All roads...

Up early in the morning, got some breakfast from the buffet, slurped some coffee, and checked out of the hotel. Our friends dropped us off at the Pisa train station, and we had reserved seats all the way to Rome, about a three hour tour, a three hour tour...

Fountain of the Four Rivers

I got the bright idea to get off the train at the San Pietro station, knowing that our apartment was located close to the Vatican, so I figured it would be quicker to get there than going all the way across the city to Termini. The jury is still out on that. Once I pulled up Google Maps on the cell phone, I discovered we were on the opposite side of the Tiber, so it would be best to use the bus, anyway. We tried to catch the bus and pay while getting on board, but as luck would have it, they don't accept cash, so we had to hunt up a Tabbacieri and buy a metro bus pass, then went back to the stop, but we were in the mid-Sunday lull in the bus schedule, and we waited about 45 minutes before a kindly local couple led us to another bus stop and a different bus route that got us to Chiesa Nuova very quickly.

Jumped off the bus, planned our walking route with Google Maps, and promptly got disgustingly lost. As I later determined, the GPS was not keeping up with the pace of our walking, and we walked right past the apartment about 3 minutes into our journey, and spent another hour or so trying to figure out why the GPS was suddenly sending us in circles. Eventually, I got to a place where the route became simple, and we made our way to meet our airbnb host, Paolo, to check in. 

Piazza Navona

Fait accompli, we went out and down the street a bit for a pizza and beer for  belated lunch, where M got into a conversation with a fellow trombone player from Holland, and our Italian waiter confessed his preference for Belgian beer, then back to the apartment for a quick shower and short nap, then a longer excursion to the grocery store for some essential items, since we have a nice little kitchen here. After the groceries were put away, we went for a walk to the Piazza Navona and the Four Rivers fountain, the Pantheon, the church of St. Agnes, the Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and a couple miscellaneous churches, then wandered back to our room, fixed a light dinner, and went to our well-earned rest.