As we have realized in our recent travels, Italy's train times are not very efficient. Although our train from Napoli didn't leave until 12pm, we needed tp leave Sorrento at 9:30, which meant another early morning, and waiting at train stations (oh fun). We woke up a little earlier than required, which means after breakfast we took a little rest (short nap) before leaving our hotel.

In order to travel by train from Sorrento to Rome we had to first go to Naples (Napoli), the birth place of the mob. Although Robyn did keep thinking that every Italian guy that sat down beside us was part of the mob, we are pretty sure we did see the girlfriends of the mob sons (early-twenties, dolled up Italian girls @ 10am).

Quickly skirting through Napoli (and not making eye contact with anyone), we hopped on the train to Rome. After 4 days and 11 different trains, we have finally mastered the disembarking with 3 suitcases. It's a shame we don't have any other trains left.

As we arrived in Rome early afternoon, we had the rest of the day to explore the city. As Robyn describes it "we saw things, did stuff and ate gelato". We walked from our hotel to the old part of town, and on the way Robyn got her first glimpse of the Colloseum (her eyes light up). From there we headed to the Pantheon (another site to be seen), and had coffee and snacks under the shadown of the Parthenon.

Next we headed to the Piazza de Navona where we saw the 4 rivers fountain (as described in Angels and Demons). We toured the piazza, admiring the graphis and art pieces.

Next stop was the Trevie Fountain, where we all made at least 2 wishes (one of which is to return to Rome). Having walked around a lot of the city we headed towards the Spanish steps. Along the way we found a gelato place with chocolate soy (Robyn was on cloud nine). The Spanish steps was great for people watching and story telling.

Finally getting hungry we set out to find a restaurant, but got side tracked by shopping stores (surprisingly no purchases we made).

After a nice Italian dinner we finished the night sipping grappa under the shadow of the pantheon.

Great start to our first day in Rome....