Honeymoon in Rome and Vatican City - Day 1

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Sophia and I arrived safely in Rome, Italy at around 11 am Rome time. There were know hitches in our trip from Fort Wayne, IN to Rome. We had 1 stop in Atlanta, Georgia and we almost missed our connecting flight, but we were able to make it to the plane on time. The plane that took us from Atlanta to Rome was very nice and on the TV monitors, when a movie or TV program was not being showed,they displayed various types of information. Airspeed, outside temperature, local time and time at the destination, and even a map that showed a graphic of our plane so we could see the progress we were making.

The Rome airport was not too confusing and we were able to get our baggage fairly quickly, but the travel books we brought came in hand right away. Some men were offering to give rides to hotels for a “low flat rate” of 85 euros, but we read that the taxis would be fine. We found one who brought us to the Intercontinental Hotel de la Ville where were staying and the cab fee ended up being about 53 euros. We tipped him generously by giving him 60 euros.

The hotel also tried to get us to spend more money by saying our room wasn't ready yet and that we could upgrade to a better room for a fee. We decided to wait for our room to be ready (which the receptionist said would take 90 minutes) and all of a sudden another room became available for us and we wouldn't need to wait after all.

After moving into the room, Sophia and I decided to take a nap and freshen up before embarking on our first Roman adventure. We decided to visit some sites that were close to the hotel, namely the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. It was late dusk when we left the hotel and the Italian nightlife was just getting started. The Spanish Steps are literally around the corner from our hotel, so it was our first stop. The dusk sky made a great backdrop to the Steps and the surrounding area. There were lots of people who were just sitting on the steps, hanging out. At the bottom of the steps was a small fountain which also attracted a crowd.
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From here, we made our way to the Trevi Fountain, which was several blocks south of the Spanish Steps. On our way there, we picked up some delicious chocolate and coffee flavored gelato from one of the many gelato shops and we stopped for dinner at the Caffe Accademia. The Caffe had a specialty dish of spaghetti with tomato sauce and bacon, but the bacon was a spicy Italian style bacon which tasted a lot like salami or pepperoni. We finished off dinner with tirimisu, which wasn't as sweet as we were used to, but it was very good.

The Trevi Fountain was very busy and there was a huge crowd surrounding it. There were also lots of hustlers who were selling little trinkets and roses, and unfortunately one hustler gave Sophia 3 roses and demanded payment. We gave him 2 euros and gave back 2 roses. This was yet another lesson learned. The fountain itself was a site to behold and we would have enjoyed it more had there been less people and no hustlers.

We ended our evening walking back to the hotel through various roads. Rome is exactly as you would picture it: old and new buildings bustling with life.