April 4/08 - After months of planning, we finally boarded the Thai Airways to Rome via Bangkok. We arrived on time at 6.30 am. Rome airport, DaVinci airport at Fiumicino had "Armani" posters plastered all over that one of us thought its name was Armani airport. At the immigration queue, we were excited but apprehensive, what if we were refused entry? To think that we traveled all this way and had to take the next flight home. We had return tickets but no official tour itinerary? However, we did have hotel bookings and Wee's travel program - so that should be alright. Phew...! What a relief, the Italian immigration officers were very businesslike but did not give us any problem, just a question or two. And soon we all passed immigration.
Only one of us-Wee had been in Europe previously. For the rest of us, this was the first time - April air was cold but very refreshing. Since it was too early to check in to the apartment we had booked, Wee planned for a trip to Tivoli in a chauffeur driven Mercedes van - waaah - travel in class!! The driver, Ezio Monti (www.montitours.com) was English speaking, friendly, fatherly figure and quite talkative. Soon we were all loaded into the comfortable van with Wee seated next to Ezio. Eddie couldn't wait to try out his video taking skill. See our video "Tivoli". It was an hour drive, the roads were heavy with cars heading to Rome - peak hour. The scenery not very impressive - graffitti all over any available concrete wall (too many Michaelangelo wannabes), yellow carpet of flowering mustard and various shapes of pine trees.
At Tivoli, we first headed to Villa Adriana (Hadrian, the Roman Emperor, A.D. 117-138). Entrance was Euro 6.50. Yes, it is old, very old, in fact it looked like an archeological site, and yes, stones, lots of it. Fans of stones and ruins - this is a place you'd love. But for us, it was just good for a morning stroll after the long flight from Bangkok. However, we learned a couple of things - Romans had brick making technology which enable them to build big and fast, if you were an emperor you can have it all - big communal bath, theatre, fitness club, etc.
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