Sight seeing in Rome

My first sleep in this morning was fantastic.  No plans for anything apart from wondering around and getting to breakfast.

Breakfast in on the 2nd floor of the hotel which looks out onto the piazza which is busy as early in the morning with a protest happening down the street and police vehicles everywhere, tv crews and helicopters.  Had to ask the hotel what was going on cause the large presence of it all was overwhelming and you could see most people at the hotel were concerned but all was good.

So l have breakfast and head across to the Spanish steps which are still a very popular tourist spot with people sitting around, filling up their water bottles from the fountain and attempting to take self portrait photos.  Looking down the street of where the steps start is a street which has all the designer stores on it so after sitting around for a while l get myself going down 'luxury avenue' lets say and believe it or not l didn't walk into any of them.  All where empty and looked very unwelcoming so l strolled by and securely l think by credit card was happy about this.

So l head into stores such as Gap, Zara and Sephora and then head towards the Trevi fountain and on my way l find 4 elderly American men lost looking for the fountain who have just arrived from a cruise ship and had limited time to see things. So l advise that l am heading that way so they can follow me and l have a map.  So we walk around we get around a corner and l am not too sure which way to go next so l ask a police officer who says straight, left and then right it should be there. So l put the map away and we follow her directions and, guess what we end up at the Spanish steps again.....lol. I was so embarrassed the men were annoyed (but laughed) and said that they did exactly what the
guide on the cruise ship told them not to do which was "don't follow strangers who may
seem nice".... Lol.  I defended myself by saying it was the police officers fault and one of them goes "typical female, never their fault...." but in a nice funny way.  So let them get back to their ship and l continue on, again and guess what at exactly the same position l asked for directions we were meant to go right and then left...anyways the Trevi fountain was in front of me and it was as beautiful and spectacular as last time.  Half of the left side of the fountain wall is covered up due to restoration works but still very packed with people
throwing money in, taking photos and generally sitting around having gelato while listening to the water flow.

I head back to the hotel to greet Liz who has just arrived and we spend the afternoon
chatting and chilling out and planning dinner for the evening.

For dinner we went to a suburb outside the Rome city walls which was really cute and full of
ambiance and people.  Eating in the suburbs is very different to the city centre due to the
noise and lack of tourists.  We had a delicious meal and then walked around from one piazza to another stopping at a bar, meeting some great Americans and Dutch people.  The American couple were traveling with their daughter and were from Wisconsin and invited Liz and l to visit and stay with them anytime should we be in the US.  They were a very cute couple and we had hours of entertainment due to their surname which was 'Truelove'.  To prove it l saw their ID.  It is so great to meet nice people while traveling.

Tomorrow brings more walking around and exploring.

Arrivederci Z xx