Arrival and first exploration tour

Autumn holidays - Hooray!

After the long summer vacation up north, this time we headed south.

We managed to get train tickets from Villach to Rome - there were none available from Graz.

But why do we have the camper van!? So we first headed with the camper van to Villach to the thermal spa - a little washing doesn't hurt before the vacation.

Since our train only left at 0:55, we had plenty of time. Well, we only arrived at the spa at 5:00. We stayed until closing time at 22:00.

We quickly parked the camper van near the train station to get a few hours of sleep before departure.

Tired, but exciting for the kids, we set off on foot to the train station at 00:30.

And there we were greeted by 5 policemen who were apparently looking for someone. Later we found out that they had found the person.

Quickly into the sleeping car, get ready for bed, and soon we were already in dreamland. The planned arrival time was 9:00. In reality, we only arrived shortly after 10 in Rome Termini. But the journey was very calm and pleasant - probably because we were really tired from swimming.

Our apartment is located a little west of the Vatican, right near a subway station. It is (inside) really nice and quiet, and the kids even have their own room.

On the first day, we first settled into the apartment and rested a bit before we set off to the city center in the late afternoon. Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain - it's bustling. No comparison to the summer of 2020 when we almost wandered around Rome (unfortunately too short) alone.

Hungry and thirsty, we looked for a restaurant for dinner. Anita told the waiter right away to bring a large beer.

He came back with two 0.8 liter jugs at €17 each. We hadn't managed to get this price in Norway 😉.

But the beer and the food were very good and in the end it cost just under €110 for 4 people. Absolutely okay for the quality and location.

We continue our journey in the center to the Royal Palace, Roman Forum, and Colosseum.

Objectively speaking, Rome is quite noisy, dirty, and 'rundown' by Central European standards.

On the other hand, the food and drinks are excellent, the people are dressed very stylishly, the sights are really top-notch, and the people are very nice - especially when traveling with children. You always have to take a second look behind the facade. So with the beautiful evening illumination on the Palatine Hill and 0.8 liters of beer in our blood, a pleasant holiday feeling soon set in for us.

Tired, we went to bed shortly afterwards.