Day 1 - March 24th - arriving in Rome

Arrival into Fuimicino (Rome) at 8am on Delta Airlines from Washington National Airport, through JFK.

My father met us at the airport - he lives in Argentina and arrived a few days before we did. We took the train directly into the Termini Station in Rome ($8.80 EUR per person, 1 way). We went straight to our hotel (Golden Tulip Mecenate Palace http://www.mecenatepalace.com/). Only 1 of our 2 rooms were ready, but that was fine with us as we just wanted to freshen up and drop our bags off. Dawn & I were given room 107 (sleeps 3 with window overlooking courtyard) and Dad was assigned room 104 (across the hall, double bed with window overlooking the street).

The hotel was wonderful - cute, great service and a nice buffet breakfast each morning on the roof top terrace. I would definately stay here again.

Ok - we were off! We started at the Colosseum looking at the Arch de Constantine before walking over to the Colosseum itself. We were approached by an agent from Discover Rome Tours (http://www.discoverrometours.com/) saying that an english tour was just about to start and that for $15 EUR (this would include entrance into the Colosseum and Palatine Hill) we could join it, bypass the entrance line and walk right in. Sounded good to us. Our tour guide was Paolo, who was very knowledgeable, spoke english well and had a good sense of humor. The tour lasted several hours and went everywhere. At the end of the tour we were given the option of either going over to Palatine Hill right then (to be walked in) or to meet near the Arch at 230pm to go in then. We were hungry so we opted to go get something to eat & to meet back at 230pm at the entrance to Palatine Hill.

We found a restaurant with outdoor seating near the Colosseum as we didn't want to go too far. We chose the Royal Meat House where Dad had lasagna while Dawn & I had pizza margherita (not really what I had in mind for my 1st meal in Italy but by that point it tasted good).

We returned to the assigned meeting spot & were escorted into Palatine Hill. Tons of walking here & I took tons of pictures. Luckily we had great weather - nice & sunny. After a few hours exploring we were beat! We headed back to the hotel and all took naps until dinner. We had a home cooked meal at a friend of my father's house and then back to the hotel for the night.