Roman Holiday

Wednesday March 9, 2011 Day 252

The loud ‘THUMP” you heard is us falling off our low-carb diet. We boarded the train at 5:30 this morning for Italy, sans breakfast. By the time we got to our first train change, I was starving. We were 10 minutes late getting into Valance, and we were only scheduled for 20 minutes to change trains. However, our outbound train was late as well, so we still had 20 minutes. I left Roger on the platform and went upstairs to get something to eat. The only choices were carbs or carbs or carbs. I chose carbs. I got a blueberry muffin for Roger and a chocolate croissant for myself. Cappuccinos and an orange juice completed our breakfast - probably 30 or more carbs apiece, and that is my whole allotment for the day! But we already agreed that we would not try to go low-carb on the trip - Italy without pasta? Impossible!

We changed trains in Lyon, heading east toward Italy. Then we changed again at Chamberty and yet again at Torino after passing through some lovely snow-covered alps.

The Italians getting on a train are very different from the French! After three legs on French trains, we got on a train in Milano which was bound for Roma. It was almost empty and we had four facing seats for the two of us. I napped a bit. When we arrived in Milano Centrale, the car filled up entirely. The passengers laughed and joshed with each other, even though it was pretty clear they did not know each other. Indeed, the car was full of chatter all the way to Rome.

Roger looks out at the scenery of Italy. Note his reflection in the window

We arrived at our hotel as always - with a little bit of extra walking because we were not properly oriented, but we found the street for our hotel without problem. We did stop and ask a waiter who was standing outside a restaurant where the Montecarlo Hotel was, and he told us we were walking the wrong direction, that it was a few blocks the other way. We were hungry by the time we checked in, so we returned to the restaurant with the helpful waiter and had carbs, carbs, carb! I had tortellini with meat sauce, spinach a glass of wine and tiramisu, and Roger had a proscuitto pizza, salad, wine and cheesecake.