From FLorence to Rome!

There was some important funeral going on today. There were buses and buses of all different branches of the military all grouping and making ready for the procession. 

 Poor Ashley's little toe! Her new shoes are not treating her well! The old ones were falling apart and we threw them away! Poor baby!

I posted pictures first...hope some of you appreciate that :)

The Pictures are all of Rome in the little time we walked around the city before turning in for the night. 

I'm pretty sure that the bars in FLorence close at 2 am because at about 3 am is when the streets get a little noisy, and 3 am is also when the nice man sleeping in one of the beds in our room was very busy clumsily looking through all of his packages, and suitcases for something...for what seemed to be a really long time! The beds we were sleeping on have a mattress that is sitting on top of boards that go across the bed frame. Ashley learned early on that if you aren't careful they fall out on to the hard floor and make a lot of noise. He apparently either didn't know, or had forgotten in his frantic searching and he managed to knock a board out. At about 3:30 or so he still hadn't found what he was looking for and decided that he should turn on the light and look some more. Turns out he really wanted to brush his teeth. Great. I sure hope his dentist appreciates that he was so diligent on his teeth brushing habits. I know we all appreciated it when he found it, brushed his teeth and then went to sleep. At about 6am we were once again so happy to be sharing a room with this young man as his alarm went off on his phone. He slept right through it. The nice girl on the bed next to mine finally had enough and went over and turned it off. Don't know why he had it set to go off at 6, and we didn't really care at that point. Needless to say, Ashley and I were quite happy to be leaving that hostel this morning! It was good enough, but we were done there.

After packing up, making one last run to the grocery store we have grown so fond of, and dragging our suitcases down the 60 stairs (they were much easier going down than they were going up). Then it was off to the train station which was probably about a 15 min walk, which wasn't that bad, except for the fact that it was pouring rain! We do have an umbrella, but it's a little hard to carry an umbrella when we are pulling suitcases behind us. This is something that the 50 vendors just couldn't grasp as each one of them tried to sell us an umbrella as we tromped passed them.

Finally on board our train to Rome we were able to relax a bit. We have decided that we really like the trains! It's a great way to get around and also a fun way to see the countryside. I loved seeing the little houses surrounded by orchards and the big houses with farming equipment around them. The rolling hills and the  old towers standing tall in the horizon. Just a very pretty view when we weren't in the tunnels! We aren't sure how it happened, but when Ashley bought our Euro rail passes we ended up with 1st class although she's certain she chose the cheapest option available. The complimentary drink and p-nuts were a nice snack and ended up being lunch. We have joked a few times how everything in Europe is smaller when it comes to food. The soda's are smaller, the serving sizes are smaller, but not the prices! Anyway, I mention that because the soda was just a little larger than a Dixie cup. It was small, but oh so very refreshing! :)

The train ride to Rome lasted right close to 2 hours. Our hostel here was easy to find and only about a 10 min walk from the train station. The room we have for tonight has 3 beds in it, we don't expect the other one to be filled. Our room has a keycard to get in and out so it's much more private than the last place. We have 2 shared bathrooms each with a shower right down the hall which we share with the other 4 rooms in our hall. Apparently we reserved a little nicer room, but since we had to change our reservation we have this room tonight and then tomorrow we get to move to the "better" room. Since we are both just fine with this room we are looking forward to the nicer room tomorrow. But for tonight we are so happy to have crisp clean white sheets that are not see-through and warm blankets to sleep with as well as pillows that are clean and larger than a bagel. Ashley thinks that the room we will move to tomorrow might have the bathroom connected, which would be soooo great!

So there you have it! We are in Rome! I can hardly believe that! Tomorrow we will be taking a bus that will take us to the different amazing sights here. There is sooo much to see and the city is much larger than Venice or Florence so the bus will be great! Another good reason for the bus is that poor Ashley has a big ol' blister on her baby toe from her new shoes. Poor girl! I'm glad we won't be walking the whole city like we have been doing, but it's just too much here.  With a more private room tonight I'm looking forward to taking a sleeping pill and hopefully getting a reallllllly good night's sleep for the first time in over a week! Yipee! G'night all!