We arrived in brilliant sunshine after our journey from Florence, to a very different environment. Rome is a capital city, buzzing with life, everyday people doing what city people do; busy streets, public transport, everything that you would expect.
But woven into that is the extraordinary fact that the modern world of Rome weaves its busy life around some of the greatest ancient buildings and monuments that you're ever likely to see.
It's what makes being in this place so thrilling.
In the morning we walked across the Ponte Sisto to the 'other' side of the Tevere (or Tiber, as we know it), to the Trastevere district, up through the narrow streets to the Spanish Academy, which houses the building that is synonymous with the birth of the Italian Renaissance, Bramante's Tempietto, that was supposed to mark the point where St Peter was killed. An extraordinary and wonderful structure.
Then up to Pope Paul V's 'Fontanne' where the waters of the rebuilt Trajan's Aqueduct emerge.
Down the hill again, to Santa Maria in Trastevere, lunch, and then to the wonderful Palazzo Corsini to see their great collection
