Europe May 18

After 20 plus hours of travel we are finally here! Rome is pretty spectacular I must say. Full of history, beautiful buildings, historical sites and lovely people. Our flat (it's called BonBon :) ) is in a fantastic location just a two minute walk to the Pantheon and as luck would have it, a minute walk to shopping. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, the only one who has a new wardrobe is Graham.

We had such a huge first day I don't even know where to start. Visited the Pantheon, spent hours in Vittoriano, ate gelato and walked for hours. The guidebooks all say just walk and get lost in Rome, so Graham decided to take that suggestion literally. We wandered over the other side of the river for a while and then he knew how to get to our next destination. So after walking, and walking, and walking he finally checked google maps to decide we are now 6.5kms from our destination. I'm getting my own google maps.

I love that the site where Julius Caesar was assassinated is now more known as a cat sanctuary. Yay for cats. Every church is an art gallery, and where else would you wander in and stand in front of some Caravaggio paintings. Only in Rome baby!

Wandered over the river for an Italian feast (oh dear the food here is fabulous. This could be dangerous.) and after Graham managed to drink 5 glasses of wine and 2 glasses of grappa we decided it would be a good idea to walk dinner off by going to Vatican City at night. Graham managed to fall off a kerb in front of a crowd of people but as he was holding his camera at the time his junior jujitsu training came into force and he did a full body roll, holding his camera in the air and with a young Italian girl chasing him trying to pick him up. Not content with one roll he then did another, with said girl still chasing him. I pretended I had never seen him before in my life. He is not allowed grappa tonight.

Vatican City was beautiful and deserted in the evening. I will put up a separate post with pictures. Thanks Stephen for the excellent suggestion. And to top off a perfect day on our way home we stood on a bridge overlooking the river listening to an amazing violinist.

Things I learnt on Day 1 in Rome:
A pedestrian crossing is not a safe place to be.
The police have the cutest uniforms and the policemen kiss each other in greeting; an excellent way to reinforce team cohesion and I think Graham should introduce this into his workplace on his return.
You can park wherever you want - a pedestrian crossing, double parked, anywhere really. Just lock and leave.
There are many, many cute young men in Rome (not that I have looked).
Older Italian men dress beautifully. The shop attendant had a lot of fun dressing Graham to look like an Italian man but when she got to the floral scarf around his neck he called time out.Les mer