Rome

Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 4:45 PM
Subject: Rome was not built in a day...but we saw it that way

 Buongiorno

 Come stai? Bene,grazie! L’italia e un paese meraviglioso. Did I fool you ? I am not picking up Italian that fast . Not even close . We are navigating our way around over here with a book of phrases that I borrowed from to write that first line. Hand signals also help as the Italians seem to talk almost as much with their hands as their mouth . Mostly we depend on patience and the fact that the people working in the tourist sections of the areas we are in to help us as they mostly speak better English than we do Italian . I’d tell you what I wrote above but if you really want to know .Google translate for the fun of it. 

   We Flew out of Amsterdam Saturday at 6pm and arrived in Rome approx.. 8:30, tired,sleepy,travel weary ,but still unbelievably keyed up. The bus ride from the airport into Rome central where we were staying was a blur,but our hotel was right across from the bus station. We arrived safely ,dropped off our luggage ,and agreed that since we hadn’t slept in close to 48 hours the best thing would be to try to get a late dinner and then go back to the hotel and get some sleep.  We found a quaint restaurant with a distinctly talian feel to it 4 doors up from our hotel. Had a lovely dinner served to us by a Russian waiter!,and went to our room for a nap.

  We woke up the next morning determined to see as much of Rome as time and energy would allow .Now any of you that know me well, know that I can be very energetic when the situation calls for it and on my first day in Rome adrenaline was high so you can imagine the plight poor Joani was in .At all points in time during the run of the day she was trying to rein in what probably felt to her like a ten year old hyperactive child who had just drank 2 cans of coca cola and ate a pound of gummi bears ! I was hyped to say the least .

We saw the Collisseum (Flavia amphitheatre )

Forum ,Palatine hills,

Arch of Constantine,

Circus Maximus,Pantheon,

Teatro Marcellus,

Trevi Fountain,

Bocca della veritas

and the Spanish steps.

I am glad that woman loves me because I almost wore her out on the first day in Italy. But what a day .I felt guilty about Joani but at the same time exhilarated . On our return to Rome we have another 2 days to see the Vatican and any other sights we missed . Poor Joani !

Next stop Tuscany region . Gotta get off those gummi bears.

 Garry