BLUE SKIES AND ANCIENT RUINS

SUNDAY 3 SEPTEMBER - ROMA

I arrived in Roma at 7.15am and was a little weary after little sleep and the line up for passport stamps was not exactly inviting. The line extended to the back of the rather hot room and there were two officers checking EU citizens and another two checking foreigners even though there were ten times as many foreigners! There was no consideration of transferring the EU officers over when they had finished either. It was holy Sunday so I guess they were not in any rush.

I made conversation with a Brisbane couple about to embark on a Greek Island hopping cruise and was quite relieved when we all decided to find our way to the central train station on the Express airport train together. (Thanks to all you who reminded me to validate my ticket BEFORE boarding the train as this was a reoccurring issue for many unaware tourists).

It took me over four hours but I managed to get from the airport to the central station and to the hotel but not before unsuccessfully haggling with a taxi driver, finding the local bus station, working out which bus to catch, finding where to buy a bus ticket (Tabachhi/Cafe), determining which direction to catch the 360 bus (although the first attempt was unsuccessful) and finding the hotel. An experience, but learnt a lot about Italy this morning!

Luckily my hotel room at the Hotel Cilicia (recommended!) was ready at 11.30am so I showered and dozed (not simultaneously) whilst waiting for Rach who was flying in from London. I have not seen Rach for 2.5 years since she moved from Adelaide to London where she is still loving life and especially the opportunity to travel all over western and eastern Europe.

At 2pm Rach arrived and it was straight out to see the Rome sights which I had partly seen six years earlier but it rained farily consistently over the week I had spent in Italy. This time I was hoping for better weather and so far so good - blue skies and high 20 C temperatures.

The afternoon was spent wandering from sight to sight including Colosseum, Arch of Constantine, Forum, Monument to Emanuele II, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps.