Roma, Roma, Roma!

Our last morning on the ship - feeling sad. Dave disappeared really early to get into town (we are now back in the port city of Rome) and get his wallet which was found and kept at the hotel we stayed at for safe keeping. I was left to sort out the shuttle and get the bags out to the shuttle and hope he would be there (he wasn't allowed back on the ship). Pretty scary considering all the things that could go wrong
what did go wrong was my end - no-one announced the shuttle and I ended up all alone in the waiting area so I asked the guy and he said they had all gone!What?! I ran down the stairs and grabbed the two huge suitcases ran out the terminal and Dave was there laughing at me, wondering why I was so upset!The shuttle was there and waited another 10 min for another person who was like me up in the ship waiting for the announcement! Really pleased to see Dave and his wallet tho!
We got dropped off at the main train station in Rome and into a taxi to go to the hotel booked. It was driven by this crazy driver who only had a vague idea of where it was.After some discussion in Italian and GPS set we were off! screeching out in front of traffic, cutting across in front of cars, screaming round rhe roundabouts! His seatbelt only came on when we stopped by the Polezi. Finally going the scenic route pass all these amazing buildings including the Colosium, he actually went slowly up this little narrow cobble-stoned street, and slammed on his brakes! I was rather glad  to see the hotel.

Our hotel is rather lovely. All marble inside, and good English speaking people behind the desk. We went up to our room, got sorted and then went for a walk (it was about 11.30am). No map, just walked really. We ended up at this amazing church, with 6 soldiers around guarding it, and a tent set up for those who wanted to go in. There were police everywhere! We went in and had to put our pack-pack through an x-ray machine that was in the tent. They certainly are wary of threats over here.
The church was amazing. Full of paintings, statues, mosaics .... Not too crowed either.



After that we wandered around, had lunch with pizza, pasta and beer, in a tiny little pizzeria with tables outside in the sun. Just lovely. Then back to the hotel for a rest by 3pm. First impressions of Rome was crazy driving! you take your life into your hands just crossing the road, smart cars parked in tiny spaces, lots of old buildings and churches that have so much history.
We had a nana nap that lasted till 6pm (I kid you not!) we were so tired from the early morning start, and lots of walking.
The plan was after that was go on the hop-on-off bus for a night ride around (takes an hour and a half) and then dinner. The nights are so mild and warm over here, not sticky or humid. We sat up-stairs in the open air and just looked. This was our version of a night walking-tour! The lights round the buldings, Colosium, ruins were just amazing. We had heard you need to see all these things at night and they were right! We just stayed on watching in awe, listened to the information through the head-sets and worked out what we wanted to see the next day. A lovely way to end the first real day in Rome.