11:22 a.m. Nothing to do on the train since we are sitting across from each other next to one sleeping Italian man & another Italian (I think) businessman reading reports. We were @ breakfast this morning in record time -- by 9:15!! -- found that 9:30 isn't as late as we thought. Lots of people there today. Checked out about 10 -- yes they let us leave the Hotel California -- and hit the streets for our trek to the train station. Bought our ticket at the machine again. Turns out we're on a train that runs from Milano to Napoli w/ Florence & Roma Termini being the only other stops.

The Tuscan scenery is truly lovely. Beast is videoing it. Mountains in the near distance to the east, hills and rolling farmland nearer the train. Actually, looking out the other windows, there are lower mountains to the northwest. Red tile roofs on most buildings. Lots of vineyards, and tunnels; we're in the second one of those in 15 minutes on the train. We have 1st class tix again, different layout on the board, cushier but less comfortable seats (I know, weird, but basically the only good positions are sitting up like this to write or reclining a little too far back.)

I should talk a little about "impressions." Both Rome & Florence are cleaner than I remember, at least in the sense of dirt and smell. There is tons of graffiti everywhere; Florence especially has some that is pretty funny. Nice people, in spite of the throngs of tourists. I overheard someone yesterday say that she knows a student who's here for a year abroad and who said this week is the busiest it's been in her time here. It was hard to maneuver in some areas. I would NEVER want  to be here in the summer! Lots of kids, both w/ families and in groups. Apparently they are off school now at least in England and maybe France. There were 2 separate kid tour groups @ our hotel in Florence: the 2nd & 3rd night it was 11- [to] 12-year-olds. Last night it was older teens (Sparky's age, more or less). Both were loud. The younger kids were French or Italian, I think. The  teens were emphatically American. ugh

The first night in Rome, we realized we were sharing the hotel with Russians, Brits & other Americans (lots of 60ish Russians!). Later on, we heard Arabic, French, Australian English, Italian, Spanish, German, ...among others... in the breakfast room.

In Florence it seemed to be primarily French (or Belgian), British English and Americans. Some Asians, from Singapore, were at the bar last night. The one guy who was being a dick was from there. The funniest thing was that Beast has been mistaken for a German, a Russian, a Canadian & an Italian over the course of the trip, by Italians. Amusing.

When we get to Roma Termini today we'll get tix for the train to the airport (Fiumicino) and then a shuttle bus to the hotel. One plan we discussed way [sic] dropping our bags & then going back to the airport on the shuttles to see if Alitalia has any earlier flights tomorrow with free seats that we could swap. That would alleviate some of the panic of disembarking in Heathrow, getting thru customs & baggage claim, and then racing for a bus to Leics. that will arrive before midnight. We shall see.

OK there's another hour of train time. I'm trying to figure out WC time -- gotta ask the guy next to me to get up. Shoulda taken care of it while getting on a train to start. Oh well. Maybe I can wait till Rome.

(By the way, our bar bill for 4 nights in Florence = €73; not bad considering we were up there every night. Must remember the bartender's name was (is) Luca. he was lots of fun, very patient, from Sardinia & quite good at his job.)

1:15 p.m. Made it to Rome, despite sticky stuff under our feet that got on our bags & shoes, etc. Yuck. Bought tickets for the train to the airport and boarded this train. Similar to the old compartment trains, except the "room" dividers are plexiglass & compartments have no doors ... maybe they do have sliders. I can't honestly tell. Once we get moving I'll know. :) 'Bout 1/2 hour to the airport then we'll be seasoned Rome/Italy train folk. Ha ha ha.

7:00 p.m. We navigated the airport, found the shuttle bus with minimal trouble, checked in (slight hiccup there too) and found our room to be lovely, very WHITE and pale wood, and having dumped our bags, we headed back downstairs for lunch which was closing @3. Good pizza (me), good chicken (Beast) and some internet checking on Alitalia later, we asked the hotel clerk about contacting Alitalia & she rang them. No dice getting earlier seats, so we'll just hope for an on-time or early arrival tomorrow. Once we printed our boarding passes, we came back upstairs where I sacked out for an hour while Beast worked & took a shower. Spent the past half an hour rearranging for packing for the plane. I washed out some undies. We're headed for the bar now. :)

9:32 [p.m.] We do sound like drunks, don't we? So I had 2 vodka tonics (finishing #2 up here) & Beast had Tanq. rocks, + we had a fairly light dinner. Am really full up as far as food goes, can prob. skip lunch tomorrow. Maybe. Anyway. Still to come tonite: Beast is polishing his black shoes at the machine down the hall. I'm praying for my washed clothes to dry. We have some packing yet to do and we need to talk about timing four our departure from Rome tomorrow. "Departure from Rome" sounds sad. I cried leaving Florence this morning, tho part of that was cuz Beast accidentally kicked me as the train pulled out. Oh and we're watching TRL MTV Awards live from Piazza Santa Croce, where we watched 'em set up the stage yesterday. The current performer is sort of Adam Lambert meets heavy-metal-Prince. This is odd, there's someone doing Devil Voice in the background of the chorus.