Arrived in Rome on Sunday late afternoon and checked in at hotel - the lift was the most ancient piece of apparatus I've ever seen - no doubt very ornate in it's time. A glass box just big enough for two people and two cases, with wooden framing surrounded by a wrought iron cage.Had quick showers and then headed out to see the city. Before starting on the city itself, I should mention that our taxi ride into Rome was my first experience of driving on the right hand side of the road - very strange feeling to see cars whizzing by with no-one in the drivers seat! The other thing I needed to be careful of as a pedestrian was crossing roads - they were often clear when I looked left but unfortunately the cars were approaching from my right and Mase kindly saved my skin a few times. Mase worked out a good plan to walk part of the city and try to join a tour starting at 8pm that night...so off we went - it was a beautiful evening. On the way we ate some
Italian pizza - very thin, crusty base which I think is much better and lots of different toppings - I had a vegetarian one. Anyway, we arrived at the tour starting point - the Pantheon as pictured - and waited and waited...finally concluding it wasn't happening - we checked the map and discovered it was from 2008 and obviously well out of doubt. However we saw another guide leading a group and asked if he could help..he gave us some info about tours the next day that he was doing which was great. So as our plans for the evening were foiled, we wandered down little streets and came
upon Piazza Navona which was alive with music, street entertainers, artwork and cafes with huge outdoor eating areas onto the piazza and about 50 gelati shops. It really was the atmosphere we'd been told to expect and it was really nice to just walk around and take in everything that was going on. There were a couple of large fountains in the piazza with sculptures in the centre and water shooting out in various places (ML in photo of Navona Fountain). In fact I came to greatly appreciate the Romans' aqueduct system which includes drinking fountains on many streets which held really cold
water as well as the water fountains that capture the eye. We also came across the Trevi Fountain (JL in photo) - quite a well known fountain - we were attracted by the noise of people and when we turned the corner there must have been a few hundred people gathered at the fountain at about 9pm at night. Amazing to see so many people just sitting, talking, eating around a water feature. Again there must have been 3 or 5 gelati shops in that small precinct - so we thought we'd better try it too! Then we crossed the Tiber River and walked past Castille St Angelo (as in photo), through some
street markets selling all sorts of things - ornate masks, clothes, scarves, wallets, bags, more wallets, scarves and belts and also scarves, wallets, masks, bags and belts!!! From this side of the river we could see the Vatican which was lit up and looked magnificent. By this time it was about 10pm and so we headed back to the hotel and went to bed... Woke up around 7am (seemed to adjust fairly well despite the time adjustments from Australia to Italy) and were on the road by 8am. Headed for Colosseum and joined a tour there which was really interesting - bought a book that will help us remember a few things about Rome and other parts of Italy. Here's a photo of us with a Roman soldier. As for the Colosseum - it's enormous (obviously part of the structure is not there now) but you can easily see the size and get an idea of what it looked like.
Accommodating up to 80,000 people for events and their system was so streamlined that it only took 20 minutes to fill/empty the entire building - that's impressive! We knew that captives were made to fight the wild animals but didn't realise that many of these prisoners were actually trained by their 'owner' who got money for providing a 'fighter' and also free men sometimes chose to fight the animals - for money or to show off their prowess. We also saw Constantine's Arch built as a memorial to one of his victories. After this we walked around Ancient Rome and up Palatin Hill (one of the 7 hills of Rome) where there's an active archeological dig in progress. Then we caught the Hop On/Hop Off bus which took us around a section of the city we hadn't seen before (but I didn't think the recorded information was particularly helpful) and we got off at Vatican City. Walked up Reconciliation Road (apparently built to memorialise the agreement Italy made with the Vatican to recognise and respect it as a country in it's own right. The road leads from Italy into the welcoming arms of the Vatican buildings. Apparently the shape of the undercover columned porch areas that semi-surround St Peter's Square are meant to represent the all-encompassing and embracing arms of the Catholic Church. Also the buildings/square are designed to look like a keyhole - St Peter holding the Key - of course!In the afternoon we joined a different tour group through Vatican City, led by 'Jason', an entrepreneurial guy who was extremely knowledgeable and trying to build up his own tour business. Mase was very impressed which is impressive! We walked around the border of the Vatican, as distinct from Italy and saw the wall that had a secret passageway (at the time) to Castille St Angelo. Apparently it was used by a couple of popes in the past when there were enemy invasions. We walked through the Vatican Museum first and saw the thousands of priceless artworks it holds (arguably one of the largest displays of artwork/etc in the world). Then into the Sistine Chapel and Jason gave us the background to the paintings on the ceiling and why they were chosen. Also the 'politics' surrounding the Pope's request to Michael Angelo to paint the frescos which are beautifully done but the theological basis for
some is lacking. Then onto St Peter's which is a sight for the eye - stunning design - with natural sunlight shining through shaved ivory or marble (can't recall) and falling onto the throne of the Pope held up by four figures who have some symbolic meaning. The ceilings and walls are ornate and you can't help but 'wonder' (Rev 17/18) at this work of art - and by the way it's also a church! It seems ludicrous to imagine that in all this opulence, wealth and work of men's hands that people try to find God - he draws near to those that are meek and lowly in heart and of a contrite spirit - dwelling not in Temple's made with hands....pray God we are a Temple He can dwell in! Well that tour took about 4 hours and from there we got back on the bus and headed round
the rest of the city - to Piazza di Popolo to get a good view of the city and then onto Le Spagna (the Spanish Steps) which weren't as amazing as I thought they were going to be - though they are made of marble. Then back to Piazza Navona for dinner (and gelati for Mase). It's a constant temptation - on every street there would have to be one - maybe two - gelati shops...and if Mason has a weakness (which I'm sure he doesn't) but
if he did, I think it would be gelati!
to go elsewhere...we got the last car available - a Fiat Panda - and no sat nav! But we had a map to get to Florence, so off we set. The roads and signage were not easy to follow but after a few false turns and the help of Mase's i-phone we got onto the Autostrada to Florence. As we left Rome the sky became overcast and not soon after began to rain, then pour... By the time we neared Sienna (in Tuscany) it had stopped raining and began to clear and so we left the autostrada and made our way into the backblocks of Tuscany. It was about 1.30pm by this time and we'd had an apple for 
breakfast and were pretty hungry. We drove for km's without seeing anything offering food - finally in the middle of somewhere (we still don't know where) we found Nonna Luisa! Without the sign on the side of the road you would never know it was there, tucked away among some other houses and so we had the place to ourselves. By this time it was sunny and we sat outside and enjoyed a delicious meal - made all the moreso as we were ravenous. Here's a photo of the view from our table - the garden and vineyard of the house nextdoor. 
We headed towards Chianti on the backroads and it was just gorgeous - we didn't get the open rolling hills/vineyards view but a tree lined avenue with a stream to one side of the road - see photo. We wound down the windows and drank in the moment! Mase enjoyed the winding roads despite the fiat's lack of power and road hold. Then we reached the typical Tuscany scene - beautiful vineyards, fields - so green - and rolling hills (which to my surprise were often tree covered). 
It was just bellisimo... I tried to find a print/painting to remind us of the beauty of the area but none of the galleries we saw had what we wanted. It was about 4.30pm by then and we thought we'd better get to Florence before it was too late - we had no map to find our hotel and the i-phone wouldn't work due to the stone buildings lining either side of the streets we were in and therefore preventing reception. The roads were narrow, often one-way, and busy and we were going round and round in a residential labyrinth. Eventually we decided to follow a car in front who had sat nav and we finally made it onto the main road, only to see him stop and ask someone else for directions - so I'd say it was very much the blind leading the blind! Nevertheless we reached our hotel just as the heavens released bucketloads of rain! We parked the car as close as possible to the hotel street but it was still some distance away and we got soaked on the way as the street was double numbered and we didn't know which set to follow. Having asked at a hotel we followed the black numbering and scurried like drowned rats into the hotel and up four flights of stairs to our little room! to be continued
