My connecting flight to Rome arrived late due to the weather and I missed my onward connection. After an hour of administrative wrangling the airline had arranged a new flight the next day and a hotel for the night. Unfortunately my checked bag was lost for the time being. Still better than a night at the airport!
A woman came up to the airline desk and said there was a bus waiting outside to take me to the hotel. I got outside. No bus. Just my luck, I thought. Then she pointed to a car and said “Bus! Bus! I mean car!” The car to take me to the hotel was a black 2018 BMW 7 series. The driver whisked me away at great speed down the autostrada and I was at the hotel in double-quick time. I must say the 7 series is very nice to sit in the back of.
The hotel was some random 3 star in some random semi-commercial area. When I arrived the manager gave me a ‘snack’, since it was midnight by this point. It had several biscuits, crackers, and two tins of meat and vegetables. Some snack!
The hotel
Although I didn’t have a phone charger I did have my cable, and sure enough the TV had a USB port in the back. I was then able to get a reasonable sleep.
The next morning breakfast was laid on:
They had a token effort at savoury breakfast, but you could tell you were meant to eat all the pastries
I had a bit of time to work out and do some admin. The manager said lunch was provided, but the hotel didn’t usually do lunch, so they would ‘whip something up’. I came through and the table was set with a basket of bread, mineral water, and probably the best meal I had on the whole holiday.
Spinach in olive oil, peas and ham, and one of the best steaks I have ever eaten, cooked perfectly medium-rare
The airline had ordered my airport shuttle several hours before the flight so that I would have time to investigate the whereabouts of my bag. That left me a few hours to look around. I decided to stay within walking distance of the hotel so that I didn’t get caught out by a strike on the underground or some other random occurrence.
The area was full of modernist architecture.
Lines and surfaces!
There was also a rather monumental looking building with these mosaics. 
There was a central point with four of these collonaded buildings around it. From when Italy had an *ahem* stronger government.
Now they have museums in them.
I continued walking.
SPQR manhole
LOOK
The boldness of the line!
I went in to a supermarket. What we would consider a gourmet delicatessen is their regular supermarket.
This is just a regular supermarket and nothing fancy
The pasta aisle
I walked around window shopping. See my other post about the fashion I saw. I then headed back up the hill and found an abandoned but very fancy building.
‘Museum of Roman Civilisation’
Looking back down towards the needle. In its heyday it must have been quite spectacular
An entranceway
I then headed back to the hotel.
I was taken away in a disappointingly non-BMW airport shuttle van. I then spent 90 min in the lost luggage queue. They had one person on. It took 15-30 min to deal with each person. Eventually I had some service. If you are not at your final destination you cannot put in a claim. I waited several hours for my flight and then did just that at my final stop, with a much more helpful attendant. It then took another 4 days for my bag to show up (with about 15 bag tags on it).
Get Back to Work! 