Under The Oak Tree: Rome

Hi girls,

The problem is trying to fit everything in ….

Our focus in Italy was Venice, Sicily and Tuscany – but how can you not visit Rome?

We left our Tuscany base near Siena early Friday morning and drove to the coastal town of Grosetto where we caught a train into Rome, arriving around lunchtime.

The bus tour with commentary gave us a great appreciation of all the major sites, and there was even time for some clothes shopping in Via del Tritone. We finished the day at a café near the Trevi Fountain which was still drawing huge crowds at 10pm at night. Our hotel near the railway station was basic but perfect for our needs – complete with a Fawlty Towers Manuel look-alike breakfast waiter in the sloping floored breakfast room!

The next morning we wandered back down to the area around the Colosseum to look around all the historical sites. Posing with the “Centurion’s” was a bit of a fun aside for the guys from the historical/shopping focus.

We then managed to join a ‘skip the line’ tour of the Colosseum with an English speaking guide – we had never really thought hard about how the Roman empire transitioned from persecuting Christians to adopting it as the state religion, and learning about Constantine and his part in that was most interesting.

Catching a train back mid afternoon had us back in the heart of Tuscany by mid evening. So there it is …. Rome in 28 hours!