Rome, Italy

Another hot and sunny day today.
We woke at 7am and Wayne went up and brought back coffee and pastries to our cabin.
We docked at 8am and we were off the ship by 8:15am
We took the free shuttle into the port city of Civitavecchia which is the closest port to Rome. We then walked about 10-15 minutes to the train station. There was a long line going outside the building for people buying tickets. Wayne waited there and I went into the station to see what was going on. Off to the side was a little store that also sold BIRG tickets. I went out and got Wayne and we stood in a line with 4 people in front of us (instead of a hundred) The BIRG tickets are 9 euros and are for Rome and return and includes the use of Rome buses and Metro. A regular one way is 4.50 euros. We caught the 8:59am train and it took 1 hour 20 minutes to get to Rome.
We got to Rome and walked out the first door we came to – not the right door as we were looking for the info counter. We went back in and walked about 5 minutes until we found the info booth (the train terminal is HUGE). Then we had to wait in line just to get a map. With map in hand off we went to explore ROME!!
Our first stop was the Coliseum/ Palantine Hill/The Forum. Well by the time we walked there we knew the Birg ticket was not going to work for us as you really need to read Italian and we had spent so much time walking that we knew we wouldn't see everything we wanted to see.
We usually love to just walk around but Rome is soooooo big and thing are spread out and it was sooooo hot today we decided to walk around until we found a hop on hop off bus stop. We bought a ticket for 16 euros each – money well spent if you want to hit all the sites.
We rode the bus to the Vatican and got off and walked around but did not go inside.
We got back on the bus (there is a bus every 10 minutes) and got off at Trevi Fountain – it is Beautiful!! We would like to have spend more time there but decided we needed to eat and stopped at a cute little place by the fountain for Pizza and a beer. Then we got back on the bus and rode it around for awhile finally getting of at Piazza Navona. From there we walked to the Pantheon – it is incredible!!!!
We then walked back over to Trevi Fountain to get the bus back to the train station. Once at the station we had a few minutes before the train so we stopped for a coffee/pop break.
We then walked 10 minutes to our train (did I mention the train station is HUGE) The 4:39pm train back to Civitavecchia was packed and by the time we arrived at the first stop it was standing room only.
Glad we got on at the first stop because my feet had enough and the heat is making them swell (Wayne's too but not as bad).
For dinner tonight Wayne felt like going to the dining room but when we went and read the menu we headed up to the buffet (again) I had the stir fry and rice and Wayne had salad and Mushroom Penne and crab cake. Desert was lemon cheesecake with blueberry Sauce (sorry Carleigh)
Tomorrow Florence/Pisa and Tuscany!!!!!!