Nov 19 Day 47 All Roads Lead to Rome

Spent the morning talking with Norberto, owner of the hotel/restaurant in Tarquinia, who just HAPPENS to be an avvocato (Italian attorney) and he helped with faxing the accident report to the car rental company, asking the carbonari (police) to try to send the official report sooner than the usual 90 days (crazy), and help with getting us downtown for a little sightseeing, the back for lunch, then to the train station (being driven by the one guy in the hotel who was and "all in one expert," responsible for (and this is no exaggeration) cooking, cleaning, reception, computer systems, elevator repair, waiting tables, making cappuccino, and then driving a stick shift car for what appeared to be the first time in his life.  He said his name was "Gianni" and it was good to be delivered safely to the station.

The town is yet another walled medieval town and it had much more character than I ever realized, making it sad to leave it so soon.  It is on a hill and has beautiful views, an apparently world -class Etruscan museum, and friendly people.

Made it to Rome via the reliable train, and it was an easy and stress-free journey.  At least, until arriving at the "B and B" that was owned by the "friend of an uncle" that made it immediately clear that B&Bs are completely unregulated and anybody who wants to rent out his study as a bedroom and then serve a biscotte and orange juice can make a few extra euros.  So, on to the nice, modern hotel across the street and everything was molto bene.  Needed a bit of extra rest in order to feel a bit of healing after the accident, which was fine, then onto a recommended restaurant for a nice bowl of artichoke and shrimp risotto, which always makes everything better.