A somewhat short Roman day

Our arrival to Rome was eventful and ended with a very late midnight dinner after a long day of travel. Thus we required some rest the next day and as such started the day quite late. The first thing to do was to get to a more central location in Rome and have a lunch.

Hotel delle Muse has a bus stop very close to it. We found out that it is not possible to get bus tickets from the driver and as such had to go and buy tickets from a newspaper booth nearby. One ticket gives you a 75-minute window to use it. You have to stamp it on the bus so that it is valid. These can be used on trams, buses and the metro. However, it is a good idea to buy a weekly card (biglietto integrale settimanale, which costs 16 euros) or one of the other cards if you are staying longer. Bus 360 is the only one passing close to the hotel and can get you to Rome's central train station, Stazione Termini, in around 20 minutes on a normal day.

Once we reached Termini, we started to look for a restaurant or pastiscerria (pastry shop) to have a simple lunch. However, the area around the Termini station did not appeal to us, with lots of salesmen and an atmosphere of danger, so we decided to walk away from the station. Walking down the Via Cavour, we found a small restaurant (Panificio Pasticceria Roscioni) and had a quick lunch/early supper.

Panificio Pasticceria Roscioni

Colonna Traiana

Right afterward we discovered on foot some of the interesting architectural wonders of Rome, although it was dark by now. Colonna Traiana was the centerpiece of a new dig that was uncovering more Roman artefacts, but this was a cordoned area.

I was impressed by the Altare della Patria, or the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II. It has a magnificent architecture and the lighting at night is just superb.

Altare della Patria

We don't normally eat at McDonald's but a quick stop at the McDonald's at Piazza di Spagna revealed a fast-food restaurant that had an interesting and modern designer setup.

McDonald's at Piazza di Spagna

It was not a very fruitful day, but it was still possible to see some of the areas.

At the end of the day we still did not have any of our bags, so it was time to do some shopping the next day....