We flew American / British Air to Rome through Heathrow. I'm happy to say we had almost no delays (either coming or going), and the lines at security moved quickly at all points. Coach seats are never roomy, but those on the AA / BA jets were better than others we've flown. Our main complaint with the trans-Atlantic plane was the armrest control for the individual TVs at each seat.

What a ridiculous piece of design that is. You couldn't put your arm down without accidentally hitting a button that would turn on or off the TV, or change the channel or volume. The thing also lifted out to be a telephone on the other side, but was so badly designed that it was easy to put it back upside down, at which point it would get stuck in place, leaving you helpless to change the TV setting. And of course, with all the security rules, you can't bring anything on the plane with you that might help lever it out of the cradle. A flight attendant finally pried it out with her ballpoint pen. Which also leads me to comment that we found the AA personnel less than friendly, and sometimes downright snide. Probably they're all ticked off at the airline wage and staff cuts, but I wish they wouldn't take it out on the passengers. Still, the flights both ways were relatively okay, given the low expectations most cattle-car-class passengers have to put up with.

We got to Rome and picked up our rental car from AutoEurope / Avis. We had booked through AutoEurope UK, which saved us about $100 over the AutoEurope US weekly rental price for the same car. Everything went fine with the UK booking, except that we didn't get the Alfa Mike had been hoping for; they gave us a Lancia instead (see photo at right, which was actually taken in Sorrento. Click on it to enlarge). I thought it was fine, but he said it wasn't as much fun to drive as the Alfa. Still, I don't know that this would have been any different if we'd booked through the US, since they only guarantee you a "similar" car. The level of service was fine; at one point during the trip we emailed AE UK with a question (easier to email than phone), and heard back from them within minutes.

We drove up the A1 to L'Ombricolo, our favorite B&B near Rome (about 90 minutes north, between Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio). We've been there several times, and enjoyed being welcomed back by Dawne, our British hostess, and her two wonderful dogs. We settled in and enjoyed a superb meal cooked by Dawne starting with antipasto of various bruschettas, olives, cinghiale sausage and other things I've forgotten. Primo was wonderful mushroom ravioli in brodo. Secondo: roast pork with mustard and mascarpone sauce, and a delicious green salad, plus local artisanal breads. The meal ended with a marvelous assortment of local cheeses and liqueurs, plus fruits from Dawne's trees. Two new taste treats for me: Tree strawberries (pictured at right), which I had never seen before, and mirtillo (blueberry) liqueur.

Dawne is a great conversationalist, and seems to attract very interesting guests. We enjoyed sharing the table with a Danish couple, who had an amazing range of talents — art, music, psychology, among others. Dawne's new assistant, a young Russian named Oleg, has a very droll sense of humor, and we were kept laughing all through the meal. (Cast of characters all pictured above, at the entrance to L'Ombricolo. Click on the photo to enlarge.)

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