After only a few hours sleep we set off. Awake at 2.30am, in Rome by 9.30am CET. Getting out of the airport was a shock. We couldn't even see the bus we wanted or were even sure the directions we had were from the right airport so we quickly caved and got a taxi.

Glad we did - we would never have found it. From broken english spoken by our taxi driver and a confusing buzzer system we climbed through a tiny Alice-In-Wonderland door in the middle of huge wooden doors and were met with a beautiful courtyard. Not bad.

Mess up with the rooms so in a dorm tonight and private tomorrow, but no matter what happens we'll sleep like babies.

After the initial whatthehellnow feeling and thousands of steps (we wish we had pedometers to prove it) in the 33 degree heat we actually achieved a lot on our first day:
- Saw a Roman underground marketplace
- Saw nativity alley. A whole road of massively intricate (and gimmicky) figurines. (Beanies highlight was Usain and Lucy's was naked prince Harry)
- Found the port
- Had our first Gelatto
- Walked round part of the archeological museum
- Tried local food and drink (pasties and dough things amazing; aepersol spritz not so much)
- Learnt to just chill and people watch.
- Lucy found her new favourite spot in the world and beanie vowed to live in Italy one day.
... And managed to refuse aperitivo!!! Free food and we turned it away. Luckily another waiter noticed our empty table (or hungry faces) and brought us the goods :)

Fruit, beer and pasta bought from
the supermarket. We're getting good at this.