Roma!

Monday, July 9th.

Our final morning in Florence!  We had packed the evening before and as I had booked our train for 12:30 in the afternoon, we were able to have a fairly relaxing morning.  We were not rushed on our walk to the train station and met up with JT & Shannon there.  While we waited for our train, the girls took the opportunity to engage in My Darling Bride's favourite sport...shopping!  There were a number of shops in a mall below the station and I'm sure the gals made a good effort to visit most of them!
Our train was on time and we boarded without any glitches or mishaps.  We settled in for the 1 hour 50 minute ride.  We were on the Italotren line again and the coaches were comfortable and the a/c worked!  We were able to finish off a bit of red and white vino we had in our "carry on", a nice treat for the journey!
We arrived at the Roma Termini station in the heart of the city and were able to seamlessly hire a taxi to take us to Casa Melinda our apartment on Via Gallia 34.  The location was awesome.  The colosseum was a 12 minute walk from the place.  We were greeted by the apartment owner, Massimo, a very nice fellow who familiarized us with the apartment and what was around the immediate area.  The apartment was a spacious 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom with a large living room and full kitchen.  We had all of the amenities including a washer and dryer.
Once settled in, we made some preliminary plans about what we wanted to see and when we would take them in.
We walked to a local grocery store to stock up the larder for our stay.  We had one major priority (according to Munchie and JT), ice trays!  There was only one tray in the apartment freezer and it could never keep up to our pair of ice fiends!  Shannon came through and found some in a "dollar store" across from the Carrefour Market, which was just around the block from the apartment.  We returned to the apartment and stocked the shelves.  The immediate priority was of course to fill the ice trays and get going on the ice cubes!  Shannon washed up the new, deluxe, superduper, stackable trays, filled 'em up and into the freezer they went!
I think our "experience" on earth may be a greater factor on our stamina than we want to admit, as our journey from Florence to Rome seemed to play us out!  We opted to walk to the closest restaurant for our supper and called it a relatively early night!  Oh, yes, there was a pleasant surprise for the ice fiends.  When we got back from supper, Munchie checked the ice and the freezer had done its job!  Munchie emptied the trays and while doing so discovered the 3 trays we had were actually 6!  Now we were talkin' about making ice!  The chilly cheer from those who revere and desire copious quantities of ice for their libations could be heard for meters!

Tuesday July 10th.

On our first morning in Rome we had breakfast in the apartment.  Our plan today was to go exploring or as some say in the security business, do a "reckie" of our must sees while here.  We had discussed

both our wants and needs and headed out on foot.  We had a leisurely stroll, about 12 minutes to the colosseum.  We were met by "Ali" on the street corner across from the famous landmark.  He was selling tickets to the "Hop on Hop off" bus.  We opted for the 48 hour option and this turned out to be a rather convenient way to get around and close to many of the spots we had on the list. We had also researched the local bus system and the 81 was going to be our bus for getting to and from the Vatican.  There is more about bus 81 to come!  JT found out to buy the local bus tickets you just had to find a shop with a black T and you were set.  The shop JT tried, told him to come back in an hour as he was out of tickets.   We stopped a sidewalk cafe and had a refresher, then continued on

with a walk around the exterior of the colosseum.  The size of the structure is really quite awe inspiring, especially when you think of when it was built.  With the engineering and construction methods of that period it is of no wonder how long it took to achieve the final results.  I think when you say blood, sweat and tears, that saying must come from that time.
We found our hop on stop and "hopped on'!  We took the entire route on the bus to sight see and get our bearings.  At one point along the route the driver really had to showcase his skills as he eased the

big red bus through a narrow arch on a 90 degree turn with traffic and parked cars to negotiate!  He succeeded on the first attempt!  He must have been one of the more experienced drivers as later on another driver misjudged his turn and had to back up to complete the turn.  The total route with the stops was just about 3 hours.  When we arrived back at where we started, stop #3, we hopped off and headed back to the apartment.  With the temperature in the 30s (C), and abuot 75% humidity and being on an open air bus for almost 3 hours, we were ready for a bit of a break.

More to come!