Day 1: Slow But Steady

We landed at around 7:30am in Rome. Once we deplaned we found the passport line and zoomed right through. With no bags to wait on, we went to the "arrival hall" and found the man holding the card with our name on it (we reserved through Rome Shuttle Limousine--info@romeshuttlelimousine.com). It was 35E to go to our hotel. This was the best price by far that we found. We were in the car by 8:10am. It took about 45 min. to drive to our hotel. It was one of the scariest rides in a car I've ever experienced. The drive felt like a fair ride--lots of speed, fast stops and much swerving. There is no order to the driving here---no one seems to care that there are lanes, there are scooters weaving in and out of cars, no apparent speed limit, and in the city, the streets are ridiculously narrow. I had a headache by the time we arrived. Don't know if it was the driving or lack of sleep. We dropped our bags off, and the concierge said we might want to get to the Vatican museums earlier than we planned. So we caught a cab (6E) and were off to the Vatican.

The lines were...long. We got at the end and reminded ourselves that you can't complain when you're in Rome. We waited in line for 1hr. and 20min. Most of the time we people watched and eavesdropped. Funny how we still eavesdrop over here even though we have no idea what they're saying. We got pizza while we were in line. It was really good (think two pieces inverted onto one another). It was 5E for the two slices. We got through the line and started wandering the museum. We aren't art lovers so we used our "Top 10" books (series by Eyewitness Travel)and picked up on the highlights. An hour later we ended our tour through the museum at the Sistine Chapel. It was packed with people. We admired for awhile then took the back door to St. Peter's so we wouldn't have to wait in line again and go through security again. We learned about the back door on the Fodor's website. If you're facing the back of the chapel, it's on your right side. When we were there, it was marked that the door was for group tours only. No one questioned us when we walked through though. This proved to save valuable time as the line was long. St. Peter's was larger and more spectacular than we imagined. I can't even begin to describe it. We used our book and wandered through. We didn't have the energy to climb the dome for the view so we headed out to get a snack. Found postcards and the Vatican post office along the way and a souvenir book with nice shots of Rome. The Mr. got a panini and I had my first gelato--wow. I plan on having one every day. I can't even describe it---it looks like pudding in the pails, and they have every conceivable flavor. I had caramel.

With a little more energy, we went back to take some pics of the outside of St. Peter's then head to Castel San Angelo (a massive circular tomb that was also the papal castle for 1,000 years). This proved to be a treat--our favorite along with St. Peter's for Day 1. It also had a view, and we mustered the energy to climb to the top of it. At the top was a cafe, and we sat and enjoyed for awhile. We made our way back to the hotel through Piazza Navona, a lovely little pedestrian square and loved it. Lots of people and cafes. We got back to the hotel at 5:30pm and took a short nap and showered. The hotel is in a wonderful location--just around the corner from Campo de Fiori ("field of flowers"), an area which holds the distinction of being the place where Caesar was assassinated. It's a really lively little area with loads of cafes, and most famously, the open market. In ancient times, it was the open space in front of the Theatre of Pompey. Our hotel was actually built on top of the Theatre of Pompey. Campo de Fiori is about 2 minutes away, Piazza Navona, 5-10min., the Ruins, about 15-20minutes.

The concierge made dinner reservations for us. We had dinner at 8pm at the restaurant next door that has a fixed menu (Trattoria Der Pallaro). It's recommended in Rick Steve's book. We sat outside. The food was delicious. There was an antipasto course---with prosciutto, cheese, olives, and unidentified "beans" (think the look of green peas, but army green with a baked bean texture---they really were quite good). Then we had a pasta course followed by a meat course (we think it was pork). Finally, we had dessert, which was some type of apple dessert. The fixed menu was 22E a person. We were tired but surprisingly not grumpy and ready to end the day at about 9:30pm and get ready for Day 2.