Danielle LaRue - Fashion Model - Part 8 (Patreon)

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I awoke the following morning and felt utterly fantastic.  Scott was still asleep beside me, and I quietly got up and went into the bathroom to start my day.  I took a shower and wrapped my hair in a towel, and put on my robe.  Walking through the bedroom, I looked over at Scott, and he looked so peaceful lying there.  I thought back to last night, and he was so passionate with me, telling me I was the best thing that had ever happened to him as we made love to each other.   I smiled and went into the kitchen.  I started the coffee going and got out some orange juice to swallow with my hormone pills.

I went back to the bathroom, sneaking another look at my sleeping beauty, and finished blow-drying my hair.  I put on a touch of makeup and silently went back to the bedroom and put on something casual.  Scott was still out like a light, so I closed the door as I left the bedroom.

I knew Betty would already be up, so I gave her a call, and she picked up and answered right away.  How were things with you last night, I asked?  It was terrific, Danielle; I think Frank wore himself out since he is still fast asleep here.  It’s the same with Scott since he put so much effort into pleasing me last night.  I put Betty on the speaker and made myself some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.

“Are you excited that we will be in Rome by the end of today?”

“I can’t wait, Danielle; I think this will be an excellent trip for us all.  It will be the honeymoon of a lifetime.”

“I feel the same way here.  Let’s hope our boys wake up soon so we can get started.”

“Are you all packed and ready to go?”

“Oh yes. We packed the day before the wedding here.”

“Same with me too.”   I looked up and saw Scott wandering out of the bedroom.  “Good morning, Honey. How are you today?”

Scott said good morning and kissed me, and said good morning to Betty as well.

“Now brush your teeth and come back, and I will start breakfast for you, dear.”

I continued to talk to Betty as I finished my eggs and toast and started Scott’s breakfast going.   I poured him a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice as he reappeared and sat down at the table.

“You are so good to me, and I don’t deserve you, Dani.”

I heard Betty laugh on the phone, and she added, “And don’t you ever forget that, Scott.”

We all chatted together, and we heard Frank say good morning to Betty, and we said, “Good Morning, Frank.”  We listened to a laugh in reply, and Frank wished us a good morning as well.  We chatted some more, and Betty told us the limo should be by at 10.  I told her we wouldn’t have a problem with that, as I handed Scott his breakfast.

Betty hung up the phone, and we shared a coffee, and then Scott went for a shower and got ready.

While he was busy in the bathroom, I cleaned up the kitchen and took anything out of the fridge that wouldn’t last for two weeks.  I took the garbage out, dropped by my place to do the same thing, and threw it all in the dumpster in the basement.

I returned to my suite, took a few things I needed, made sure it was tidy, and then went back upstairs to Scott’s suite.  I wondered what we would do with two places now since we only needed one and thought maybe I could rent my home out furnished since we will both be living up in Scott’s suite.  It sounded like I had a plan, but I didn’t have to worry about it until I moved upstairs after the honeymoon.

Scott finished getting ready, and I packed a few more things in my bags, made sure I had both of our passports, and wheeled our luggage to the door.  He looked like a million dollars when he came out, and I had to embrace him, give him another big hug, and kiss him, well, for being my very own Scott.  He laughed and opened the door, and we wheeled our bags into the hallway.  Scott locked up the suite, and we proceeded with our bags to the elevators.   After a few more kisses and embraces, we went riding down in the elevator cab.  We arrived in the lobby and waited for the limo to arrive.  Within a couple of minutes, the limo pulled up, and it was none other than Terrence who got out, and he came over to take our bags.  He greeted me and said Hi Danielle, when I heard it was you, I had to take the fare.  He introduced himself to Scott, and I told Scott, Terrence first met me at the airport when I started at the agency and used to pick me up every day.  Scott shook his hand and said, I’m glad you took care of Danielle.   We told him we were going to the executive departure terminal at the airport, and he took us both there.  We met up with Frank and Betty at the airport, and we proceeded through the departure area to our waiting jet.  Boarding a private jet with Scott was so exciting. It was like a dream, here I was with the man of my dreams, my new best friend and her husband and we were all flying to Rome.  What more could a girl want?  I felt I was truly blessed for all of this to happen to me.

They loaded our luggage in the jet, and we all climbed into the cabin.  Our pilots came out and said hello, and told us there were meals for us in the galley for lunch and dinner, and we could reheat them in the small oven when we were hungry.  There was a fully stocked bar with appetizers and champagne for us too.  Betty and I told the boys that we would play flight attendants and cater to our boys on the way out.  We grinned and told them they could cater to us on the way back. They smiled at each other and said, we will see.

We all sat down and put on our seatbelts, and within minutes, the jet was in the air, and we were on our way to Rome, Italy.  On the forward bulkhead, there was an airspeed indicator and altimeter display.  We leveled off at 41,000 feet with an airspeed of 650 mph. Frank explained that private jets cruise higher than commercial jets since few other planes are this high.  He also told us our jet was a Gulfstream Jet and would fly non-stop to Rome.  There was a screen showing our flight progress as well.  It was just over 5300 nautical miles to Rome, and it was going to take us almost 10 hours to fly there.  Scott told us that we could sleep since the seats could fold down into lie-flat beds.  We had two pilots though one of them would take a break at a time, and one of the pilots would be in the cabin with us at times to rest.

We were going to have a fun trip.  Once we were at altitude, the pilot turned off the seatbelt sign, and Betty and I got up to get the champagne and appetizers.  We handed out glasses to the boys, and we all toasted to a fun honeymoon.  There was even an ice bucket for the champagne.  They had thought of everything it seemed on this jet.  We were all able to sit in a group, and this made it very easy to chat.  Eventually, lunchtime came around, and we checked out the galley to see what we had for lunch.  There were some sandwiches and chips for us, and we passed them around.  I went up front to the cockpit and asked the pilots if they wanted anything to eat.  The co-pilot told me he would come aft and get sandwiches for them in a couple of minutes.  I returned to eat lunch, and our co-pilot said hi to us on his way to the galley.  He picked up a couple of sandwiches and soft drinks and proceeded back to the cockpit.

We relaxed during the afternoon, snacking, and chatting.  So, Danielle, what would you like to see in Rome?  Well, I want to be the total tourist and see the ancient Roman ruins in the city and the Coliseum, the Parthenon, and as many others as we can.  Luckily ancient Rome was small, and we should be able to walk to them all.  You have been reading up, haven’t you, Danielle?  When I heard we were going to Rome, I wanted to research if we could see all the places in the Roman Holiday movie.  I asked the pilots, and they told me it was one of the onboard movies since we are flying there.  There are the Spanish steps, the famous fountains, and I read some of them off a list I had made.

Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi)

Fountain of the Four Rivers (Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi)

Turtle Fountain (Fontana della Tartarughe)

Fontana del Mascherone

Fountain of the Frogs (Fontana delle Rane)

Triton Fountain (Fontana del Tritone)

Fountain of the Naiads (Fontana delle Naiadi)

Fontana della Barcaccia

Fontana di Nettuno (Neptune Fountain)

There are so many things to see, and we haven’t even started the shopping yet.  There are so many restaurants to choose from as well.  We will never get through them all.  And if we get bored with Rome, we can always visit Venice.

Scott asked to see my notebook.  He noticed I had printed out maps and locations of many of the sites.  Wow, Dani, I think you will be our tour guide, you did your homework on this.  He passed my notebook over to Frank, and Betty looked at it as well.  I’m impressed, Dani.  You have all ancient Roman sites in here as well.   I kept finding more things to see, so I just kept adding to my notes.  No Kidding replied Betty, and I think you have our entire honeymoon filled with sightseeing every day.  I just grinned from ear to ear, that’s the idea, and evenings will be for other activities.  Dinnertime soon arrived, and Betty and I took stock of our entrees.  We had chicken and roast beef dinners.  It seemed the girls would take the chicken, and the boys would take the roast beef.  I called up to the pilots on the intercom, and they told us one of each dinner for us.  Betty put them in the oven to warm them up, and we brought out some appetizers for everyone and whatever they would like to drink.  Scott and Frank both had a beer, while Betty and I shared a bottle of white wine.

Dinner was soon ready, and I notified the pilots, and we brought them out for everyone in the cabin.   This time the pilot came out and retrieved their meals and said hi to us as he returned to the cockpit. The dinner was quite good, and they came with a small apple turnover dessert.   I started some coffee going in the galley, and Betty and I finished our bottle of wine.  Everyone wanted coffee, including the pilots, so I told them it was ready for them.

After dinner, I decided to go to the lavatory on the plane, and believe me, and it was tiny.  I would have to leave it to change my mind; it was so small.  That’s one thing the big commercial planes have over these private jets, but it was spotless, not disgusting like the ones in a commercial flight, so that was a plus.

The evening was upon us, and I asked everyone if they wanted to watch Roman Holiday.  We all had personal screens, but it was still fun to watch Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn ride a Vespa scooter through the streets of Rome. That got me thinking, but more on that later.

After the movie was over, we had a light snack, and then we arranged our seats so we could lie down on them for a snooze.  It wasn’t romantic since only one of us could fit on one, but I was able to get a few Z’s until the pilots came on the P A and announced we would be landing in an hour.  It would be 6 am in Rome when we land, and for us, it would be 9 pm, ten hours since we had started on our flight.  We freshened up a little in the washroom and got ourselves arranged for landing.  I thought we might need some coffee, so I started a pot going.  The best way I read to fight jet lag is to immediately adopt the local time zone and stay awake for as long as you can.  We all had a coffee, and I told the pilots to come down if they wanted some.  The pilot told us they could keep the jet on standby in Rome if we wished to travel to a different part of Italy while on our honeymoon.  Betty and I looked at each other; this opened us to some possibilities.   We touched down in Rome at 6 am on the dot. We left the plane and retrieved our bags, and went over to the customs hall.  We didn’t have any issues and took a  couple of taxies over to our hotel in downtown Rome.  Everyone checked in and had our rooms ready since we had requested an early check-in.  We got our fobs and checked into adjoining rooms.  I opened the door on our side between the rooms, just as Betty opened the door on her side.  We unpacked a bit, and then we decided to take a shower and freshen up.  It was a nice-sized bathroom, so Scott and I took a shower together, and of course, he took me with the water streaming down on us, and we celebrated our honeymoon on the spot.  We finished the shower, changed into some comfortable clothes, and waited for Betty and Frank to show up in our living room.

We all left the hotel together and walked over to a small café, where we could order cappuccinos and pastries for breakfast.  We relaxed in the outdoor café and enjoyed our breakfast.   It was shaping up to be a beautiful day, and I asked everyone where they wanted to go first?  I told them the Coliseum was just down the street from us, so after we finished breakfast, we started walking down the sidewalk towards the Coliseum.  It was much bigger than I thought it would be, and we could get into the first tour when they opened in the morning.  They took us through the site, and I was amazed this structure was over 2000 years old and was still standing.

After the tour, we wandered over to the old Roman ruins and spent the rest of the day wandering through them.  It’s a park-like setting with all these ruins in it, and I thought it would have been great to see what these buildings looked like 2000 years ago.

For lunch, we found a nearby café, and we had all had a great lunch together.  We started to lose steam by then, and the effects of jet lag were making us all sleepy.  We decided to walk back to our hotel, and we crashed for the rest of the day.

I woke up around 2 am wide awake. I looked over at Scott, and he was up as well.  He smiled at me, and we snuggled up to each other.  I was hungry and wondered if room service was available this late, and Scott doubted it, and then I asked if there would be any place open this late.  He smiled and said to me there was only one way to find out.  Let’s get dressed and see if we can find anything open.  I heard a knock on our door, and Betty said, you can’t sleep either?   Scott and I were thinking of getting dressed and walk around for a bit. Betty replied Frank is up too, give us a half-hour to get ready.

We got changed, and we all left the hotel to see what Rome was like in the early hours after midnight.  We did find a restaurant that was open late, so we decided to go in for a bite to eat.  Once again, the food in Rome was excellent, and everything we ate was delicious.  I didn’t have anything fancy, just a salad and a small entrée.

We wandered the neighborhood around our hotel and then returned and tried to get some more sleep.  When I woke up again, it was 7 am local time.

We got together around 9 am for breakfast, and I told everyone that I wanted to run an idea past them.  You remember the best part of Roman Holiday, which happened when they were on the Vespa scooter buzzing around Rome.  How would you like to do that?  I found a local operator that will rent out Vespa scooters as well as they have a Roman Holiday tour that you can follow.  They use this new device, and it’s a small portable electronic map called a GPS that you follow to each stop.

Scott and Frank were keen on the idea. I told Betty, we hang on behind the guys as they drive, unless you want to try driving a scooter.  I called up the tour operator and set it up, and it was just a short walk over to their place.

Tony was the owner, and he showed us how this GPS device worked.  It was incredible, and I had never seen anything like it.  It showed us on a moving map display, and all we did was follow the marked route to the next stop. Tony had saved all the destinations to the GPS.  He just warned us not to leave it on the Vespa if we parked, but treat it like you would treat your phone and take it with you.

I hopped on a blue Vespa behind Scott, and Betty jumped on behind Frank on a red one. We drove off on our Roman Holiday Movie Vespa tour towards the first stop.  We were shouting at each other and having fun as we weaved around traffic on these little scooters.

We followed the GPS and got to our first stop.  This building was the site for the Princess’ Embassy. This site is now a national museum but was once the palace of a Pope.  The Palazzo Barberini is a stunning building, and we walked through it looking at the paintings located inside.

We got back on our scooters and drove over to our next stop. This location in the movie was where Joe first met the Princess, and it was an ancient arch built in the 2nd century to commemorate some Roman battle.  We snapped a few photos and then sped off to our next stop.

This time it was Via-Margutta 51, the site of Joe’s apartment.  We drove up this tiny street and stopped in front, took some shots, and sped off to our next stop.

This time I was able to jump on the scooter first and let Scott sit behind me. I think Scott was terrified back there to let me drive, but we both survived and made it to the location of the American News Service building.  It’s now a shopping mall, the Galleria Alberto Sordi.  Did you say shopping? Of course, Betty and I dragged our boys through it, looking at the latest fashions.

We looked at two sights across the street in the Piazza Colonna as well.  A large fountain named Fontana di Piazza Colonna and the Colonna di Marco Aurelio, a column 40-meters high erected back in the 2nd century to honor the victory of Marcus Aurelius.  Once we took our pictures of us being tourists, I let Scott have the scooter again, and we drove off to our next stop.  I looked behind us, and Betty was driving their scooter with Frank hanging on for dear life.

We made it safely to our next stop in our tour, the Trevi Fountain, and a shop that was once a barbershop where Ann had looked at the display of hairstyles of the day. It’s now a leather shop with purses hanging in the window.  Betty and I went inside the shop, and we each scored a new handbag!  We took shots of us in front of the fountain, which was very large and had these beautiful statues standing behind the fountain.  We jumped on our little scooters again and sped off to the following location, The Spanish Steps.  I think everyone has heard of this location. It was made famous in the movie since the Princess ate her first Gelato (ice cream) there.  For us, there were many restrictions, you couldn’t eat anywhere near the steps, and although you could walk up and down the steps, you were not allowed to sit on them. At the foot of the Spanish Steps was the Fontana Della Barcaccia, another beautiful fountain.

More pictures, and then we decided to stop for lunch.   We drove around looking for a café, and soon found one and were able to get a table for us, where we had a nice lunch out on the sidewalk.  We all thought that renting the scooters was a great way to get around Rome, with all the car traffic.

Scott asked, “What’s next in our tour?”

I looked at the guide pamphlet that Tony gave me, and it was the site of the former Rocca Café, which no longer existed.  Though a famous landmark named the Pantheon was across the street, so we were going to visit it regardless.

After lunch, we drove over on the Vespas and toured the Pantheon.  The Romans built the Pantheon in the 2nd century, and it has been a temple or church to the present day.  Inside is a vast concrete dome, It was unique in that it was unsupported by any interior columns, and the inside of the Pantheon is beautiful. At the top, a hole in the dome is open to the sky, allowing natural light to enter the building.  There was also the Fontana del Pantheon in front, and of course, we took many pictures of this site and then got back on our little scooters and sped off to the next stop.

Our next stop was two stops.  First was the Teatro Marcello, the ruins of an old Roman Theatre, which resembles the Coliseum. This theatre was a partial stand-in for the Coliseum in the movie. We took a few pictures of this place and then got on the scooters and drove over to the Coliseum, which we had toured previously.  We rode the scooters around the Coliseum, and then we headed over to our next destination.

The Piazza Venezia was restored in the 19th century, and it is enormous and was made to look impressive.  The Palazzo Venezia is just on one side of this plaza, and It is now a national museum, so we parked the scooters and went inside to look.   This building was Mussolini’s HQ when he was the dictator.  After we toured the place, we jumped on our Vespas and rode over to our next stop.

This next landmark, the Bocca Della Veritas, is also known as the Mouth of Truth. In the movie, Gregory Peck played a joke on Audry Hepburn, and he placed his hand into the mouth, and when he pulled it back out, it was gone.  The legend was thieves would lose their hand if they put it in the mouth.  Gregory had only pulled his arm up inside his sleeve, and the Princess soon realized Joe had pranked her.

We all placed our hands inside this antique sculpture, but we all were unscathed.

Our next stop was the wall of wishes in the movie, but it is a fragment of the old walled city of Rome known as the Aurelian Walls.  What can I say? It was a bare wall, so we kept driving along. The “wishes” were now located in a church a few miles away.

We then stopped at one of the gorgeous panoramas of Rome, viewed from the bank of the Tiber towards the Ponte Sant’ Angelo bridge and Castel Sant’ Angelo fortress. This particular location once had a restaurant, and there was a fight scene between the Royal security force vs. the Princess and  Joe, and they had managed to escape.  The restaurant was no longer there, but the scenery was still beautiful. We stopped and snapped several photos and then continued on our way.

We made it to the final movie location, the Palazzo Colonna, along with the Galleria Colonna, where the last scene in the movie took place.  This Palazzo has been in the hands of the Colonna family since the 9th century and remains so today. We could tour this magnificent palace and view the priceless paintings and frescos contained within their walls.  It was a fantastic end to our day.

We hopped on the scooters and drove them back to the rental shop.  I wasn’t sure if we would do this again, but renting the scooters was a great way to get around Rome.  Our Roman Holiday tour had ended, but there were many other places in Rome and elsewhere in Italy that we could visit.

We walked back to the hotel, and I walked over to the desk and asked them if our Opera tickets had arrived.  The Concierge handed me an envelope and told me they were great box seats and we would enjoy ourselves.  Did you get  Verdi’s La Traviata? He nodded in the affirmative.  I screamed YES in my head, and with a big smile on my face, walked back to the group.   Guys, I have a box seat for one of the greatest operas of all time.  You will love it and will probably recognize most of the music they will play.  I first heard this Opera when my grandmother played it on a record and loved it since I first listened.  It was playing at the Teatro dell Opera di Roma, an Opera House in Rome.

We all agreed to get ready, and we would be wearing our finest evening attire. We went up to our room and showered, and I changed into a beautiful evening dress and put on the pearls that Mom had given me.  Scott looked dashing in his black tuxedo, and I helped him tie his bow tie.  We first went out to a fancy restaurant named La Terrazza in Rome for dinner, and then we were off in a taxi to a night at the Opera.   The Opera was better than I imagined.  I don’t speak Italian, but I loved the music and the singing.  Betty and Frank gave me a thumbs up, and Scott gave me a big kiss for my choice of entertainment.

After the Opera was over, we managed to hail a taxi and returned to our hotel.  We did stop in the Hotel lounge for a couple of drinks before retiring to our rooms.  Scott and I helped each other undress and then continued our honeymoon lovemaking before we both fell asleep.