We arrived at Civitavecchia Italy early in the morning.  As you can see from the pictures below, we were docking in an area with other cruise ships.  Civitavecchia is the port of Rome.  After having a excellent breakfast we headed to the gangway.  On the dock holding up a sign "Olive" was our new driver, Daniel from Papillon who would take us to Rome.  Everything I said about David in Florence was true about Daniel for Rome.  He did give me a business card, but I have missed placed it.  Daniel was outstanding, he lived, breed and loved Rome.  His knowledge of Rome and the overall beauty of Rome, made this the best day of the cruise for me.

From Civitavecchia, we took the main highway to Rome.  We enter the city through the West Gate, I believe.  At the West Gate, you will find the only pyramid in Rome.  Picture of the Cestia Pyramid are enclose in both Rome and Rome 1 pictures below. 

After we enter the West Gate, we headed to the Spanish Steps.  Street map is below - click for large!

On the street map above, 1 is were the Spanish Steps; 2 is the Hotel Russie; 3 is the North Gate area, Piazza del Popolo; 4 is were we will be staying in May of 2006, Visconti Palace Hotel.  During our stay in Rome this next time, we hope to see more of Rome.  But, back to our tour, Daniel took us to the Spanish Steps first.  We got out and walked around, up and down the steps and around the fountain at the foot of the steps. The most remarkable was the flowing water in the fountain, which has been working for over 500 years.  I do not know of anything we have here in the USA still working after 500 years, not knocking the USA just point out things we can learn from others.  From the Spanish Steps we went to the Hotel de Russie, a short stop.  We would have stay in this hotel in May 2006, but could not get the dates we need, we highly recommend it.  After viewing the Hotel de Russie, we went a block north to Piazza del Popolo.  Enclosed are numerous pictures of that area.

From Piazza del Popolo we went to The Victor Emanuel Monument where their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is.  Daniel let us out in the area to take several pictures which are enclosed above. At the bottom of the map is the Piazza Venezia where the Victor Emanuel Monument is located.  Street Map - Click for large

Below is a street map around the Vatican showing Saint Peter's Square and our hotel location for May of 2006.  I will not include any more street maps because the web page is getting too large.  Click here for street map of the Rome area, click on map below for an enlargement of the Vatican area.

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_{Revised: 11 Dec 2006 07:29:46 -0500.}