1st Day in Rome!

We actually had a smooth drive to Frankfurt airport. I was a little worried because we were going to be parking in Holiday Parking and the directions sounded iffy. However they were perfect and we got there without a hitch! Btw to my fellow travelers- Holiday parking is half the cost of parking at the airport and there's a free shuttle so totally worth it!! Flying Lufthansa was also a new experience. More leg room and better snacks (half a cheese or ham sandwich and 1 stick of a Kit Kat!! Oh and they don't charge for beer or wine!) however smaller windows and more narrow seats. Overall enjoyable though!
Upon arrival in Rome we found a taxi with no problem. He drove like a bat out of hell and the supposedly 40 mins drive only took 20mins. It was terrifying but we made it safely to our hotel by midnight. The guy running our hotel is canadian and very friendly. He sounds like Matt's Uncle Stuart! Btw I highly recommend our hotel: "Holiday House Roma Bed and Breakfast." If we could cancel our hostel reservations we would just stay here. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable and speak perfect English. There's also a mini fridge, private baths, a fairly wide (if short) bed, free Wi-Fi, and breakfast brought to your room (cappacino, juice, croisant, some other pastry, and a donut stick). Oh and tv in your room (only BBC World is in English though) and an a/c (though it's been a struggle to get it to work right). Another perk is that we're a 5 minute (at my slow pace) walk literally down the same street from the Vatican!!! Ok enough of the sales pitch.
Today we just rode the Hop on Hop off bus around the whole route (about 2hrs). Oops another sales pitch: again I recommend this for 1st time visitors! We did one in Paris as well and both experiences have been great! Anywho we actually got off at the Coliseum because we were starving and grabbed Pizza Panini's from a little stand and ate right beside the Coliseum! Very surreal. After riding the bus back to our starting point at St. Peter's we grabbed a gelati (ice cream) YUM!!! Matt had Nutella and I got the ciocolato (dark chocolate). So amazing. Our bus was still there so we jumped back on and took to the next stop at Castel Santangelo where we got off to get on the boat cruise. This was a waste of time. First off it's not clearly marked so we did some unneccesary walking up and down VERY steep stairs and second you can't see ANYTHING from the Tiber river!! The walls are too tall so you're literally staring at the graffiti or the roofs of buildings. It was also very windy so we were both miserably cold (even though it was sunny).
By this time I needed a rest so we walked back to the hotel from the Castel and took a short breather before heading to check out our hostel. Tomorrow we are staying at the Alice and Wonderland Bed and Breakfast and it looks very nice from the building and lobby. We made up a story about wanting to confirm our reservation however no workers were there and a guest answered the door. She didn't want to let us in but finally she went to go write down their phone number (which I already had) so I just followed her in to check it out. Looks brand new! Very excited to try it out tomorrow. There's also a great park area right down the street and a McDonalds! With the price of food in Rome we will be eating at McD's a lot!
After spying on the hostel we took the Metro back over to Barbarini to the Hard Rock Cafe Roma. There were a lot of people waiting for a table outside but when I went in to get on the list the host pointed at my belly and said "Oh ok we'll get you the next table" then he said something in Italian to the other host who looked at my belly and smiled and led us right to a table! Apparently Italians love their preggo women! FINALLY a perk to this pregnancy thing! I say this because I'm having awful growing pains today so it has made walking miserable.
After a delicious yet very overpriced meal we tried to catch our Hop on bus again but after waiting 15 mins we assumed it was too late (it was about 830- in Paris they ran MUCH later). It started sprinkling so we took the Metro back over to our hotel. It sprinkled on our walk back but nothing major. However flip flops and slick grounds are NO bueno and I slipped only causing further pain to my poor hips. Now Matt is passed out and I'm on my way there too. We have our window open again to let in that cool fresh air and it's raining so it's going to make for a great night of sleep! I hope it rains all night but stops in the AM :-)
More info and pictures to come tomorrow!!! Ciao!