Day 2 in Rome

Back in Italy with a lot of notes to self!

No.1 when taking the vaparetto [waterbus] in Venice with a short period of time until your train leaves... make sure you know when exactly which vaparetto you need to get back on... cut it so close we were weaving and dodging and flat out running. I whacked my knee on something enroute - have the bruise to show it.

No. 2 -ask about the hotel internet. Been trying to find an internet cafe here in Rome without luck, checked at the hotel and it is complimentary, can have 30 minutes a day. The downside is we can't upload photos, so will be keeping our eyes open as we explore Rome.

No. 3 - even though using points, when hotel is across the street from Versace and there is a Rolex store two doors down, the restaurants are going to be expensive!

Staying at the Grand Flora Rome - Marriott. It is across a busy road from Villa Borghese which is a huge park where many Italians were enjoying the gorgeous Sunday afternoon. We lucked out and got right into the Borghese Gallery [supposed to need reservations several days in advanced] Very incredible place, a definite top 100 places to see if you get a chance. One of the top 100 things not to see is a homeless man wiping his bottom with newspaper on the sidewalk of a busy street. We are pretty sure we know what he was doing, yucky!!

Did a walk after dark from illuminated fountain to illuminated fountain. Streets were full of people doing the same thing or just hanging out in the various squares. We headed out earlier in the afternoon working our way to the first fountain, stopping and gawking at every turn as there seems to be even more photo ops in some parts of Rome than we had in Florence, and we thought we had a lot there!

On a more serious note, we have heard the travel warnings and are staying watchful, but what do you watch for. Also how do you avoid crowds and tourist areas and still see what we came to see. [can't find question mark on this key board!] We haven't changed any of our plans and the warnings are extremely vague so we are going forward and will see what happens!