This morning we made our first airport run with guests. There are several possible routes to the airport. The information we have is that, on a Sunday, the best way to go is just to drop straight down to Rome on the Via Cassia and then take the Autostrada around the city and out to the airport. On days when the traffic is expected to be heavier, we have been told it is generally easier to head west and then drive south along the coast past Civitavecchia to the airport. This route is longer and has several tolls, but is much less traveled and you don't actually go any closer to Rome than the airport itself.
So, we headed out before dawn at 6 AM on the Via Cassia. I have mentioned this road before as it is the same one we took all the way to Siena last month. It loosely follows the path of a 2200+ year old Roman road headed north through Viterbo and beyond. As you leave Viterbo, it is NOT a major road. Quite the contrary, it is winding, narrow, two lane road (one lane each way) which snakes around through every little burg in the way. It presents interesting challenges in the pitch black, even with high beams and nerves of steel. After approximately 40 km, it widens into a four lane, divided road which then empties into the 6+ lane ring road around Rome. The entire trip is approximately 110 km each way with the 40 km bit near Viterbo taking the better part of half the time. Dropping off at the airport for departures is easier than picking up, since you don't need to find parking. You just find the correct terminal and pop people out of the vehicle. We said goodbye to Maggie and Greg around 7:30 and were back at home before 9 AM. No word yet on whether or not they actually got on a plane, but I suspect they did since they should have taken off hours ago.
A couple of observations about driving. First, Italians do have the concept of a merge. However, they don't really have the concept of a high-speed merging lane. You get the universal, red and white, triangular sign and then a 100 foot entrance to accelerate and get into the row of traffic moving by at 110 kph (68 mph). Hmmm ... an Opel Astra Wagon carrying four fat Americans just don't got that much giddy up. Second, speed limits don't really mean that much to most Italians. The four-lane divided highway we were on has a posted speed limit of 90 kph. At one point I was driving 100 kph (yes, I admit I was speeding) while overtaking a little tiny town car going maybe 65 kph while a BMW was barreling down on me from behind flashing its lights doing at least 140-150 kph. Did I mention it was only a two lane road? For those of you keeping track, that is a speed difference of 75-85 kph (which translates to basically 50 miles per hour) between fastest and slowest thing on the road. Nerves of steel, baby. I'm telling you, nerves of steel.
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