Thursday 14th June - Rome
We've arrived!!!! A grand achievement!
Our only event today was a visit to an olive oil boutique enterprise with tastings and then an oily lunch. It was all presented so professionally  and what it showed me was the superb standard of oils produced in NZ.

 This enterprise produced 20 different oils, but there are 600 which exist in Italy. We learned the meaning of the term "extra virgin oil" and the way they actually extract the oil. A tour through the processing plant was all new to us. This enterprise employs about 50 pickers per season.
After seeing how the mechanical press operated we were taken upstairs to the tasting table where we were given 3 little samples of their oil. How very interesting to hear about the subtleties of these. I could taste no difference whatsoever and did not like any of them. Then we had a 4 course lunch offered to us during which we tried those same 3 oils with tomato, mozzarella cheese and bread. The next course was a delightful chick pea soup into which we were supposed to stir the decreed oil. I preferred not to. Then we were presented with thinly sliced raw beef on lettuce leaves and told to try the oils on them .Peter and I declined that altogether. This was followed by a very dark chocolate icecream over which an oil had been poured. One mouthful,  that was it. The other group members bought up large, but we escaped into the sunshine and settled on to the bus. We were far more interested in getting to Rome.

And so we did. Not easily, mind you. Mercifully our tour guide was returning to Rome via the fast Express, so we could tag along behind him. What chaos!!!! However, by asking lots of questions we caught the 4.13 pm train. It was running a tad late but that's ok. Passengers have 8 minutes from the time of the announcement of the Platform number to the departure of the train whether you're on it or not. It just closes its doors and goes.  We had booked first class which proved an excellent idea. It included a juice and a bikkie. The train winds up to 250kph so the trip was an easy 1 1/2 hours. Very pleasant and comfortable.
Of course then we were tipped off the train as quickly as possible and went in search of a taxi to battle the insane traffic to reach our Best Western Hotel which was very close to the station but totally impossible for us to achieve with the density of people and traffic and our heavy bags. What a lovely warm welcome we received here. We really felt so triumphant. We have a magnificent room with an enormous bathroom with a black,  twinkly , marble floor. Goodness me. We managed to get to the sumptuous dining room, down margaritas and proseccos, eat vege soup and Veal done the way Italians  do, a fruit salad and stagger to bed. Not too sure how this combines with Peter's  drugs but we'll find out in the morning.