passaggio - changeover - the theme of today's activities
our london based guests are due to fly back this evening
a mother and daughter from shanghai due to arrive after
but first - rome for a day visit - and the villa borghese
an hour long journey through steady traffic to the villa
a huge and mostly empty underground carpark is found
we walk across large, dry and abandoned grassy areas
spot some activity under some big trees and head there
the villa borghese gardens are 80 hectares in central rome
so walking on a hot day such as today is not very desirable
and why the various forms of hire transport are doing well
we settle on an electric 4 seater golf-cart with a solid roof
the 30 euro charge gives us one hour to see as much as we can
which we do - our driver takes delight in hitting maximum speed
a hilarious romp around the gardens with stops at points-of-interest
one point offering a panoramic view of rome city, another lakeside
we gaze at the galleria nationale d'arte moderna - a return visit?
there are fountains (of course), marble statues and walkways
probably all much better appreciated on a long and cool day
where walking from one point to another would be so relaxing
still - mission accomplished - like a typical tourist - tick that box
a drive then into rome central, a riverside park and walk inwards
daughter has a recommended restaurant in mind - rome's best pasta
sadly at 5:30pm it is only open for counter meals - roman style
so we sit at the counter, order and share 4 different dishes
a fine bottle of rose is also enjoyed with the fine food
that in itself encouraging a banter about business issues
time - there's a plane to catch - fiumicino airport is next
changeover - guests - and car - we return to europcar
confess our incident resulting in the smashed side mirror
we are told it is illegal to not have said mirror - changeover
we juggle all this while our guests leave and the next arrive
our citreon c1 which was a fiat 500 is now a toyota aygo
we cannot complain about the service provided by europcar
(unlike the loud and abusive aussie couple in front of us)
sad to see the last of the c1 but the aygo is a fine substitute
an easy drive back on the ring road then north to home base
the start of another 3 week mini-adventure with our guests...
