Day 14 - Farewell to friends ... and off to Rome

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Rebecca and Lorraine left us today to continue their eight week adventure. It was such fun - and I'm so grateful they shared some of their journey with me. We waved them off on their train back to Florence and were just a little surprised it left before our scheduled train to Rome. Didn't take too long to realise, even with the language barrier, that our train was cancelled, as were all trains in that direction - due, we were told, to the storm during the week. Rental car company said 'call back in 10 minutes' and of course when we called back it was siesta time! Information at the treno stazioni said a bus MIGHT come, but they were likely on strike. In the end it seemed the best option was to head to Florence and hope we could get a fast train to Rome (that runs on a different track). Unfortunately that meant we lost our fares as the tickets were 'saver' fares 😞(

First impressions of Rome? It's huge, dirty, there's graffiti everywhere, lots of people everywhere and lots of people sleeping rough. But there is also a 'jewel' around every corner. Our accommodation was lovely - another recommendation for Trip Adviser - Terme di Traiano. No room at the inn when Nath booked Greg and Irene's accommodation so they are just down the street - a shame we were not altogether. We all settled in and then met them for dinner at a very traditional ristorante recommended by the owner of our accom. It was delicious! Greg and Irene called it a night but, wanting to walk off the pasta, we four headed out for an aperitif and also to view the Colosseum at night - which was truly spectacular.

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