We had a good breakfast then went to the station to find out about tickets to the port. Unfortunately we didn't have any money with us so all we could do was confirm the times we had found on the internet were correct. We picked up our money then went on the Hoho (’hop on hop off’) to an area the receptionist at the BnB recommended, Trastevere.

On the way we again started near the Basilica of St Mary Major . This has a bell tower that dates to 1337 and is both the highest in Rome and the one with the nicest bells. We were also shown the Presidential Palace which has a rent of  200 000 euro per month.

We then went on past Trajans Market, the Colosseum and Circus Maximum. We were told that Trajans Market was 4 floors and under cover in the 2nd century, when 1 million people lived in Rome. The city is over 2700 years old.

The first cats were brought to Rome by Cleopatra as a gift for her lover, who was unfortunately allergic to the fur.

The Colosseum is 180m by 156m and held 50000 people. It was strictly segregated into areas for women, masters, knights and slaves. There were also bookmakers. Only 2% of gladiators survived. At its heyday it was covered in white stone and had stairs of marble.

We again were dazzled by the white monument to Emmanuel II . We were also told that the locals refer to it as the wedding cake.

Trastevere was on the other side of the river and was a more residential area. However, the markets were all finished by the time we got there but we did have lunch in a cafeteria. They had the food on display in a cabinet. The melon with proseuto was three large slices where we had assumed that a serve was just one slice. We ended up having a great lunch for 15 euro.

We then stopped at the spot where you put your hand in a lion’s mouth for good luck. I didn’t ever find out the story here but it was a 50cent donation and the photo was taken using our camera. It is outside a church and is clearly a fund raiser for the church. We had a quick look inside before catching the Hoho back to Termini. In this part of the trip we stopped at the Vatican and also had good views of the Castel St Angelo.

The obilesque at the Vatican was brought to Rome by Caligua . It is 135m tall, weighs 440 tons and when it was brought here by barge the crew packed it in lentils to keep it balanced. In the end they sold the lentils for a good price. The area was used in 37AD for chariot racing. In 54AD there was a fire in Rome for which the Christians were blamed. 250 Christians were burned alive here to provide light for a feast at the site.

The Castel St Angelo dates from the 2nd century as does the bridge near it. It was the time of Hadrian and there was a plague. An angel appeared on the bridge and the plague ended. The Castel was built to honour the Angel but was later fortified to protect the Vatican.

We got off near the station and had time to look more closely at the fountain at Plaza de la Republiic. It shows nymphs on sea monsters. The are also has wonderful sculpture of Moses at the nearby church.

Back at the railway station the queue for the service ticket office was huge so we looked around and found some self service ones . We opted for the one in English and followed the instructions. We choose the 10.39am train and the price was just 9 euro for the two of us. This exactly matched the internet search I had done (or else I would have been sure it was wrong as it was so cheap). When we printed the ticket the train we had chosen wasn’t mentioned on it. The BnB people checked it and told us that it would be usable for the next 2 months on any train on the route and they also reminded us to validate it before departing.

After a break we walked to the Quirinale Hotel, where we stayed last time in honour of John’s Uncle Mike who had been invalided here to work when it was used as an NZ serviceman’s base late in WWII. We then went past the piazza where there are fountains on each corner, one being Romulus and Remus.

We carried on to the Trevi Fountain. I remembered being surprised about how big it is last time we were here. It was easy to find as we walked to a nearby street and followed the crowds . We didn’t throw in any coins but a lot of people were.

We then walked to the Spanish Steps and up them to the church, picking up the only geocache we had had time to find in Rome on the way.

We were just in time to get the Hoho at the Piazza Barberini. We had been to this stop a few times so had photos of the fountain already. We took it back to the first stop where there was a pop concert going on at the Basilica. This seemed an odd venue for a pop concert. We also went to a small shop in the area which had slightly different items.

We then had a drink back in the BnB and went back to the restaurant from the previous night, where we were recognised by the staff ('cheers bros’)