Rome
October 20th, 2023: Wandering around Rome, Italy
We landed in Rome at 19:45, showed our passports, picked up our luggage and met our taxi driver. At that time, we were a little bit exhausted, and we piled into the car for a fast drive to the Hotel Mozart in the centre of Rome. After a quick check-in, we landed in our hotel room. It was late, and we unpacked, plugged in devices that needed to be recharged, showered, set alarms, and hit the pillows. We were out before we knew it.
At 8:15 in the morning, we received a call from our tour guide. “Buongiorno. Dove sei?” or “Good morning. Where are you?” We overslept! The alarm was set for five in the afternoon instead of five in the morning. We had to reschedule that tour. Our advice. Take it slow on the first day. Do not schedule a tour first thing in the morning after travelling from North America to Europe. We headed down to breakfast in the Hotel Mozart. In Italy, people skim on breakfast, but for us, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Thankfully, the Hotel Mozart has an excellent breakfast! We love our espresso, and this team kept us supplied.
We had a nice relaxing breakfast (as intended) and took a quick photo of our first view of Rome, Italy.
While Sheryl enjoyed a second cup of espresso, I stepped out into the streets of Rome to capture this photo and headed back into the restaurant to enjoy that second espresso with Sheryl.
We walked around the area for a while. Piazza di Spagna was a nice attraction and so was the church above the plaza. We caught some glimpses of the Tiber River. Eventually, we strolled back towards our hotel. We stopped off at a grocery store for a few snacks and a bottle of wine. One interesting find was an office supply store. I picked up a few fully metric rulers, A4 and A5 paper punches.
October 21st, 2023: Vatican City!
Vatican City was amazing. We arrived on time and picked up our skip-the-line tickets and tour. We started our phones for a few minutes before we entered the Vatican. If you notice, I wear a zippered backpack. The zippers are zipped to one side and very low on the backpack. My wallet is zipped inside of a hidden pouch. While this is a holy place, and all will be forgiven, that does not stop pickpockets.
Words cannot describe the wonders of Vatican City. Here are a few photos of our experience.
