When in Rome

Today was our last train journey.  We were heading to Rome from Florence.  Before catching our train we had a quick trip to see Michelangelo's David.  And pretty impressive he is too.  Very tall and carved out of marble.  My favourite part was the bit around his ribs.  So well carved that you could almost see the movement of him breathing.  On the way in to the room where David resides there are some statues that were commissioned by the Pope at the time that Michelangelo started but never finished.  They are interesting in that you can see them emerging from the stone and the way he works.

Then it was a quick trip to the Ufizzi to check out Birth of Venus and The Annunciation, both amazing paintings.  Once we'd seen them, it was an even quicker run back to pick up our bags and grab a taxi to the station.  We had our second female taxi driver of Florence and she got us there in quick time and with some amazingly skillful driving through the tiniest of streets.  There seemed to be no regard for whether you were on foot, on a moped or in a car.  It seems you can just wander aimlessly anywhere!  Once we got to the train it was arriving 10 minutes late so we had a few extra minutes to catch our breath.  Once it arrived it was back into first class again and off to Rome.

Some of the countryside that whizzed by

Once we arrived in Rome we decided to catch another cab.  There had been instructions on how to catch a bus but Alison hadn't been able to download them.  We found a cab and told him where we were going, the Domus Internationale Paulus VI.  Unfortunately we had no street address and the cabbie's English wasn't the best.  We ended up on Via Paulus VI which is by the Vatican and also on the wrong side of the river from where we needed to be.  Alison and the cabbie got out to ask but where they went they couldn't pick up the internet.  The cabbie came back and contacted his base and eventually found out where we were meant to be.

We arrived safely and went out for our customary orientation walk.  We found he Piazza Navona easily enough and then headed off to the Pantheon (called the Parthenon by some Aussies we met in the car out to Auschwitz).  Another pretty impressive building that houses the grave of my favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Raphael.  Then off to the Trevi fountain.  Also pretty amazing.  Lots of tourists there though and lots of people trying to sell selfie sticks.  

We are on the 4th floor of the building and the view is pretty amazing.  I have just watched an amazing sunset.  I took a photo but it doesn't really show how amazing it is.  So that was today!

The view at dusk

Sunset over Rome