We got an earlier start today than the past few days. We were dressed and packed up for the day by just after 8am, went down for breakfast, and was disappointed to learn that they were out of formaggio, so all we would have today is bread. This hotel is fantastic location-wise, but the food service has been pretty lackluster – which is funny since this place is primarily a restaurant with a few rooms.

We took the subway to the Spagna stop, home to the Spanish Steps area. Since we were on the subway at about 9am on a Thursday it was jam packed with locals on their way to work. It was so packed that there was trouble getting in through the door, then challenging to find a place to hold onto while we stood for the ride.

The whole reason to be out in this area at this time was to visit the Levi’s store to get new jeans and maybe a new shirt for Kevin. Well, the store didn’t carry custom jean lengths like you can find in the US, all were 4 inches longer. They could custom hem them, but pickup wouldn’t be until after 6p tomorrow, which is the night before we go home – what’s the use? Plus, the jeans and shirts were all way more expensive. After money conversion, the polo shirt we looked at would have been $125, waaaay tooooo much $$ for Kev’s wardrobe.

Then we went on a hunt for a store we saw on the map that sells Cuban cigars. Didn’t look to be too far away. Hmm, we ended up getting our city tour this morning, in an unplanned fashion, as Kevin hadn’t even brought his camera with him. We saw Piazza Colonna, Piazza Parliamento, Trevi Fountain, etc as we wound through the streets. After leaving Trevi Foutain we got turned around and walked the wrong direction, by the time w realized it we were far from a subway station. So we walked all the way back across town. Kev would want me to mention that he did most of this walking carrying a bag of groceries, since we bought a few things when we thought we were about to get on the subway to go back to the hotel.

The good part of the walk was that we found an excellent little hidden restaurant called Mario’s. Excellent service and food, with an outdoor patio under cover of ivy that was tucked back behind the ruins of Forum of Augustus on via Grillia.

After all the walking, we came home (to the hotel) to relax for a few hours. We have a lot of walking to do tonight at the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel and want to be rested and refreshed. I’ll write about the Vatican tour in a separate post.