Day 3: Just Chillin'

Day 3
Time: 3:46pm
Temperature: 29 Celcius

Today is the day our tour will be starting!

I read the message posted in the front foyer regarding the meeting/welcome dinner tonight and the warning regarding this tour being fast paced (what!??!), and to take it easy today.... I must admit after all the walking done yesterday I'm happy to just have a leisurely day in Rome.
Following breakfast(fresh fruit and cereal) I headed out to the streets of Rome to take in a bit more of the city.
I am not trying to be a negative Nelly here, but they seriously need to do something about the public transport! I thought of heading to a shopping area for some relaxing retail therapy, only to find out that in order to get to many of the shopping districts I needed to catch 2-3 buses, and maybe a train. Yes, I know that's not that bad but when you're just wanting to chill out for the day, and so on, that task seems rather daunting. Besides I'm sure there will be plenty of time for shopping in the next three and a half weeks! Instead, I decided to simply look around the local area, wandering through the winding streets in the sunshine (it's another beautiful day again!). It was lovely.

After a while, I found a nice little Italian restaurant to have some lunch (pasta again. I swear it's addictive. There's just something about it!) and a relax as the world rushed by. While I sat contemplating the world (yeah right! More like sat and obsessed over how amazingly delicious the food was) a nearby table was growing with guys in fine suits. As a new one arrived the waiters would set another place at the table in anticipation of the next. Despite not ordering anything, food appeared quickly out of the kitchen. Beautiful salads on toasted bread, and plates of half pasta and half vegetables (nothing I could find on the menu). The owner/manager of the restaurant kept coming out and chatting with them while smoking his cigar.  I felt as though I had just stumbled upon a small sect of the Italian mafia... Perhaps they were having their Wednesday lunch meeting? Discussing who needed to be seen about 'things' and who was ok. Perhaps they were discussing the next 'big job' and how they were going to get around the police.... (!!)


Perhaps they were food critics!... or perhaps they were simply a bunch of old friends who eat lunch together on a Wednesday... I'm going to stick with the Mafia idea... way more interesting!

Following my long lunch, I walked back to the hotel where I am relaxing on the roof top garden. Perhaps I'll head down to our balcony (it's huge!) and look out to the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica... decisions decisions... first world problems.

M