Our first day in Rome dawned clear and sunny. This morning we sat down to a beautifully presented breakfast that we could tell our host, Gianluca, had put a lot of time into preparing. We were totally spoiled for choice, but each made sure to have some of the sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Delicious!

We attempted to take the bus to the Coliseum, however, we decided to take a cab as our meeting time for our tour approached but our bus had not. It was amazing to see the Coliseum come into view out of the left side window! We checked in for our tour and found out our guide for the morning would be a native Roman, who is named Lorenzo. (We seem to be running into a lot of Lorenzos here in Italy.) He was extremely passionate and enthusiastic as we toured the Coliseum, Palatine Hill, and various sites of the Forum. He focused on the lives of the ancient Romans and what the buildings we were viewing and their uses would’ve meant to the people. He also pointed out little things to us along the way, that in all probability we may have walked right past without noticing. For example, there is a part of the ancient road that still bears the ruts from the chariot wheels and we saw a small circular opening that is part of the heating system that was engineered to use steam to heat Nero’s palace. Out tour ended at the altar where Julius Caesar was cremated, where to this day people leave flowers. Viewing these ancient sites was incredible; I had goosebumps throughout the entire tour.

After a delightful lunch (mmm…tiramisu), we decided to walk back to our hotel. It was a leisurely 2 ½ hour stroll along the Tiber River and we stopped whenever something caught our eye. We came across an archeological site that we detoured into to check out, we stopped at an outdoor market and I stopped every 20 feet or so (Selena is infinitely patient with me) to take a picture. I even was sidetracked by a car, I had to walk around and see what make it was – BMW. But it was unlike any BMW I’ve ever seen. (Faheem – I’ll post a pic, maybe you tell me what it is).

Tomorrow we tour the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica.

Buona notte,

stace