Roma!!

We're here! We arrived in Rome around 9:30 a.m. this morning (Sunday) and the plane was packed. The Ambien saved my life - I got around 7 hours of sleep so I have felt pretty good all day. We got our luggage, and grabbed a bus for the hotel. Knowing that we probably couldn't check in til this afternoon, we decided to drop our stuff off before heading out. Lucky for us the Hotel Lancelot was ready for us so we were able to drop everything, change, and head out.

Each floor of our hotel has a wonderful little balcony area that overlooks the city. I'm sitting on the balcony as I'm typing and when I look to my left I can see the Colosseum! Our hotel is in a wonderful location and so we can walk to everything considered Ancient Rome. The city is packed - everything is on top of everything else. Drivers make you think of NYC - insane and fast. The only difference is the cars are smaller. Everywhere you look you see steeples which warms my heart!

After a quick lunch we headed to the Colosseum for a few hours. John had purchased some ancient Rome museum type tickets that allow us to any of the sites. We hooked up with a guided tour through the Colosseum and it was fascinating. I"ll attach a couple of pictures. What's very interesting is that last year a concert was held on a "stage" in the Colosseum and Adreas Boccelli was the guest. Tickets cost 1000 Euro per person! But what an amazing place with incredible history. All through the Colosseum there are artifacts from the Gladiator era with helmets, uniforms, weapons, etc.

Our tour also included the Forum which is a short walk from the Colosseum and is where the Senate seat of Ancient Rome's government. It's absolutely stunning and the detail in everything astounds me. It's considered the "Beverly Hills" of Ancient Rome.


We returned totally soaked from the heat (not as hot as AL but still warm) and grabbed some dinner. I find it quite interesting/humorous that waiters/waitresses automatically speak to us in English without us every saying a word! I guess it's pretty obvious we're Americans......John's already "hitting the hay" and strangely enough, I'm awake! Something's definitely wrong. :>)Tomorrow we have the Vatican tour which includes the Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's at 1:00. I can hardly wait! For those of you who know me well, there's a gym across the street that's open 24/7 for 10 Euro a day.....we'll be going there tomorrow before breakfast. BTW gelato here is AMAZING.....

More later.......