Day 22 - TT European Whirl (Day 5) - Rome

Yes, yes the alarm went off at 6am again this morning!

 

This morning was particularly hard - Tasha has not coped well with the internet not being available at most of the places we are staying in Europe and we are all tired from the long busy days so there were some dramas this morning.

 

 

Anyway - the world keeps going so at 7:35 we were on the bus and on our way.  As we left Venezia we saw the amazing sight of fields of hot air balloons taking off.  Someone else on the bus counted and they got up to over 30.  It was a magnificent sight.

 

We stopped for a quick rest stop but the place was so busy there was no way I could get a coffee so it was back on the bus without  :(

 

 After a 45 minute lunch stop at Autogrill we finally made it into Rome at about 4pm.  What a welcome into Rome.  The first two things I see are a soccer game and a Lamborghini dealer!

 We went straight into the city and got out the bus to do our optional extra - a walking tour introduction to Rome.  I am so glad we did this.  Our first stop was the Pantheon.  The architecture and the detail in the buildings in Italy are just amazing and this is no exception.

 From there we had some free time in the Piazza Navone (about 1 hour) to get some food and just look around.  The piazza is surrounded by these gorgeous buildings and is full of the bustle and busyness that I have always pictured when I think of Italy.  Sidewalk cafes, people drinking coffee, chatting and the artists..... artists everywhere selling their paintings!

 We headed down one of the little alleyways and decided "When in Rome....."
So we had pasta, pizza and gelato for dinner!

 Then we joined up again and the group headed off to visit some of the sights of ancient Rome.  There are very few ruins of Rome left.  For two reasons.
1)  The Rome of today is actually built on top of ancient Rome.  Literally.  In some places you can see under buildings to where the old buildings still exist.
2)  The anceint Romans did not really care about history and buildings and would literally use the old buildings as a junk yard for supplies for new buildings.  This is why in particular most places such as the colosseum have been stripped of all their marble.  Much easier to slavage it from old places than get it from the quarries!

Having said this we did getto see some ruins and lots of amazing sights in Rome.  Sigi is a great tour guide and a font of information.  She has a love for the places we visit that is infectious.

By the time we got back to our motel it was about 9 o'clock and we were exhausted.  What a big day.

Todays tally.
Steps:  10318
Hours on bus: 8 hours
Hours up :  6am - 10pm
Would I do it again:  Definately!