Woke up today to find the time had changed to Central European Time from Daylight Saving Time and we gained an hour of sleep! WE really needed that hour.
Yesterday, we arrived in Rome about 8:30 am and hit the grounds running. We flew through Customs. A couple of the girls didn't even get their Passports stamped! Our driver was waiting at the "meeting point" with a sign that said "HENDRICKSON". That was the first time I was ever so "important". Of course I wanted to take a picture, but the driver must be "wanted" because he absolutely would not allow that.
While still at the airport, the driver handed his phone to Alice. It was the apartment manager saying our apartment wasn't ready yet (still had previous night's guests in it and needed to be cleaned after that). He told us the driver would take us to a bar and he'd meet us there at 10:00 am. Then the driver basically didn't talk to us the entire ride; he talked the entire time on his phone.
Emanuele met us right on time, we took a short walk to the apartment. He was so helpful and friendly. Explained everything to us about the apartment, the neighborhood, places to go for food or wine, how much to pay for wine, who and when to tip (they don't tip here like the customary 15-20% in the US). After brushing our teeth, we were out the door.
We walked to the Pantheon (2,000 years old), Trevi Fountain (being restored so no water - but the building was beautiful), Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Forum (the heart of the Roman Empire), and the Colosseum. We had a tour of the Colosseum and spent several hours there. There were other places of interest along the way and I took a lot of pictures.
Today, we are off to see the Pope. We will cross over the Tevere to the Castel S. Angelo and then to Vatican City.
Love,
Rondi, Jane, Julie and Alice
So glad you're blogging this so we can 'follow along'. What an amazing trip!
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