Rome to Paris

We spent our last day in Rome walking to the Spanish Steps, where there is a lovely view and beautiful boutiques. Many locals and tourists were taking advantage of the sunny weather and mild temperatures wandering along the streets. We had lunch in one of the very few fast food style places that sells pizza by the slice and walked to the Trevi Fountain for gelato. (BTW there are virtually no really fat people here that we can see. Unlike America there are few fast food and convenience stores and a lot of walking). We were trying to take it a bit easier as Mike is not enjoying the walking and has sore feet. We had our last meal in a small trad Italian restaurant near the hotel, which turned out to be delicious and cheap. Early the next day we were taken by driver to the airport. As it was still dark we were able to see some of the sites still lit up such as the Coliseum. We traveled by Swiss Air with very quick stop in Zurich, flying over the Swiss Alps. We had just enough time to buy Lindt chocolate, a hat and pen at the duty free before heading to Paris. We were very happy to find out that the airline passes out chocolate on the plane as well.

We are in Paris now. The hotel is well located but the room is very worn out, a bit like staying in your nana’s front room. Clunking heater fan, no satellite TV, pealing paint and no luxuries. It was very chilly and the kids bunkered down in the room while Warren and I went on the hunt for a supermarket and food. We could not find the market so we popped into the local “Australia Bar” (seems to be a chain of bars in Europe) and asked for directions – handy! It is early morning now and it has been snowing overnight which means that the temperature will be a bit better than yesterday.