We were quite sad to leave our lovely apartment and the town of Florence this morning. And for the first time, it was not a smooth departure! We jumped in the 23A bus when we should have waited for the 23B bus coming a minute later, even though Google just told us to get the 23 bus 🤷‍♀️.

So we took a scenic tour of some streets before we decided the bus was unlikely to loop back and we should get off and catch another one. Inspectors got on the second bus and wanted to check we had tapped on too, the first time we have had bus tickets checked.

Once at the train station, we went in different directions to grab some lunch for the trip, and were ready to board at 11.28am. Boarding trains in Italy is a bit chaotic as they do not announce the platform until up to 10 minutes beforehand, and there is not enough luggage space for the suitcases people bring.

Interestingly, officials appeared while we standing in a group waiting to find out the platform and asked to see our passports. As they scanned them into their handheld machine, they commented that they were last checked in Bordeaux, which we realised was true but also interesting that they knew that! Even with a flight from Zurich to Venice, only our boarding passes downloaded from our online check-in were needed.

Rome’s train station is close to our apartment, so we arrived earlier than our scheduled check-in time. Beck and I sat with all the luggage in the foyer while the cleaners finished cleaning, and sent the others off to explore and find a supermarket. Once they returned we unpacked and settled in for the afternoon (only to find out later that they had found a gelato shop for afternoon tea that served them FIVE scoops of gelato!!!!!).

Beck found us a restaurant close by for dinner, which had great reviews and very large and inexpensive meals. And while they didn’t hurry us away, they were keen to reset the table for people waiting as we finished.

So apart from gelato and a pasta dish for dinner, I don’t feel like we are in Rome yet as I haven’t seen much of it at all. As a travel day, we also didn’t take photos – I’m sure tomorrow will make up for it though!