Roma!

I am here! Got in yesterday afternoon, actually, completely zonked from no sleep on the plane, but my friends kept me up late enough for dinner and gelato, and I crashed around 10:30. Slept, with a couple of wakings, for almost 12 hours, so I think the worst of the jet lag is done, once there's enough hot water for a shower.

The apartment where we're staying is nice, very classic: marble floors, books and knickknacks and artwork everywhere. It belongs to the aunt of my friend M, who is here working for a month. It's in a residential neighborhood, north of the Villa Borghese -- and this church is just up the street, which is one of the things I love about Rome: the continual reminders of just how old the place is. We'll be here all day today, then tomorrow morning we're going up to the family beach house in Sestri Levanti, which promises to be a cute town with lots of shops right on the Mediterranean.

There's been a heatwave, which is supposedly cooling down to the high 80s today. Fortunately, I will rarely complain about high 80s. Off to get ready for the day!