A bump start, a walk around, get lost, get found, drinks, cures Steph's hiccoughs.

I'm sure the pilot was putting abdominal muscles to the test as we touched down (twice actually), but we were here.  We managed to find a cheap bus to take us all into the city and drop us off at the main station.  Luckily all of our hostels were quite close by so that was perfect.  I left everyone at this point and we agreed a tentative meeting time at the Hard Rock Cafe.

I got checked in, washed, shaved, and showered and got straight back out to make my way down to the Hard Rock Cafe.  I walked in to find no-one there.  A quick call to Wayne confirmed they had to check in later and so couldn't meet until after that.  I chose to go and see a bit of the city instead of waiting around and so agreed to meet up with everyone later on.

Over the course of the day, I completely knackered myself out.  I walked and walked... and walked.  It was like pointless marathon training!  I had a map, but chose to only use it sparingly.  I prefer serendipidous findings and was happy enough just soaking up the atmosphere on the streets.  I quickly found the Piazza Di Spagna (and the Spanish Steps) and hung out here for a while.  I was loving the amount of backpackers and street entertainers.  It was pretty cool.  I grabbed a slice of pizza here and after a while I went up to the Piazza Del Popolo.  It's a beautiful square, but again it's loaded with camera happy tourists :D

By now I was quite up for seeing a few more places and had that surge of energy that had previously gone AWOL.

  I made it to the Trevi Fountain, which is absolutely incredible!  It's so pretty and certainly lives up to its magnificant reputation.  I had a bit of a wander from here and found Piazza Venezia and Vittorio Emanuelle II Building.  The architecture in Rome is fascinating, with so much attention to detail, you can see the Italian reputation for style shining through everywhere you turn.  I also got quite lucky here; by looking down the road, I could see one of the main attractions of the city - the Colloseum.

I didn't realise I was so close, so when I saw it, I headed towards it.  On the way, all the old Roman ruins can be seen and so that made this walk quite a slow one.  After copious amounts of picture taking, I made it to the Colosseum.

  I was taken aback and so decided to walk around it to get a feel for its size.  Man that place is enormous!  I've been to so many modern arenas and stadiums, but the Colosseum just dwarfs them all!  It really is an incredible site.

After this, I had just one major attraction left to see for the day - The Pantheon.  I decided to take a route slightly out of town, via a few more ruins.  Now, you know when you get that feeling of "Shit, where the bloody hell am I?", well... need I go on?  My sense of direction is better than any map, or so I decided to my detriment.  Anyway, after about an anxious hour of walking through residential Rome, I found where I was and chose to use the map from then on!

I found my way to the Piazza Novona (another beautiful square filled with gorgeous fountains) and strolled around a couple of corners to the Patheon.

  Luckily, despite my previous foolishness, I got there a short while before sunset.  I was able to see the interior in all its glory whilst it was still light enough to fully appreciate.  The attention to detail is again stunning.  It's just another of those must see places and I'm so pleased that I have been there and witnessed such a monumental building first hand.

Obviously, time was now getting on a bit, so I went back to the Trevi fountain and met back up with Wayne, Steph and another TBer, Dennis.  It was just so nice to have good sit down and a chat.  Dennis has recently moved to Rome and was highly knowledgeable of the city already.  He was a extremely useful guide to have with us.  Cheers Dennis.

We went for a few beers, including one at MacDonalds of all places hehe, but it was quite expensive and to be fair, we were all pretty tired.  We went back towards to hostel and Dennis took us to a restaurante where food was good, but very reasonably priced.  We drank a couple of bottles of wine and Steph got the hiccoughs.  I told her I knew the cure, and she reluctantly had a go at my technique of "stretching the diaphragm".  Basically you breeze in as far as you can go (lungs), breathe in that little bit more (this stretches the diaphragm), hold it for about 10 seconds and there you go - the hiccoughs are cured.  Tell 'em Steph.  It works doesn't it? hehe.  If only I could copyright!  Instead I'll have to keep the search going for a panacea before I make my mega bucks.  Anyway, that was our day done and it was time for bed.