Rome with Darel and Louise

Good coffee and hot weather | 19 May 2006

Well, what can I say, Rome was amazing. It turned out to be the perfect time of the year to go as it was hot but not unbearable.

We arrived on Friday night (late) to discover that the tube drivers were striking.... what luck.... not!! Darel and Lou were already at the apartment so gave us the advice they had been given which was to catch a cab. We had already spotted the queue which was about 200 m long so were stoked with that suggestion - there had been no queue when they arrived. An hour later, us and an adopted australian chap who had further to go than us all piled into a cab. We arrived at the apartment to discover Darel and Louise looking a little worried. It turns out that our two bedroom apartment that we had booked and paid for was now a one bedroom apartment with a very uncomfortable pull out sofa bed as the second bed. 20 calls to the very unhelpful staff at Rome City Apartments got us nowhere. All I can say is never book an apartment with them. Besides the bedroom issue the apartment was stunning, with a balcony looking over cafes and was placed very close to Piazza Navona and the Pantheon.

Louise was a great guide as she had been there before so took us around all the must do sites - Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Sistine Chapel, Roman Forum, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps. We were able to do most of it by foot which was great as that is part of what makes it so beautiful - walking along narrow cobbled streets.

We also went out to the catacombs one afternoon. It turned out that we were just in time for the final tour of the day so tagged on to the back of that. We had missed the explanation about the do and don'ts and found that within five minutes we had lost the rest of the group and were left wandering around various underground passages trying to follow where the voices were coming from. Of couse we were found by the guide in the end and from there stayed more attentive.

We loved Rome for the coffee. The coffee in London is dreadful in general, but in Rome we could guarantee good coffee whereever we went. We made the most of it. We also enjoyed the good food and wine. We went out for a couple of meals and made sure we got to try authentic terimisu. Some drank more than others and there was one night in particular where two in our group made good friends with the porceline shrine. As a result of that Darel and I had a morning walking around and visiting some stunning churches. And then by accident found the Torre Argentina cat sanctury. I was in my element and made Simon come back with me later on to have a look as well.

On the final day we all went our separate ways and Simon and I headed up north to one of the lakes. It was very quaint and was just what we needed. A nice quiet day before heading back to the chaos of London

Locations Visited: Rome

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