Buongiorno from Rome!

Sunday 12 and Monday 13 May

Sunday was pretty much a travel day. We drove up to Paris Orly airport and returned the rental car. This was uneventful other than setting a new record  for toll payments. Travelling by ourselves (instead of as part of an organised group) seemed to go quite well. It has its pro's and con's which we should reflect on soon while they are still fresh. For a start I don't think it is  clear that one way is better value for money than the other - it will be interesting to try to work that out.

Vueling airlines got us safely  to Rome as planned. The flight is only about 90 minutes. The plane was an airbus 320. They pack more seats in than Air NZ  - 31 rows of 6 compared to Air  NZ's 29 as I recall. So Europeans may be on average smaller  than NZ'ers? Certainly the difference is noticeable in terms of leg room.

The transfer from Rome airport to the hotel was 'included' in the tour package for our Italy tour. We weren't quite sure what to expect so  were pleasantly surprised when a private air conditioned Mercedes limo showed up and whisked us to  the hotel  at 140km/h!

First impressions of  Rome were 'hot and dirty', but it is now growing on us a bit. We are staying 1 block from the famous Trevi fountain so feel right in the heart of things. 

We have had Monday pretty much to ourselves and visited the crypt of  the Capuchin monks and checked out a number of other famous sights. The crypt is very strange - it starts with an in depth museum full of information about the capuchins and then moves on to a crypt where human bones  have been used to decorate a long corridor and 6 side chapels. It's very artistic,  but might not have wide appeal! Apparently the bones of about 3,700 capuchins who had been buried there over the years were used by a monk with an artistic bent to make the decorations. Certainly one of the weirdest things we have come across so far.

Another highlight was the view over Rome fromthe Pincio terraces above the Piazza del Popolo. 

Had a look at the Pantheon too. It is over 2,000 years old and is in use today as a Christian church. (It was originally built as a  pagan temple.)

The group for our Italy tour met  tonight for the first time. There are 6 of us, so it will be a very different experience. We ate together  at a local trattoria and had a great meal. One of us ordered the most 'traditional' dish on the menu, Trippa alla Romana. I don't think it gets ordered very often by tourists as the waiting staff were most  impressed.  It is of  course tripe.  Very tasty, but no one else wanted to try it.