When in Rome......

Today we headed off to Rome where we were told in advance it would be a big couple of days. We decided that if this was the case we were glad we got to have a sleep in and not do positano that morning after all.

We headed off around 10:30am and it took around 4hrs to get there and get settled. The hotel we are staying in is amazing! Very modern and spacious we didn't quite know what hit us at first. Compared to the hotels we had stayed in in Assisi and sorrento this was a nice change; to have some space was very much welcomed.

We settled into our rooms and mum and I decided to go for a stroll in the roman sunshine. It was a gorgeous 22 degrees and we happened to stumble onto a little hidden treasure of our own, a market! We found some lovely things and I bought some jewelry and some fresh strawberries for us to nibble on. They were glorious!

For dinner tonight we were treated to a typical roman dinner of cured meats with tomato and rocket, pasta, pizza and tiramisu. Me not being the greatest coffee fan had gelati instead. As I mentioned above... When in Rome... I figure I'm only in Italy once so I should try gelati from lots of places to make sure I have sampled it from all regions, it's only fair!

On the way to dinner we were treated, by pure accident, to a re enactment of the gladiatorial fights of the ancient Romans at circus Maximus. We were driving past and saw it all from the bus so Brent our tour director stopped the bus and we had 10mins to see some fighting and get some happy snaps with some people dressed in the gladiators attire. It was fabulous!

We had dinner in a little Italian place which had a full frontal view of the colosseum. It was great food and a great view. We thought it couldn't get any better, until we were personally serenaded by Italian singers who sung opera and historical Italian songs, and they were fantastic. Many musicians make their living by singing in restaurants and selling their CDs to those wanting it. We have seen such performers in Spain and Italy so we have been lucky so far.

After dinner, we did a walking tour of the city centre and saw some ancient ruins and some very elaborate buildings. Remembering their names is only half the fun so I will just post pics without boring descriptions!

The night was warm so the stroll and the guided tour was a great finale to the evening. Tomorrow we see the Sistine chapel and St. peters basilica and also the colosseum. We can't wait!