Rome

November 16, 2009

Today is really our first day in Rome since Sunday was kind of a lost day. We arrived at the airport on time and we all met at the outside of customs. Nancy was first, Mary & Bob came next and Jo a little while later. Our driver was there waiting and dropped Jo & Nancy at the Hotel Nerva (near the Roman Forum and Colosseum), then dropped Mary & Bob at the Hotel Aphrodite nearer the train station. Showered, napped, ate, walked around a little until dark, Skyped with Jonathan, unpacked a little, read and crashed about 9 PM.

Monday the 16th is when we got down to some serious touring. Our breakfast at the Hotel Nerva included fruit, croissants, bread, prosciutto, cheese, juice, cappuccino and prune tart. Then we headed off toward the Trevi Fountain to meet Mary & Bob. We walked to the Spanish Steps (a little disappointing since they have put up some walls for reasons that are unclear and these walls all covered in graffiti). We headed through the shopping district (with all the big name designer shops) to the Pantheon. Cool place with the tomb of Raphael inside. Stopped at, you guessed it, McDonalds, for a free and clean restroom stop as well as a "large" Coke Light.

From there we walked toward the Colosseum and the building called the "wedding cake" that is the Victor Emmanuel Monument and some parts of the ruins of the Forum. This is right around the corner from the Hotel Nerva. We discovered that we had walked around from the other side after our early dinner last night. We took some pictures of the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine. By then it was a little after noon and we found a sidewalk cafe with some good lunch specials.

We parted ways with Mary and Bob since they have already seen the Colosseum and the entrance fee is steep enough to not do it again. Jo and Nancy toured the Colosseum with our handy MP3 audio tour we downloaded from the net. When we headed over to the Forum, it had closed about an hour earlier at 3:30. But with sore feet and tired bones, we walked the couple blocks to our hotel and on the way bought some water and Coke Light. That brings us up to date......