First day in Rome

Our travel day went without incident, which is always nice. We took the train down to Gatwick (quite the little ride out of London), and arrived to the most full-featured departure terminal we'd ever seen. We checked our bags and went through security, and then we picked a good-looking restaurant, sat and ate for a while, browsed the shops, and made our way to the gate (like I said, very nice departure terminal).

Once in Rome, we took a bus from the airport that stopped very close to our hotel, and found that we are MUCH more centrally located here than we were in London. We enjoyed a decent dinner a couple blocks from our hotel--and let me tell you, real Italian food is delicious--and had Italian Gelato.
Today (Friday), we made the 15-minute walk to the Colosseum. Amazing how big this first-century structure is... and still standing! We took our time wandering through this amazing structure and soaking it all in--it, and the sun. One thing is immediately clear-Rome is MUCH hotter than London.

After the Colosseum, we came back to our room for siesta, and put on sunscreen before making our way back out to the Forum. The Forum has a host of impressive structures. What most caught my attentions was that ruins--or pieces thereof--are everywhere. We passed two separate ancient ruins on our way to the Forum alone!

After the Forum, we went out to dinner per the advice of a certain Rick Steves... Thanks Mr. Steves for the great advice!! We had a WONDERFUL Italian dinner in a nice little restaurant a couple blocks from our hotel. Then, we went on the compulsory stroll through Rome at night, and got some more Gelato (but we shared this time).

Rome operates at a completely different pace. We stroll, sit for a meal, nap, and soak in the sights, whereas in London we hoofed it, ate, fought crowds in order to glance at the sights, and collapsed. Both are nice, but I think I'm a bit more Roman.

Until next time, Ciao!