Above is our breakfast room at the hotel here in Rome, beautiful isnt it ? and another sunny day, cold but sunny. Breakfast is free, built into the price which is around $120 aussie dollars a night for which we got a gorgeous room, service everything. Breakfast is buffet style, help yourself....they didnt see Riley coming. We usually fill up as much as we can and it carries us through to mid afternoon and we fill our pockets with fruit. You always get coffee, croissants of about 20 different varieties, cakes, fruit, boiled eggs, toast, cereal, juices....not too shabby !
This is the view from our hotel. It's Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore and its a very beautiful and busy little part of Rome. We usually try to get hotels near the train station so that we can drag our bags over cobblestones for miles until our arms are ready to fall off and dodge bumper to bumper cars in streets 2 inchs wide while trying not to collide with the 1 million people walking the footpaths which are also 2 inches wide, all the while yelling at each other when we get separated in the crowds and always getting lost....the maps always say things like " hotel is 200yds from station " but we always seem to go the wrong way and end up walking 2 miles, all this to save using a taxi !!! a funny thing happened in Milan, we came out of the train station at 9.30pm and our map said the hotel was 300 yds from the station...we couldnt see it and i said that we will catch a taxi because i didnt want to walk around at night looking for it. We get in the cab, no mean feet with all our stuff....3 of us squashed in the back seat, i gave the driver the address and he starts pointing and yabbering away...i think he was swearing...he points and directly in front of us was the hotel, so out we all pile again, he was not impressed but i thought it was hilarious. The one time we get a cab and turns out we didnt need to.
After breakfast we wandered over to the Colosseum where the kids wanted to stop and read a bit more of our well travelled copy of the Katherine Times. I would like the latest copy but you cant buy it here....we tried.
I paid the 32 euro, Mia was free, and we entered the Colosseum, what a sight and it felt amazing to be in it after only ever seeing it in books etc. We spent about 2 hours walking every inch of it and reading the information signs although a lot went unread because they were in Italian...i've noticed that they are not big on signage in any other language but Italian which makes it very hard when you dont read Italian.
These are the rooms underneath what would have been the floor of the arena
This is one view from the Colosseum. There are tunnels going from these ruins to the arena which the Gladiators used so they wouldnt have to contend with the Roman papparazzi.
Our next stop was the Pantheon for lunch. Its in the middle of offices and houses and is quiet impressive.
Below is the view from the top of the Spanish Steps or La Spanola. Not as big as i was expecting and they were covered with people but we climbed to the top and enjoyed the moment.
We did get on the bus a few times during the day but mostly we walked, we're used to it now and i wouldnt be surprised if we're walking 5klm or more a day. Its the only way to see things because the bus doesnt go down the side streets which are always interesting.
A river runs through Rome....not an especially pretty river but it was still nice.
This is what is left of Rome's first horse racing track. We had another exhausting day but it was lovely and Rome did not disappoint. We had to make a decision on some sights as we couldnt see everything and we chose the Colosseum over the Vatican, i hope that decision doesnt come back to bite us in the bum ! Rome is crazy, generally clean and under the surface chaos there is organisation, you just cant see it at first. I liked it. We havent decided where to go tomorrow, have to decide tonight so i can buy train tickets, i'm good at using the machines at the train station now
. To Alf and Karin, glad you are enjoying the blog. I have no idea at this stage, where we will be on christmas day...we dont think that far ahead. Suzanne, thanks for having Sammy, i hope he wont be too noisy. Clare ? enjoy Noosa, it sounds like you need it. Christine ? wont be long now and you will be jetting to Europe, i'm sure the boys will be angels and remember that you have nan and pop to hand them over to in Germany. Iain and Ross ? its fun to run up and down the aeroplane and knock things over and sing loudly, you know the drill, have fun on the plane.
Ciao from Roma.
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