Thursday, June 18, 2009

Day One...Rome

The Pantheon
The view from our hotel balcony looking over the entire city of Rome!

Andy and me in front of Trevi Fountain


Hello everyone! We are finally here and have made it through our first day. You can only imagine how tired we are! Once we arrived in Rome, we made our way to our hotel, the beautiful Rome Cavalieri. The hotel is very nice and we have a great view of the city because the hotel sits atop a hill over Rome proper.

Our touring began with the hop on/hop off double decker bus tour. It was scorching hot and the headphones did not work, so basically we were just riding around not fully able to appreciate what we were seeing and falling asleep from exhaustion. We finally got off the bus and found a wonderful cafĂ© to have lunch. Then we made our way on foot to Trevi Fountain. Legend says if you throw in a coin, you will ensure that you will one day return to Rome. Since we didn’t have any coins, I guess we better take full advantage of our time here now. LOL!
Next we found the Spanish Steps. This place beautifully connects a piazza high on a hill to the streets below. It is the site of many protests, some crazy stunts, poetry and song lyrics. We filled our water bottles in the fountain at the bottom of the steps. Jackie and I originally turned up our noses at such, but then we saw Samantha Brown do it on the Travel channel and figured we could too!

By this time, we were all worn out, so we made our way back to the hotel for showers and some rest. In the early evening, we ventured out again. This time we took a taxi to see Piazza Venezia, Piazza Navona and The Pantheon. At first we were not sure of our taxi driver, but he turned out to be a wonderful 80 year old man with a wealth of knowledge, much of it experienced first hand! He drove us to all the places we requested, gave us interesting stories and waited patiently while we snapped shot after shot of the city! We ate at a very small restaurant well off the beaten path. It is called La Tavernetta and it was recommended to us by a friend whose father travelled to Italy. The food was awesome…very fresh! They only served wine, but Andy was happy to find a bar around the corner that actually had his Wild Turkey!

Here is my initial impression…there are TONS of motorcycles and mopeds, the traffic is CRAZY, scary and this is a wonderful place to experience something different and to understand and appreciate all the wonders of our planet! I have tried to put up pictures too, but my file sizes are too large...will work on that. More tomorrow! Good Night and Love to All! Cindy :o)

2 comments:

  1. Mommy! It looks like ya'll are really tired! I told you to get some rest on the plane. You watched too many movies :) but we had fun today at Six Flags. Six Flags over Georgia is definitely better though! Very long day & we have another long day ahead of us tomorrow. As I'm positive you and daddy have a big day too! Anyways I love you & daddy and I miss you both very much!
    Love, Caitlin

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  2. I am so glad you got to go to the Trevi Fountain! That was one of my favorite parts of Rome! ... And The Pantheon! It looks like you guys are having lots of fun! Stay safe! Can't wait to read more!

    Love, Laurie

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Andy and Cindy are "Crewsin'"!

Welcome to our blog! We will try to add daily updates about our trip of a lifetime. Check back here to read highlights from our travels.

Rome, Italy

Rome, Italy

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Ephesus, Turkey

Ephesus, Turkey

Santorini, Greece

Santorini, Greece

Corfu, Greece

Corfu, Greece

Venice, Italy

Venice, Italy

Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy

Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy

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