Chaio! I made it back safely from Rome! We did a swirlwind visit in 16 hours. 8 hours on a sleeper train, 1 way. We had 3 bunks in the train. That was fun. We had lots of advice for Rome from people who had already been there. NOt much of it was worthwhile to us. We did follow directions for getting bus tickets at the Colleseum but after that it fell apart. OUr goal was to get to the Vatican and visit there first. We had to take scaves and sweaters to cover our arms and legs because of their strict dress code in the church area. The one lady we traveled with had to use the blanket I got from our plane ride and wrap it around her legs because her skirt was too short.

Ater we toured the Basilica we eventually found our way, past a huge line of people, to the Vatican museums that hold the Sistine Chapel. that took quite a while to get through everything - with the Chapel being the last room. Very crowded. But it was an experience to be there and see it in person. Ate lunch a block from there. Tried to find a bus stop to get to another landmark but did not have too much success. To make a long story short, we had trouble getting around Rome and finding stuff we wanted to see. We did stumble onto a beautiful fountain that I have a photo of included here. Signs to the famous places to see were few and far between if any. The tour bus we had all day passes for, was not very good in terms of helping us get places. But we did ride it on top of the double decker and saw the city from up there. The drivers are crazy. They park anywhere they want to. Pedestrans just walk out in front of cars and the scooters drive anywhere they want basically, zipping around cars that are too slow. Crazy! I don't know how our bus driver got through some of those narrow roads!

We had dinner at a HardRock Cafe we found. That was nice not having to think and try to translate what we were trying to order for dinner from the menu. We then took 1 last bus to the train station to be ready for our trip back. Well, we were at the wrong train station! Not sure how we figured that out. We finally found someone to p verify that we were in the wrong place and he told us how to take the subway to the station we were supposed to be at. That was abit unnerving. So when we finally arrived at the correct station, we had about an hour or so to kill until our train. We had drinks at a small corner pizzeria, then waited on the platform for awhile until the train arrived. We were so happy to see our little cubby hole sleeper compartment on the train!!! We zonked out fast for the trip home.

It was an adventure. It was Rome. It was crowed and confusing and frustrating. But I'm glad I did it. We would do it differnetly if we ever went back but we cah say we went to Rome - on a sleeper car - without knowing the language! And got lost, multiple times! ANd survived to tell about it!

Chiao!