First day in Rome

It’s been a couple of days since I posted a blog.  Partly this was because we often got back so late to the room that I was too tired, and partly because I was somewhat dispirited by what happened on our first day in Rome.  Read on…

Friday 1 July

We flew from Greece to Rome today, and were picked up and taken to our hotel, which is located on the Aventine Hill – one of the seven hills of Rome.  It’s a very nice hotel, with lovely gardens, and decorated in the Art Nouveau style.  Our room is also nice, and the hotel is in a quiet area with lots of trees and birds.

We decided to go and see the Trevi Fountain first up.  Seeing it, I felt ‘Wow!  I’m actually in Rome!’  We threw our coins in the fountain, and then a couple of minutes later I really did feel like I was in Rome, when I discovered that my purse had been stolen from my handbag.  There wasn’t a great deal of money there, but there was my visa card, by ATM card, my driver’s license…  I wasn’t happy.  Then we had a lot of trouble trying to find the right kind of policeman to report it to.  And they couldn’t have cared less.  And they were rude.  It really was a bad introduction to Italy.

We weren’t too keen to do much for what remained of that day, but we did wander up to the Spanish Steps.  In the mood I was in my reaction was ‘yeah, it’s the Spanish Steps.  So what?  Big deal.’