on AT&T, started Waze.  Driving in Italy after a sleepless overnight flight was o.k. for me, with a few cappuccino stops.  The problem was when we got to Soriano, the turn directions were ambiguous, and we went around in circles, including going to the top of town and needing to get turned around, a challenge on the slopes.  I finally understood the correct turn to get to the bottom of the pedestrian street going to Palazzo Catalani, where we were staying.  I needed to park on the sidewalk, just not blocking a drivable entrance, so we could go up and get help.

We went up, the hotel desk lady said our apartment wasn't ready yet, and Margaret's sister Emily found and greeted us.  One problem with the Waze directions is that the street leading to the Catalani goes uphill from two sides, and it led us to the non-preferred side.  In my jet-lagged state, I wasn't sure from what direction we came uphill, and there was extra confusion as I walked with the hotel porter driving a three-wheeled Ape vehicle to find the car, and follow him as he directed me to park in the town's main lot, and he brought the bags back to the hotel.

We had a nice arrival lunch at Tre Scalini restaurant.  Back at the hotel, the apartment was ready and it was great.  We made a late booking, and for €50 a night we had a 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartment, recently completed with air conditioning.  Time for something of a nap before we had Emily over for some time before dinner.  For dinner, we went to two places that were on their weekly closing, thought of going back to the hotel restaurant, which would also have been closed, before we wound up at Rottezzia, on a stairway street.  Finishing that decent meal, we were ready for a good night's sleep.

The next day, our main plan was to see the Parco dei Mostri or Sacro Bosco, the park with monster sculptures in Bomarzo.  We got there, and we'd put together a picnic lunch and found that we'd only bought half of it.  We made do with that, and liked exploring the park.  I'd been there before in decades past, and find interest in the sculptures of the 16th century, eccentrically designed and with enigmatic inscriptions.  Margaret and Emily had brought a portion of their parents' ashes along, and scattered them in this place that they would have liked.

Back in Soriano, we had dinner at Il Mare ai Due Camini, with seafood and vegetarian specialties.  Emily and I had the tasting menu with a great variety of seafood dishes.

In the morning, we signed up for a cooking class with the hotel restaurant's chef Roberto.  He went over bread and pasta preparation, generally saying the students' efforts were disastrous or catastrophic (all in fun, we're sure).  I probably would have been better off not going, and making a better effort to explore the town.  We needed to be checked out of our great apartment before the class, and that included the hotel staff bringing our baggage out, and taking it all in the Ape to our cars in the parking lot.  A nice good-bye to Soriano.