Our time in Rome, Day Three

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We slept in per plan (and need!) until 9am then headed downstairs for breakfast.

We returned to the room to process the outstanding blogs for 7/3 and 7/4 which gave us time to relax some more and think about the plans ahead; the rest of today, tomorrow's train travel to Florence around 2pm and an afternoon transfer to Venice the day after.

We are officially global road warriors! There may be those who fly more often and to more places, but we have earned a spot on the "A" list for international travel. As a team, we are VERY good. One looks left while the other looks right; we are both aware of the details and and we trade off those moments when the dominant "gut feeling" leads and we generally find ourselves in the best possible situation.

We took off at mid-day for St. Peter's Square and the Basilica. We no longer need tour guides in Rome as we know our way around using a taxi and going from here to there is "no problemo"!

St. Peter's Square was breathtaking and yet another moment on our trip when all we could do was stare for minutes before we began taking video and pictures.

John escorted Ginny up to the entrance of St. Peter's Cathedral through a crushing throng of people. Ginny entered the Church, gave offerings, took some pictures and spent time praying for all of us and giving thanks for herself. This turned out to be a significantly emotional and personal moment for Ginny that she wasn't quite prepared for. Upon exiting St. Peter's John and Ginny went aside for several minutes to discuss and talk about the religous experience Ginny encountered within the Cathedral. We took many pictures and much video footage. This will take some time to digest fully.

We took a taxi over to Piaza Navana where we found a beautiful square with lots of restaurants and an open air art fair where we relaxed over drinks and bruschetta plus good conversation. We then hailed a taxi and headed for Piazza De' Renzi which is the best area for local restaurants and with few tourists. We found a classic restaurant; La Scala - no kidding! - and proceeded to have a two hour dinner with course after course of fantastic (picture arms waving) food, great conversation and some serious people watching.

We then hailed a taxi (Ginny flagged that one down - three lanes over!) back to Via Flavio no. 39 where our hotel Bailey's was located arriving in record time once again and for a very low fare.

Tomorrow we get to awake without alarm (yippee!) and work towards a 2pm train departure to Florence, this time with our bags. We have been talking about contacting FedEx World Services to see what the cost would be to send about 25 pounds of items we have collected back home ahead of us. Depending on how that goes, we may have some sightseeing left in us!

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