There's No Place Like Rome

June 25 It's shocking to realize, that as the sun sets on our first evening in Rome, that we have only two full days remaining on this trip. It's been wonderful and exciting, but there is definitely a part of me that misses home, my friends, my son, and of course, toilet seats. Plus, several of us (primarily Tony, who will not be happy with me for sharing) are starting to feel the wear and tear. He's had terrible blisters for the entire trip, which we aggravate by going on daily death marches. Then, our last day in Sorrento, he twisted his ankle and it gave him quite a bit of trouble today. But, being Tony, he roughed it out with no complaining - but we could all tell he was hurting.

Waiting for our final train from Sant'Agnello.

Bright and early this morning we packed up our apartment in Sant'Agnello and splurged on a cab to the train station. We easily made the express train to Naples, which, while better than our first CV train with luggage, was still quite crowded and hot. I was SO happy to disembark for the final time at Napoli Garibaldi and switch to our Trentalia train to Rome. It was the lap of luxury by comparison. We took a high-speed train so the trip from Naples to Rome took just over an hour. We rolled into Rome at exactly noon and then set off on foot to our apartment in the Monti (Monte?) district.

Our landlord was waiting for us and gave us a quick tour of our two bedroom, two bath apartment. We love it - terraces front and back. After dropping our bags off we set out to find a place for lunch and we lucked into a place with wonderful food and a very attentive wait staff. I ordered a fabulous linguini with porcini mushrooms. Tony got a seafood ravioli, Sam got shrimp risotto, and the girls split gnocchi. Everyone was very full and very happy.

Meeting Claire J. in Rome. Very cool. As was the gelato.

Our next mission was to meet up with dear family friends of ours, who happen to be in Rome at the same time. We met them at Trevi Fountain and it was just so cool to see familiar faces. We took photos, shared some gelato, and handed off Buzzy Bee, who is up for even more adventures. It was very, very cool. Next we picked up Rick Steves' "Heart of Rome Walk," which included Campo di Fiori, the Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps.


We finished up around 5:30, at which point Tony's ankle was really finished. So we hiked back to our apartment and sent him and Claire upstairs while Sam, Syd, and I hit a nearby market for yet another cobbled together dinner (highly recommended and delicious). It helped that our landlord left us an enormous bowl of fruit, which will take us our entire three days to get through. Tomorrow - ancient Rome! For me, I think this will be one of the highlights of the trip.