September 22, 2006. The journey begins!

So, we are driving in Italy... in truth, Mark is driving. We’re all praying. Our plan to get a train to Venice fell through immediately. The plane arrived late in Rome and then all the trains to Venice were filled. So, we rented a car. It is a nine passenger Opel and it is very roomy for us and our luggage. In truth, it will cost as much as the train fare would have cost and we’ll have the added advantage of flexibility.
As I said, we got in to Rome at 9:00am and by the time we got our luggage and got on the treno for Termini Stazione, it was 10:30. We went to the ticket vendors and that’s when we made the decision to rent. The first few car rental agencies didn’t have anything big enough or even any cars available We were at our wits end and then we all said a prayer as we walked up to a man who had just told someone he had no cars today. “What about a van?” we asked. And here we are.
Shelden was hungry so we went to a little café bar and had panini. Shelden and I had chicken cutlet with tomato, mozzarella and lettuce – oh yeah, Shelden skipped the mozzarella and tomato. Vicki and Mark had prosciutto and mozzarella – not sure what Sue and Jerry had.
We got on the road and I immediately started dozing. We decided to stop at an Auto-Grille where Mark and Vicki got incredible pepperoni pizza. I got an espresso and a bottle of water... Jerry and Shel got Cokes.
SO we are now on the A-1 driving north hoping to reach Venice by 6. We actually tried to call the hotel to tell them we’d be later than anticipated, but couldn’t figure out the phone system. Some folks are having trouble with the toilets as well.