in shock

I made it!  After 48 hours of travel, I have finally arrived in Ferrara.  And, by the way, for those of you traveling on a budget...don't (have a budget that is).  After the 9 hour flight form Minneapolis to Amsterdam, I spent 5 hours sitting in the amsterdam airport and for a town renowned for it's quirkiness, it sure has a boring airport.  I did somehow manage to get myself on the wrong side of "passport control" twice, which means that I have three stamps from the customs people, who seemed to find my confusion more irritating than amusing.  Arriving in Rome, I dragged my bags down and then up a flight of stairs to the train, then on to the train, off of the train, up and down the stairs to the hotel reception and up the stairs of the other building of the hotel where I ended up staying.  The room was small and ugly, but it was clean and comfortable.  This morning, I woke up at six to catch my 10 o'clock train and very nearly missed it due to some confusion about online reservations.  In the end, I ended up buying a first class train ticket just so I could get to Ferrara today.  The hostel here is very nice.  The room is clean and airy and I share it with 5 other women from assorted countries.  I walked around the city after checking in here and came back with 4 prospective apartments.  I'm feeling culture shocked right now and frustrated at the huge production that even little things like finding a slice of pizza or a bottle of water become, but it seems to be a very nice little town and I'm sure that once everything settles down, I will like it a lot.  Pictures and a town description to follow, but for now, here's a map.  I'm on Corso Rossetti right now.