my son qaisar was named after julius caesar, most impressive roman in her long history. visiting rome was at top of our must-do activities while in england. it was 24th october 2010 and we embarked from ipswich in a freezing afternoon to reach stansted airport. it was to be a short trip with 3 days in rome and a day in venice. bus came on time and dropped us at airport on time. checked in all stuff except cabin bags and qaisar's buggy. there was ample time in
hand before security, so we enjoyed some italian refreshment in one of many superbly decorated stansted airport restaurants. our roman discovery started in that same restaurant where we discovered subtle taste of pesto pasta. out from security, without any hassles, our flight took off on time- meaning 30 minutes late than scheduled time :) it was smooth flight and qaisar did not trouble at all.
10:00pm in rome
arriving at ciampino was a great experience, weather was warmer than england and travertine floor everywhere gave some respite to eyes from seeing carpeted floor everywhere back in brittania. bus to roma termini departed 45 mins after our arrival. bit of a dampener to my wife's excitement of seeing rome for the first time. one thing i could never ever forget in my life is the euphoric feeling that filled me from time we landed in rome, till the time we woke up next morning. this welcome feeling comprised of supreme happiness, no regrets, no complains, no expectations and pure joy everywhere. possibly that's what romans call dolce vita :) what was the source of it, i still can't figure out. but i wished my entire life was like that - ah...what a feeling that was truly !! the bus reached termini winding through imposing roman backgrounds, first it was via appia on our left while on the highway, then aurelian wall near st.john's, then st.john's itself -bathed in artificial but not so excessive lights, then santa maria maggiore and then termini itself. misbha was already impressed with difference in architecture and definitely by very fact
that we had set foot in citta eterna. made our way to b&b , casa cerafina, which is on via turati- on the south eastern side of termini building proper. accommodation was very simple, clean yet pleasant. the gentleman, perhaps mr.serafina welcomed us warmly, though not speaking a single english word. but then all it did to misbha was to coin firmly the first impression of roman 'populusque' as friendly and welcoming. the photograph is of the same room where we stayed in rome. it is taken from b&b website. we perhaps had the sweetest sleep after a long long time.
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