Day 1&2:  Flying to Rome and then... ROME!  (Click on any of the pictures to see them larger)

For any of you who don't know what Monkey Class is - a couple of young ladies in Massachusetts refer to coach as Monkey Class....



We got to fly first class to Rome, which was awesome.  Even had lie-flat seats (which didn't REALLY like flat, but neither of us were complaining - it was close enough).  The travel was easy, and we got into our room the St Regis in the center of Rome by noon.  Our room looks out at this fountain:

Rome is full of "crumblies", as you'd expect, but is full of lots of other stuff too.  You don't see tall glass towers, very few homeless, and at least where we've been, very little graffiti. Also (BIG SURPRISE) no horn honking...!  Men wear ties.  Very polite...!

We got an awesome lunch at a restaurant that is getting lots of buzz ("it's going to get a Michelen Star!")... our take?  Yeah, it's that good. Here's the duck breast with radish puree... yum.

Then off to the Borghese Museum - not far from the hotel, in what we figured was one of the rich neighborhoods of Rome. The building was, for me, the big attraction; check out the ceilings: