The Daily Ruby: Arrivederci Siena, Buongiorno Roma

I was sad to say goodbye to Il Chiostro del Carmine. Here's one last shot from the courtyard. It really was the loveliest view from a hotel room we could have asked for.

For our transits between cities, we didn't make any advanced reservations. This ended up working to our advantage for our trip between Siena and Rome.

We had intended to catch the 10:20 train to Rome. So when we asked for 2 train tickets, the lady at the ticket counter said, "The trains are on strike today. Come back, oh, maybe 12:30. Maybe the trains will be working then. You can take the bus instead." Interesting...

So we took the bus. Which was fine because it was a non-stop bus to Rome and we got there a little earlier than the train would have arrived. It just cracked me up how a strike is a common occurrence and not a big deal. Here's a shot of Cary getting un cafe at the bar while we waited for our bus.

There are no coffees to go in Italy. You stand at the bar and drink from the porcelain espresso cup and saucer.

The bus ride was pretty uneventful. It was a comfortable 3 hour drive to Rome. I listened to the conversation of the people sitting behind us. An Australian girl who had taken 5 months off to travel around the world was talking to an American man who was there with his family for his parent's 50th anniversary and who were all meeting in Tuscany after Rome. The Australian girl had traveled by herself to South America, North America, and now was in Europe. She had planned to go to Florence but ended up in Siena because of the strike.

So we got to the Rome bus station, which we figured out was not the Stazione Centrale on the map. It was a pretty dumpy looking industrial area with grime and graffiti, but it smelled so pretty. Like gardenias and jasmine flowers. We took a cab to our hotel, the Marcella Royal.

So we left our hotel and began our first day of discovering Roma. Since we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, it was pretty quiet and nothing was going on. So we decided to do some sight seeing.

Here's me enjoying a gelato in front of the Trevi Fountain.

We walked by Il Vitoriano. This was taken from Wikipedia: The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II) or Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) or "Il Vittoriano" is a monument to honour Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy.

Then we walked to the ruins of the Roman Forum. Since half the day had passed already, we decided to not go into the ruins or Colosseum till we had made our plans for the week. But even from far away, the ruins are amazing. So then we walked to the Colosseum.

Then we walked around to the Arch of Constantine. You can read more about that here. Sorry I'm getting lazy and directing you to other sites rather than writing what I learned. I'm just really behind on posting and want to get it done in time for Uncle Amir to be able to use it.