Last weekend I joined Nuch on her trip to Rome. 'Weekend' is a bit misleading, as we were only in Italy for a little over 24 hours.
It was a tight schedule to say the least. I left Korat on Saturday after work and drove almost directly to the airport, only stopping briefly to pick up Nuch, take a quick shower and change. Nuch dropped me off at the departure gate and went to the crew center. I waited a couple hours, got my stand-by ticket with no problems, then boarded our 12-hour flight to Rome. I would have had an empty seat next to me, but a British lady decided she didn't like her seat and chose to sit next to me - apparently, somebody had peed in her seat on the previous flight. Airline seating Karma works in mysterious ways.
This picture was taken two hours into the trip. We were fresh-faced and ready for our whirlwind tour. Roma, baby, Roma.
Upon arriving in Rome, Nuch sped through the air crew immigration line, while I followed the Non-air crew and Non-EU citizens (all 10,000 of them). There were only 4 immigration counters assigned to persona non grata, so the first 2 hours of my 24 hour holiday were spent waiting in line, staring at the back of some Indian woman's head. I was fuming. So was a group of Chinese tourists that almost lynched a Russian guy who tried to cut in line.
To make matters worse, the Thai Air Crew bus to the hotel couldn't wait, so Nuch (who stayed behind to wait for me) and I had to catch a taxi, which cost more (90 USD) than my flight from Bangkok to Rome (75 USD).
But we put all of that behind us and sped on to our hotel, where Nuch promptly fell asleep.
While Nuch slept, I wandered a bit. Here are some pictures of the Ripa Hotel.
The hotel's atrium - looking down from the 6th floor.
and looking up from the lobby.
Some alien flowers on display at the reception desk.
Nuch got up around 11am and we headed out for a day in Rome.
The hotel had the smallest elevators I've ever seen, but their stainless steel walls and doors were a nice complement to my graying hair
Cool little four-wheeled scooter parked in front of our hotel.
Finally, out on the streets of Rome by noon, our holiDAY officially began. I can pretty much sum up our trip in two words: Vatican and Food (and by food I mean pizza).
On the way to the Vatican, we had to switch trams at the Ancient Cat Zoo. Please, note that the look on Nuch's face is not a smile, but a grimace. Her hyper-sensitive, Thai olfactory nerves were a bit overwhelmed by the fact that Roman cats have been marking their territory here for the last 2,000 years.
Free to leave at their own will, this particular cat sat on the steps, contemplating life in the modern world.
Finally, the Vatican.
and proof that we were actually there.
It wasn't me...
I don't have a picture, but similar to Notre Dame, Nuch and I re-affirmed our wedding vows, then we made out.
The Vatican Colonnade
Other random pics.
By far, the best security guard uniforms of all time.
A few empty seats
It was hot that day (and the Pope had gone home several hours earlier)
Nuch pointing to the ceiling on the right and two Swiss Guards about to tell me to get out of the way on the left.
When we weren't at the Vatican, we were eating.
... or drinking coffee, which I don't regularly enjoy, but is a requirement as Nuch's husband.
For our first meal in Rome, we ordered way too much pizza and ate it all.
No meal is complete without some Gelato. Here's a picture of round 1. After finishing this, Nuch got another bowl at a different shop around the corner that had the proper amount of chocolate creamy, richness. Of course, I ended up eating most of it, which is one of the many reasons I gained 4 pounds in 24 hours.
Nuch enjoying the best pizza in the world. It's famous with the Thai crew that stays at the hotel nearby. On the morning before our flight, half the crew were there filling their yearly pizza quota.
It's pretty d@&n good and could be the best pizza I've ever had (close call between here and Connie's and the place we ate at earlier). Can ham and cheese pizza be described as succulent?
This guy is the cook. He's Roman.
On our one evening in Rome, we had a nice dinner under the stars (and didn't take any pictures of it for a change). Afterwards, we did a little shopping and walked through some Roman side streets.
We ended up not buying anything, but we did find a number of cafes and restaurants we want to visit, if and when we return. I suppose we should have taken some time to make a donation at Trevi fountain.
Although it was cloudy and rainy when we arrived, the sky cleared, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. In the early evening, the sky transformed into an amazing azure blue.
These are two pictures of the moon and a con-trail (or a UFO) taken from our balcony.
27 hours after arriving, it was time to leave.
At the Thai Airport you can play golf between the runways. In Italy, they harvest hay.
Some pics of the Roman coastline.
The return flight was a much better experience than the flight to Rome. Not only did I have an empty seat next to me, but I was upgraded to Business Class. I'm never flying Economy again.
I arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Tuesday at around 7 in the morning. Through customs in only 20 minutes, I rushed to the bathroom, washed my face, changed my socks, put on a fresh layer of deodorant, and went straight to work. Got a meeting. Ciao!!
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