Arrivo in Italia !

The flight to London went quickly.........maybe too fast as we did not really have much 'shut down' time due to less than 6 hours (aided by strong jet stream).  The plane felt like an ocean liner.......so large and such a floating feeling at take-off and landing.  It was really a unique experience.  The seating capacity is over 500!

The layover in London was just under two hours.  The transfer to our connecting flight was easy and the Passport Control was a breeze.  We were apparently lucky, because as we were going through an onslaught of hundreds of people showed up from what must have been multiple flights landing just after us!  Lucky day!

We hung out in the BA Lounge and had a few cups of coffee to keep the machine parts working!

The bar section was the quietest part of the lounge........don't worry, caffeine today, not alcohol at 7:00 AM!

The flight from London to Rome was a little over two hours.  We pretty much collapsed, but woke up occasionally to check out the views.  The travel over the French Alps and the Pyrenees was particularly beautiful.......lots of snow still.

We landed in Rome on schedule at noon.  Our monster suitcases made it through with now problems.  We grabbed our bags and headed to the rental car area.  It wasn't far away, but in typical Italian fashion, 2 of the 3 moving sidewalks were broken, so we had to haul our roller bags over the bumpy Pirelli tile flooring.......felt a bit like a massage!

We could have used a massage after the rental car counter experience........such a wait!  Our reservation was fine and they apologized for the delay, and gave us a sporty Lancia to compensate.  Actually, it is the identical car we had when we were at Bogliasco......this time black as opposed to white.

We have to admit a bit of frustration trying to get on the road out of the airport.  We had my phone plugged in but Google maps took a bit of adjustment to get things on track and translated.  As a result we had 15 minutes of a crazy circuitous driving around the airport intersections waiting for Google to reroute us correctly.  Anyway, it all worked out and we made the 2 hour drive to Porto Ercole and our hotel for the next two nights, Il Pelicano.

Once we were off the autostrada the roads narrowed and we wound our way out to a rugged peninsula of land north of Civitavecchia.  The landscape became dramatic (as did the roads!) and we slowly navigated our way out to the hotel.

There are several old castles here, some restored and some in ruins.  Apparently, this was a Pirate playground once upon a time!

Il Pelicano is located in the cove just to the right of this picture.

It is still in the early stages of spring here......wonderful flowering trees......much like our redbuds.

This area north of Rome is on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

 We got to the hotel around 2:30, enough time to relax in the room and explore the property.  We were one of the few couples to check in today.  The hotel only opened for the season on Thursday, so we were given lots of attention.  The staff was amazingly friendly and were happy to have some Americans to practice their English on! and were helpful for us getting warmed up with Italian.  They could not have been more engaging.

We were lucky to have our room upgraded to a terrace suite.  The terrace is totally incredible!  The views are amazing the the bathroom is larger than our living room at home!

View from our terrace

upper level of our terrace outside the bedroom

a yacht anchored for dinner at the restaurant........we did not realize it has a Michelin star!

the tub was a blast!

the landscape is dramatic, stepping down in levels to the rocky coast and a series of sunbathing terraces and docks

After wandering around for a while........lots of steps, we headed back to the room.  Out on the terrace the staff had delivered a complementary bottle of champagne, which was a wonderful surprise.  As I lifted the bottle out of the ice bucket, it slipped from my hands......and what an explosion!  It hit the threshold of the patio doors, blew the cork and exploded upward, bounced across the stone patio, banged into the stone retaining wall, jumped up into the air and through the garden hedge, finally resting at the base of another stone wall beyond! Startling would be a mild term!

Anyway, we got some clean-up support with a mop bucket (Piero and an assistant - we think he is a new trainee), and most importantly another bottle of champagne!  Things went better with the next bottle and we relaxed to watch the light set over the water.

Dinner was absolutely wonderful.....but we tried to take it easy as we were beginning to fade.  As we started dinner it was about 3:00 AM unadjusted time for us, and the long day was catching up.  We elected to pass on the 7 course tasting menu! and opted for some risotto (made with crocollo cheese, which is the celebrated cheese they wheel down the street in Concord every holiday season!).....small world.  We also had an insalata caprese and some roasted chicken.......and an amazing strawberry dessert.