May Day in Rome!

We arrived in Rome about 8pm, and after making it to our hotel, the Il Viandante B&B near the Bologna Metro stop, we set out for a quick meal: PIZZA. In Rome, pizzas are 3' long rectangles, and at pizza tavolo places (by the slice), your pizza is sold by weight, and cut with those orange-handled scissors you might recognize from your desk. 

The pizza was delicious - and photographs well. Not so this gelato we enjoyed the next day.

This is the view from our hotel balcony.

On May 1, we headed out to the Colosseum and were surprised to find it relatively quiet. We then discovered, that all sights in Rome were closed for May Day, or International Workers' Day. We had a fun walk around the grounds nonetheless.

We walked around the Forum, and other spots.

Julius Caesar stands over.

The Il Vittoriano is a monument built to the first king of unified Italy.

It also features the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The view from the top overlooks Rome.

Note how modern buildings are built atop ancient foundations.

On our May Day walk around Rome we walked into many churches.

We sat at the famous Trevi Fountain. As did hundreds of other people.

We walked up the Spanish Steps.

And enjoyed lunch in Rome's large park, the Villa Borghese gardens.

Dinner was an enormous bruschetta and pasta!