Italian Holiday

We took two flights to get to Rome.  The flights went quickly and were pleasant.  We flew Alitalia from Boston to Italy.  There were A LOT of bad reviews on this airline, so we decided not to check any luggage.  The food was ok--beef stew and manicotti, the service was not quite what you get on American airlines.  After the meal is served the staff will bring you one drink, but for the rest of the flight you have to walk to the back of the plane for water or juice.  This isn't advertised well, and if you ask the flight attendants, they will point you in the right direction, but will not go out of their way to bring you water.
  We arrived in Rome a few minutes early about 7:24 am (we were scheduled for a 7:45am arrival).  Customs was pretty quick, approx 20min.  There are separate lines for EU citizens, so the flight split into two groups.  I would strongly recommend stopping at an ATM at the airport--the rates are way better than the stands that change cash (which also charge a fairly steep commission by the way).  After getting suckered into a cash stand, we headed for the Leonardo Express (the train that runs from the airport to Rome Termini).  The tickets were 11euros each (once again use the machine not the stand or you will pay 1-2 euro commission per ticket), and run twice an hour.  It is important to stamp your ticket before you get on the train (see pic).  There is a fine if caught without a stamped ticket, and they did check them on the trip back for us.
  The seats go fast on the train, but they do allow passengers to stand.  It was a 31min trip. When we arrived at Roma Termini we followed the signs to the exit, down the stairs and out...not the fastest route.  Actually there was only one way it could have taken us longer to get to our hotel (barring any injuries).  =)  The best way to go is--exit the train and walk to the front of the train, this will lead to the other platforms, if you keep going straight it will lead to the center of the station.  There are stores, restaurants, etc.
   We stayed at Hotel Giorgi, for us we just exited the station to the right a took a short trip to the hotel.  Piece of cake.  The hotel was great.  They let us check in at 9am and leave our luggage in the room, even though it wasn't cleaned yet.  This saved us and our travel partners from using left luggage at the termini.   Also, the hotel has a shower that has a solid door, so it is separated from the main bathroom floor (our next hotel had a shower on the same floor as the toilet with the only separation being the thin curtain...not too bad, but tiny). Below is the elevator at the hotel.