Where Can A Guy Get a Good Cup of Coffee?

One thing we didn't expect was the lack of American coffee. Bob's used to "grande" cups of take-out coffee, but all he could find in Rome were itty bitty cups of Espresso, or small cups of hot milk with a squirt of coffee, or a shot glass of pure caffeine! He finally resorted to going to McDonald's - and even then the cup was small! In this photo, Bob's holding up a tiny cappuccino he got at the Internet cafe.

"Smart" Cars

One of the things that fascinated us in Rome were these tiny cars called Smart cars. Bob stood by one so we could get a perspective. There were lots of these little cars all over the place, some of them brand new. Very cute!

The Temple of Vesta

This is the remains of the entrance to the Temple of Vesta. We should explain that our tour guide from the Vatican was also our tour guide for the Ancient City. We were the only ones who signed up, though, so we had a private four-hour tour with a guide who was very knowledgeable and it was great!

The Ancient City of Rome

This is a great shot of the Ancient City of Rome. The Colosseum is in the background. Marti loved the Ancient ruins and was fascinated by the history of it all. Palatine Hill was magnificant, especially the site where we were looking over the Circus Maximus (which is now grass and a road). But you could definitely get a feel for what it was like to be a Caesar standing in the same spot and overseeing the proceedings. Very neat!

Pope John Paul II's Tomb

Seeing Pope John Paul II's tomb was not on the agenda for our tour, but the tour guide suggested we go there when there weren't so many people. We did, and she was right. It was a Saturday morning and it seemed that all of Italy was coming to the Vatican to see this, so the lines grew quite long behind us.

St. Peter's Square

Well, here we are in St. Peter's Square. We're lucky to be here. Our tour started at 9 AM and we thought we could walk from our hotel to the Vatican in 30 minutes. Boy, were we wrong!! We had to practically run to get there on time, and were hot and tired when we finally made it at 8:59 AM. A few minutes later we looked cool and collected in this photo, though.

Castel San Angelo

We continued walking. This is still our first morning in Rome and we've had no sleep for about 23 hours. We're running on adrenalin and doing exactly what Todd told us not to do: "Doing everything at once and not stopping to smell the roses." Sorry, Toddy. Anyway, we're now crossing the Tiber River, heading to the Vatican. We knew we had a tour of it the next morning, but we just wanted to see it.

The Tiber River

This is one of the bridges leading to the Vatican. Rick Steves said the Romans built high walls around this river after it flooded in the 1800's and then ignored it. It didn't look ignored, but was full of Nigerian-looking men selling knock-off purses. We heard they were financing terrorists, and later when we got home, read the same thing in the newspaper. We didn't buy from them, but plenty of people did.

Piazza Navona

Well, the theme for our Rome trip was "people, people and more people". It was hard to appreciate Piazza Navona, a former chariot race track, for all the people. We did get a shot of a Cardinal, which we thought was pretty neat. Although the closer we got to the Vatican, the more clergymen/women we saw.

The Magnificant Pantheon

The Pantheon was an amazing building. It was so old and still standing like nothing had disturbed it for 2000 years! Surprisingly you could walk right in. There wasn't much inside, a few tombs of ancient kings and some sculptures, but it was definitely something to see - and to think we just casually walked by it several times during the rest of our stay in Rome.

Trevi Fountain

You wouldn't believe all the people hanging around the Trevi Fountain. It was a miracle that Bob got this shot! It was also a favorite place for merchandise hustlers who were annoying, shoving things in your face and not taking "no" for an answer. All of this wore thin quickly. So, did we throw a coin in the fountain to ensure our return to Rome? - ah, no!

The Top of the Spanish Steps

Our hotel was only 2 blocks from the Spanish Steps, in fact we could see it from our terrace. Bob finally made his way through the crowds to the top for a photo. (The people around him were digitally deleted).

The Crowds at the Spanish Steps

You can see all the people at the Spanish Steps already at 10 AM - and it got worse during the day. We came back in the evening and you couldn't get near the Steps for all the people. Interestingly, many of the people were unfriendly locals, not tourists.

The Stylish European - Not!

Bob wore convertibles for the trip, but hadn't tried out the zip-off feature of the pants until today. Here he's in our tiny room in Rome modeling the convertibles with the customary European black socks-look - very chic! Interestingly, we didn't see anyone in Europe who looked like this - and he didn't go out like this either!

Hotel IL Piccolo Di Piazza Di Spagna - Bob

Bob and Marti enjoyed a glass of wine on our terrace in Rome.

Hotel Il Piccolo Di Piazza Di Spagna - Marti

We arrived in Rome at 8 AM on Fri., April 29, 2005.

Our Il Piccolo Hotel room was quite small, but Connie & Troy had

warned us about that, so we were not surprised. The saving grace

was a darling little terrace outside of French doors from the room.

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