What can I say?
We arrived on Tuesday evening and had a driver waiting for us with our name on a card at the airport. Its nice to start off easy in a new city and a new language, rather than fight our way through the crowds to a taxi and then explain where we want to go.
We were an hour or more later lsnding than expected and so by the time we got to the hotel, showered (13 hour flight remember) and then went wandering looking for food, it was about 9pm and dark. We asked at the hotel and were told to walk a little way down the street and we would find some restaurants. This was true, and we found a lovely wee spot where we managed to clean up some pasta, soup, pizza and a bottle of wine between us and then head back to the hotel for some decent sleep - lying down this time.
We had all of Wednesday being tourists in Rome. It has been 10 years since we were here and we visited the Trevi Fountain to throw in the 3 coins that Mum had so carefully wrapped up and sent with us from NZ. I thought they were supposed to be for good luck!
Anyway, our one day of being tourists in Rome co-incided with their public holiday to commemorate the end of WW2. A bit like our Anzac day - and also on 25th April. Of course that meant that there were literally thousands of people in Rome central on the same day as us. However it was still a great day and we revisited some of the things we had seen 10 years ago and also just generally absorbed the feeling of Rome.
This is just a tiny amount of the crowd around the Trevi Fountain. I doubt if I could have got close enough to throw coins in this time!
Its a beautiful fountain and no wonder it is so popular.
The crowds were so enormous that we were almost carried along in a wave from place to place.
The Spanish Steps were so covered in people you could hardly tell there were steps there. There were a lot of huge potted azaleas and rhododendrons which were in full flower and placed for maximum effect.
We walked to the top of the steps and looked back down to the people below.
We headed back to the hotel for a wee rest and then out for dinner at the same place as last night. It was lovely to be greeted with "Hello, lovely to see you again", as if we were regulars. We explained to the waitress that we were only coming in for a light meal tonight as we were going dancing.
So yes, we danced tango in Rome. We went to Il Giardino del Tango and it was a smallish venue which happened to be having a visiting couple dancing a demo. They were Lorena Ermocida and Fabian Peralta who were great dancers. We are not so keen on show tango but the opportunity to watch them live is quite compelling.
Therefore that meant there were over 300 people in an area that would more confortably fit 100. The seating was so limited and so after we danced, we then had to stand around the edges. It was totally impossible to view potential partners either on or off the floor, and also to rest weary legs after an already busy day. However we are pleased we went and would like to go there again on a normal night.
We left after the demo and got back to the hotel at about 1.30am. We had to pack and be ready downstairs by 7.30am the next morning so it was a fairly hectic time after we returned. Only 3 1/2 hours sleep.Now thats why I am feeling tired!
Rome was just beautiful this morning. A crisp and clear spring day and not a breath of wind. The flight to Vienna was smooth and clear and we had a good view of the countryside most of the way. Its a pity we are only in transit through Vienna. Thats another trip I think!
We will be in Frankfurt in around 3 hours............
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