I...left....MY....stomach...in... RO...ma

We've made Heathrow Airport in London and are stuck out in Terminal 4 for a few hours. We had a taxi come at 5:15 AM, was up at 4:30 to get ready, all the packing finished at about midnight.

The driver commented on the early hour (he normally would be in bed), and had been in a coffee bar a few doors down when we emerged from the building. The traffic was light. So imagine a cabbie stifled by constant traffic and pedestrians who never observe traffic lights...and then give him an open road and a throttle within easy reach...

He hit 170 Km/h by the time he hit the freeway on the way to Rome Fumuciano Airport. It was raining a bit, and he took the corners and passed every car as if they were going BACKwards. I felt sick and had the window down a bit for air, and hung on. Steve held my hand, we grinned at each other, but mine was a nervous smile since I felt queasy each time the road dropped out from under the Mercedes Benz station wagon we were in.

But the sunny side of this is we beat almost EVERYone else to the airport and were near the front of the queue waiting for boarding passes. The workers don't open the desks for coach seats until 6:15. This is not a job to have and have trouble showing up to work on time. There was quite bit of grumbling as the two desk workers arrived at 6:20 Am. I am sure they had "clocked in" before then, but having been told 6:15 by an official, everyone felt they were getting short shrift and made to wait.

I have to say - people are rude. Everywhere. They shove and push for no real purpose as it doesn't really get you there sooner. It's like someone habitually going 10 mph over the speed limit, risking a ticket, to arrive 25 seconds sooner. We experienced shoving and pushing by all manner of people, regardless of culture. I've developed a theory about this over the time we have been in Italy.

In America there are wide open spaces and we are used to our elbow room, and our personal space. Other cultures and cities do not have the luxury of this space, so are accustomed to being crowded together, whether it's standing in a line, or living quarters, or eating in a restaurant. No observation of personal space. The concept does not exist for most people.

I guess you get used to it.

I've made a number of observations while on this journey, but didn't write them down. I am sure they will come to me in the days ahead and I will get them out eventually.

Here are just a few things I saw that I thought was incongruent with my pesonal world, and interesting elsewhere.

Torino:
Blockbuster Video. Never saw a McDonalds, but I am sure they are there somewhere.

Zoo Park - a pet store

People walk the main shopping streets and do a lot of window shopping while the shops are closed (over the holiday, or daily about 1 PM - 3 PM for lunch)

Firenze:
Chewing Gum - a fashionable clothing boutique.

Bye Bye - another clothing store

Animale Domestica - a pet store (open and got Sophia a neat jacket)

Farmacia - pharma-chee-ah, pharmacy. Everything that is not make-up or a Q-tip is behind the counter and has to be given to you by a pharmacist, from throat drops tocough syrup to ibuprofen.

Spotted one McDonalds. Found more chocolate, wine, and coffee bars here than anywhere else.

Roma:
3 McDonalds spotted before leaving the train station.

"Umbrelli umbrelli!" - umbrella salesman everywhere, preying on those wearing a hood.

Roma does not have the same concept of hot chocolate as Torino or Firenze. Couldn't find a chocolate bar, and when I asked if a restaurant served hot chocolate they said yes, and brought me cocoa. Now, granted, the cocoa had been made with the steamer of the espresso machine and was quite frothy. But it was not the liquid gold I was searching for.

Ok, so I am in England, Guess what I am having for lunch?? FISH AND CHIPS!! Three and a hlaf hours until our plane leaves for Seattle.