Rome, Day 1 (Updated)

Rome, Italy
Eastern Time plus 6 hours

Rome is still my favorite city in the World (of those I have visited anyway). We couldn't wait to go back; this was our fourth time in Rome.

We got off the ship in Naples and took the train to Rome. It was Election Day and Jeff discussed it with any Romans we came across, starting with these men at The Napoli train station.We had a great train ride. It was great to see bright blue skies. We haven't seen much of that in months! Italy was welcoming us back. I was grinning ear to ear. It was so great to be there!

We had a reservation at a B and B. A few days before we got there I was getting a little concerned that everything would be OK. Well, we got there and it wasn't. Something had gone wrong with the reservation. Long story, but we were sent to this B and B a few buildings from the train station and Metro Station Cheap price! It was beautiful, bright and clean! Flat screen Satellite TV, our own computer with Free Internet and computer in our room and private bath across the hall. Our landlady was nice, but didn't speak English. We managed to work everything out with sign language and my Italian phrase book. When I asked to take her picture she ran off to primp a little.This is a picture of the train station from the window.
She sent us to a good little place for lunch. We spent about 90 minutes at lunch and then were off.

We had plans to meet our friend, Colleen at Piazza Navona at 7 PM and walk to dinner from there. We had about 5 hours to wander there. Our favorite thing to do in Rome is to just walk with no real plan. As you walk you turn a corner and there is an ancient Egyptian Obelisk or Roman columns or a fantastic church or a beautiful fountain with beautiful marble statues or a lovely domed building or a shrine on an outside wall of a home etc. Everything is all mixed in with contemporary city life. It is a city that just needs to be discovered on foot. It was a beautiful day for walking. Rome has wonderful heartwarming feel.
We walked to the Pantheon as it was on our way. We joined into a free tour given by a young guide from Louisiana who was really good. We got his contact info and will definitely contact him the next time we are in Rome to join one of his paid tours. I am reading The Ruby Ring by Diane Haeger about the life of Rafael Sanzio, the artist. He is buried in the Pantheon. I was interested in the facts about him. Jason was an excellent guide and really brought the Pantheon to life.We continued over to Piazza Navona to wait for Colleen.

While we were there we spent a lot of time in a beautiful church named St Agnese in Agone.The main fountain was covered and under repair, but the other two were working.

We met Colleen at 7 and set off walking to one of her favorite restaurants, Gusto. It seems that there are two Gustos right near to each other and we finally got to the right one. ( I just realized we had already been to the other one the first time we were in Rome. ) Anyway, we arrived at Gusto and found we had to sit outside because the inside was already fully booked. There were outdoor heaters and we were fine. Luigi broke his back and had to stay home and Chloe stayed with him so it was just the three Oshkosh alumni in attendance.

We had a great time and suddenly it was 2 AM. By this time we were inside and were the only people left. We had three bottles of red wine, Limoncello, Cosmopolitans
and beer. Quite a combination. We put Colleen in a taxi and got one ourselves.

We haven’t heard from her since. We hope she wasn’t grounded for bad behavior, we all probably should have been.