After a lovely two hour train ride in a Eurostar bullet train, we made it to Rome. Amazing how many Americans there were taking the train! So many backpackers, and lots were post-college age. The train was really fantastic – in Europe they sell two seats accross from one another in a set of four, unless you specify to be together. Of course, we didn’t know to do that, so we sat with two italian ladies. We made it into Rome on time, and we were thrilled to discover that our hotel was only about 8 blocks from the train station. Perfecto!
The hotel is great. Very European. The room is small, but perfect for us. We both saw the TV and laughed – we haven’t watched TV in ten days, and neither of us want to! We cleaned up a bit and headed out for the afternoon. As it turns out, everything is much closer than expected. We made it to Trevi Fountain (unbelievable!!), the Spanish Steps, La Piazza delle Republicca, La Villa Medici (the very wealth family from Florence), La Piazza Quirnale and Santa Maria degli Angeli. Although it was a healthy walk, B’s map skills were fantastic, and he guided us the whole way. We stopped for great pizza for lunch just by Trevi Fountain (sold by the Kilo, what a great idea!!!) and had a bit of gelato to accompany us for part of the walk. We’ve both decided that mint chocolate chip is the absolute best flavor. We took some great shots – K still has to download about 300 from the last days in Tavernelle, and today – but we’ll upload some from our little
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- waiting for the train in Florence
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- Trevi Fountain
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- church accross from trevi fountain
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- Spanish Steps
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- View from Spanish Steps – you can see St Peters in the distance!
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- Pouring Rain!!
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- Happy K & B in the midst of the rain
camera tonight to the photo blog, and put a few here too.
The most incredible thunderstorm blew in as we finished our four hour tour of the city – we tucked ourselves into Piazza della Repubblica and waited for it to pass. Almost 30 minutes of the most incredible rain! There are some really smart street vendors here – they show up out of nowhere selling umbrellas by the fist full! We came back and rested up for a bit (both of us are reading great books right now) and then headed out for a little celebratory dinner. As silly as it sounds, we celebrated our vacation, our engagement, and our wonderful time here in Italy at a little resturant down the street. Yummy cappuchinos finished off the meal, and we’re back now for an early night to read for a few hours before bed.
We miss Tuscany already – the sun, the people, the wine, the air – but Rome is really incredible. Much more open then florence – the streets are wider, everything is grander – but a special city in its own right. There is something humbling about knowing that the pope has resided here for centuries. Although we both love little towns like Assisi, there is something magical about Rome. It helps that both of us have heard enough italian (and our respective second languages are coming back to us as well) that we can get around, ask directions, order stuff without feeling too American.
Tomorrow, we’ll head about ten blocks south and visit the Colosseo, as well as the many beautiful buildings around it. That will take most of the day, but we plan on being a little lazy about it.
Hard to believe we’re almost home.
Arrivederci ~ K & B
