From Gubbio to Rome

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Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823

We woke early - the bells had rung all night, and whilst I thought they were romantic, Steven had been woken every 15 minutes, listening to their loud chimes. Still, it seems petty to complain about the bells that have rung for hundreds of years in this pretty hill town!

The breakfast at the hotel was lovely - nothing was too much trouble, and the kids ate well. Then, all those suitcases were brought back downstairs, where we stored them for a few hours to allow us to explore the town.

Gubbio is very seasonal, in terms of tourism - most stores were closed, and the people around were clearly locals. Still it is very pretty, and its nice to see these things without a horde of people around us. We wandered the streets, saw a couple of pretty churches and bought a souvenir for Nonna Rita as the patron saint of the town is Ubaldo (Rita is christened Ubalda!)

Then, off to Rome. The fog was so incredibly thick as we left the hill town (past the Roman theatre) and onto the freeway. Traffic was also thick, as we got closer to Rome, and (my fault) we got ourselves in the wrong lane and in a tunnel going underneath the city. Added to this, we were trying to find a petrol station, and the owner of the apartment we were renting kept ringing to ask what time we'd be arriving! We have always found Rome very stressful....

...and this time, the difference was Cathy Douglas! When we arrived at our apartment (upstairs from Cathy and Ian's apartment), Cathy was waving from her window to meet us, and she bustled the kids off for apples and water (meaning chips and softdrink 😊) whilst we got the apartment sorted and then returned the car to the hire place. It is so wonderful to catch up with dear, old friends when it feels like only yesterday that we were last chatting!!!

That evening, we had a lovely dinner with Cathy and Ian and settled into our apartment with its amazing view of the Colosseum only 4 doors away at the end of the street. Wow!

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