The rest of Rome

So... we stayed at Hotel Giada and it had everything required... beds, a shower, multi-use soap that was at least 75% water, but most importantly free breakfast (croissants, bread, cereal, milk, nutella, jam, toast, orange juice, espresso etc).

First stop: the Colliseum. We took the metro. When we stepped out of the station, the Colliseum was standing right across the street! There were gladiators walking around as if they were completely normal. We saw one getting on his Vespa. I whipped out my camera and called out Ciao when he was backing out. He laughed at me and said that I owed him tre cento euro (300 euro) for the picture before driving off. Anyways, the Colliseum was awesome! We payed some street hustlers to take us on a tour instead of standing in line. It worked out very well! The guide told us all about the different areas etc.

Next, we took a cab (to ensure that we arrived before the market closed) to Campo de Fiori. It was a little square with different stands of fruits, vegetables, sauces etc. Lots of fun to look around. We walked through this square to the Piazza Navona. It is a gorgeous square with a fountain in the middle. There are shops and restaurants all around it. Street performers (like in SF) waited for tourists to come by and interact and artists set out their work' mostly paintings.

On the walk to the Trevi Fountain, we got a little lost. We walked past the Pantheon (going to see that on the next trip to Rome) and up to a mansion. We finally found it. It was beautiful. I did not know it would be so big, or attached to a building. At this point it was about 2, and clearly time for lunch. I had a margherita pizza with dough that kindof tasted like naan (great idea for a restaurant- Indian/ethnic pizzeria). We then travelled over to the Spanish steps, with the help of directions from our waiter. They were so crowded that we could barely see them.

Our final stop was the Borghese gardens. They were absolutely gorgeous! I could hardly believe that we were still in Rome. Everything was very green and there were trees everywhere. It was like a little wonderland. Roller-skaters did tricks around tiny cones laid out on the street (the whole thing is blocked off to cars). People rented surreys and mini-bikes for kids. We explored and found a fountain, lots of couples canoodling on big grassy hills, and a lake. The lake was gorgeous. A Grecian temple sat on the edge of it. People rented row boats to float around and bask in the sun (it was a decent size, but not big enough for intense rowing).

We walked back to the metro and went to the hotel. We walked around town that night and had a so-so dinner. But incredible gelato. I got half rasberry, half strawberry and it was absolutely divine. Yum!