When in Rome, do as the Romans do .... Day III and Day IV

We had decided to skip breakfast this morning because it just wasn't worth getting up early for. Brunch sounded like a better idea anyway, so we didn't leave the hotel until around 13:00hrs in search for food... .

Not easy to find a restaurant or café serving brunch, though. Besides, most were also closed because it was Christmas Day. In the end, we settled for lunch at an Italian restaurant (funny enough, called Ristorante Martin) just facing the Colosseum.

Waiting patiently for food at hubby's restaurant.

Martin's first pizza

My first spaghetti carbonara (my favourite)

It was quite a delicious but heavy lunch, and it prepared us for a full day of walking. We walked and we walked and we walked, basically from 13:00hrs in the afternoon till 23:30hrs at night, with a couple of hours' rest in between. I don't remember walking so much in my life, but it sure was good toning exercise for the legs and butt ;o). Oh, and we did do a bit of running too, because we ended up being a little pressed for time for our Dark Rome walking tour which started at 21:00hrs. We got a little lost when making our way to the meeting point (stupid map!), so by the time we realised that we were walking in the opposite direction, the minute hand on our watches somehow seemed to tick faster.

Anyway, the weather was good, and you do get to see a lot more by walking than just taking the metro, so no complaints there. The only disappointing thing though, was that no matter how much we walked, we were still not able to find a really cosy café to relax and drink coffee or hot chocolate in! One would be way more successful to find a cosy café in Copenhagen than in Rome! There were of course places we could drink coffee in, but they had a "cold" atmosphere to them, like McDonald's.

Oh, speaking of McDonald's, I had, on this lovely Christmas Day of 2007, finally contaminated myself with a burger after staying clean for 1½ years! Funny that the time I ate at Mc's before this was in Germany. Now Italy. It's really not that there's something wrong with Denmark's Mc's....it's just that I don't really feel the urge to eat at Mc's while at "home". Let's see when (and where) my next "Mcfeast" at the Golden Arch will be... .

Here are some pictures from our day III:

The amazing Colosseum, where many gladiators had fought and died in.

A closer look

Some Arc de Triomphe (Paris) wannabe

It's kinda freaky, but that statue really looks like me ;o).

I really like this shot. A ruin at Palatino.

River Tiber

SMART cars, smart parking

Some ruin right smack in the middle of the streets.

Fountain di Trevi by night

Does anyone know if Pinocchio is Italian? I guess I should Wiki it up.

A "church" we were taken to during our Dark Rome walking tour. Didn't go inside because it was closed, but they apparently do stuff with human bones too.

Day IV = more walking

Inside some basilica

The Pantheon. Famous artist Raphael was buried here. We didn't go in though. I had been in there last time, and it's not like you can see the man himself anyway.

Very old buildings. I thought buildings in Copenhagen are old, but these are like falling apart!

Looks really grand, huh? You should see it for real; it's an amazing building!

You might think there was no traffic, but it was just good timing with this shot that not a single vehicle was captured here. The truth is, traffic was quite heavy... .

We arrived back at the hotel quite late this night as well; around midnight. For the 2nd night in a row, there was no one at the reception, even after we rang the bell thingy on the counter to get our room key. And for the 2nd night in a row, Martin just went behind the counter to help himself to our key, which we could see hanging on the shelf anyway. So much for feeling safe at that hotel! We should have tried to find out which room was the suite (if they even have one) and help ourselves to the room key to that instead!