Around Town

Today was the first time using Rome's metro system which, compared to other major European capitals, is much smaller by comparison.  Only 2 lines operate in the city, and they only meet at the city's train station, Termini.  At least they are more useful than the single line, 1-road system at home; a third line is under construction, as can be seen at various locations in the city.

The Metro fees aren't too bad compared to some places, though I think I will take the advice to wait for the opportunity to purchase a monthly student pass for 17 Euros rather than try to do the 4 Euro daily pass.  The system seems to do reasonably well, and was helpful in learning to pronounce a bit of Italian thanks to the loudspeakers.

One thing that is quickly learned in Rome is that 1 pm to 4 pm is a bad time to be looking for shops to be open unless you want a bite to eat.  The majority of the small stores were closed during those hours - the best time to go is either in the early morning or late afternoon and early evening.  I managed to successfully purchase a mouse for the notebook and a 9V battery for my clock, as apparently even with a voltage converter, it cannot keep proper time connected to the wall.

I also discovered that McDonald's sells a product in Italy that is very much like southern fried chicken wings - 3 of the wings sold for 1.5 Euros, which was cheaper than the french fries at 1.8 Euros.  And I did have a little fun at what the group is dubbing "Aldi Roma" - a cheap little market tucked into a dead end alley near Santa Maria Maggiore, where the purchase of 10 hamburgers, 2 pizzas, some chicken/mozzerella strips, a bag of apples, a loaf of bread, a 1.5 liter bottle of generic cola, butter, sauce, and maybe a couple other things only ran to 15 Euros, which isn't bad considering I expect the food to provide at least 7 meals, if not a few more.