Day #260 - Rome, Italy

Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II

Julius Caesar statue

Spanish Steps

Trevi Fountain

Colisseum

Monday, November 29th

Today we got an early start and walked around a few of the open markets in Florence before heading to the train station. We took a 10:40am train to Rome - arriving around 12:20pm.

Rome -- the last large city I've yet to visit on my trip. Fired up to see the many sites I've studied or read about in the past --- the Vatican, the Colisseum, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica - the list goes on and on.

Kay and I had not booked a hotel on arrival. We had 4 nights - so we wanted to stay someplace fairly central in the city. We were unsuccessful in coming up with a spot at the train station (as we used Wi-Fi outside a hotel while standing on the street corner), so we decided to walk the streets a bit. We headed straight down toward the Colisseum.

First site of the Colisseum - great. We rounded the corner of Cavour street and could see the jagged walls from afar. Bags in tow, we headed over for some pictures. We next decided to head toward the city center and A.) get some food and B) find a hotel. We made it to about 100 meters from the Trevi Fountain when we stopped for a nice lunch. If you would pick up a map of Rome and point to the center - that's where we ate. I was sort of surprised at how walkable the city felt. We did not have intentions to walk the city - but we had already covered a significant portion, even rolling our luggage.

After lunch, we headed over to the Trevi Fountain and took some photos. This place was great - the best fountain I can ever recall seeing anywhere else in the world. We went in a few hotels and checked pricing -- way too high. We were lucky enough to find an internet cafe where we got a great 4-star hotel for a budget price. The hotel was located between the Termini Station and the Trevi Fountain (not far from the Republicca).

We walked over and checked in. It was late afternoon by now. We investigated some tour options for Tuesday, booked a tour of Vatican City, and then headed out for a nightcap. We walked down one of the main shopping streets in Rome - Via Nazionale. We started out by the Republicca and made our way to the Trevi Fountain. We got a gelato and sat on the steps of the Fountain enjoying the view. It may be a little cold and rainy; however, we are pretty much able to go wherever we want and see all the main sites with very little traffice. It's nice. We commented that there would be 'no way' we would be sitting here in July at 8pm without enduring some heavy tourist acitivity.

We next walked up to the Spanish Steps. Wow! This place was impressive. I think I got my first sense of "I'm really in Rome" while standing at the base of these stairs. We walked up to the top and took a couple pictures of the famous Hassler Hotel at the peak. We walked back down, bought some roasted chestnuts, and then took a long stroll back to the hotel.

We're knocking out some mileage in Rome - all good. Today was an appetizer for more to come. Good night from Italy.