Roma

Departing Bangkok after midnight, we arrived 10.5 hours later early that same morning in Rome at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport. The flight was uneventful aboard a new A350-900 which was very comfortable. Very little sleep.

The Satellite terminal of Leonardo Da Vinci airport is modern and stylish. Even the toilets had that Italian Designer Chic cool. Stewart was amused by the toilet cubicle doors that had automatic opening doors.

After clearing immigration, getting a thumbs up from the officer, a few moments later we had our bags. After changing clothes we headed to a cafe where we sat for quite a while planning the day ahead. The coffee was excellent.

We paid for a shuttle van to take us to our Hotel sharing the van with an Australian Couple from Coffs Harbor. There was bad traffic on route into Rome. We arrived at The Hotel Artistes around 9.30 am. The room was not ready, so we left our luggage in storage. We then caught the train from the nearby Casto Pretoria metro station, changing at Termini to get to Sparga. From there it was a short walk to the Spanish Steps. After changing money and buying gelato, we climbed to the top of the steps. We took a right turn along Via Sistina and then left into Via di Porto Pinciana. After reaching the Aurelian Wall we found a nearby Pizzeria where we had lunch.

After lunch we entered the nearby Villa Borghese built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese. It is Rome's most popular park. We hired a self ride Rickshaw. The 4 wheeled bike was semi motorized. The park is quite hilly, so it was a relief on the legs when the motor kicked in occasionally. We had quite a bit of fun riding the rickshaw visiting the various sites in the park including an 18th century amphitheater. At times we were a bit out of control as we dodged pedestrians on the path ways which were quite busy with other visitors.

After returning the bikes we walked another 1 km to the balcony of Pincio which has good views of St Peters Basilica in the distance and the Piazza del Popolo below. After walking through the Piazza which has a large Egyptian obelisk at its centre we headed to Flamino metro station. We got off at Termini where at the nearby main station after a long wait we activated our Eurail tickets for our onward journey. We then returned to the hotel at 4 pm where we were able to collect our luggage and check in to our room.

After a couple hours of rest and showers we headed out to look for an evening meal at 6.30 pm. It was still early, so few places were open. We chose the nearby Ristorante "I Leoni D'Abruzzo". We all ate pasta which was rather average. The Peroni beer was good. It was then back to the hotel. We were all exhausted and in bed by 8 pm. It had been a very long day. The next destination is Perugia.Read more