Flights were fine, although I didn't sleep for the 13 hours of travel, and we almost missed the flight out of Montreal when we were misdirected to the wrong end of Trudeau airport. Fabio picked us up at the Fiumicino airport in his Mercedes and dropped us off at the end of our very narrow cobbled street. Our little apartamente in Trastevere (VRBO casadidaniela) is truly perfect. We have lots of space, air conditioning, lovely shutters that allow us to peek out to the quiet mornings and the very busy evenings when you live atop a bar and a pizzeria. Double paned windows make for absolute quiet. And we are just around one corner from a lovely little local cafe for my morning cafe lattes and another for the compulsory first gelati of the day.
Everything about Rome is truly amazing. I am, after two days, along with Chris and her friend (my new friend) Joanne, wholly adjusted to the Roman pace of life. That seems to be very busy and engaged, from noon to midnight! Here is a fashion prediction for the Fall ...
Here's what they are reading here in Rome because we know you need to know that ... 
On our first day we tried to adjust to the pace of life here in Trastevere. There were no coffee shops or cafes open until noon and we were exhausted, famished, but keen to get going. We see that, when in Rome, you do things their way ... and have immediately adjusted. Now we don't expect to do much until after noon and we haven't been home either day before midnight.
We live here in this little quarter of the city which is a healthy walk to the sights. We have a lovely leisurely breakfast and plan our days. Yesterday, my pedometer registered over 7 kms on foot, over 10 000 steps. Add additional distance covered by bus and metro, and I bet we beat that today based on the planning. Tomorrow though we need to be at the Vatican at 9:15 so that might change things up just a little. I beat roomies this morning and was able to sneak off for a couple of cafe lattes in the lane nearby. Yesterday's first stop was for gelati ... the best in the world ... but it was closed at 11 am! Nothing much going on here until after noon!
So far we have travelled by local bus and metro (this is a huge accomplishment, we think) out to the Appian Way to see the Catacombs of San Callisto. They were cool ... I mean that literally ... which was nice, seeing as it is dripping hot. Magnify the notion of dripping when riding the metro during rush hour! Tourists exchange valuable tips ... we have acquired Roma Passes and been to San Paulo "outside the walls" and the Colosseo at nightfall. We have explored the Piazza Navona and dined there after buying local art in the square. We even had an accordion accompaniment, Sinatra's "my way," with our insalata caprese, our ravioli, and pasta with prawns and squash blossoms (which seemed to have disappeared in the mix). We limped home through throngs of younger night folk, managing to find a late night cafe/bakery to pick up pastries for this morning.
Can't say we've had time to miss Vancouver yet. We are sure you will understand. Chris, Joanne, and I think Rome is perfect. There is nothing that displeases us.
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