Rome...Tuesday

Drove to Naples a day early...we left Saturday and spent an extra day at the cabin in Carney Park. Flat Lauren is with us. She didn't enjoy the ferry across to the Mainland...she doesn't like boats.

Did some shopping at Ikea and the NEX at the Navy base in Naples. We got Heather a nice road bike and we're going to give her old one to Nick. He's been itching to go on a long ride with us and Heather's ready for an upgraded bike. She got a Bianchi just like mine only smaller. Will post some photos in a few days.

We picked up Mom at the airport in Rome this morning. We all got up at 5:00 am to leave Naples by 6:00. Only to get caught in traffic on the freeway on the outskirts of Rome on the way to the airport. We were about 90 minutes late picking her up.

But, we found her and then headed for our apartment. We rented a flat for €100 a night just a few blocks from the entrance to the Vatican Museum. There's a couple of really cool stores nearby - fresh pasta, bakery, fruit stand, coffee bar - and parking for only €2 a day.

We talked to the Sanders who are some good friends from Sicily and are visiting Rome as well. Met them at the Colosseum and hiked around Palatine Hill. We didn't go into the Colosseum, though, since they already visited that day.

Bought a 3 day pass for the metro which is good for the subway and the bus. The view of the Colosseum as you come out of the metro station is amazing! You have to take the metro to see it just for the shock & awe factor. Here's a photo of my mom and Flat Lauren on the subway.

Left the Colosseum and went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had a great time and saw several people we knew from Sicily! It was like a little Navy Sigonella reunion 450 miles away!

Flat Lauren wanted her picture in front of the Van Halen guitar they had on display at the Hard Rock. Sorry, its sideways. I forgot to rotate it before I uploaded...you'll have to download the photo and rotate it yourself because my internet is super slow and takes forever to upload pictures!

Got home around 8:00 pm and Mom fell right asleep. She had a 9 hour time change and stayed awake all day!

More Roman hi-jinks tomorrow...

Bud