Italy: Day 3

Onto Day 3. We were able to sleep in a bit and have a leisurely breakfast. On that note, I need to pause and say that this is the best breakfast I have EVER had.



Cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, ham... seriously? I only wish that my life back here allowed me to walk 5 miles a day like we did in Rome so I could eat this way every morning.

Anyway, we finished up and headed over to the Spanish Steps (only about a 20 minute walk from our hotel). We stopped to watch a group of people who we can only assume were raising awareness of the Kyoto Treaty. They were dressed up like a heard of penguins and parading all over the steps.






Matt modeling Beau on the Spanish Steps

After ducking into a cafe for a Cappuchino (which we are now both addicted to), we headed back to Barberini Square to share some pizza, panini, and a bottle of wine for lunch. We scored a great table in front of the cafe/bar and met some fellow travelers from both Australia and Ireland. We also watched a crazy dude run around the square and try to scare people.

Around 2pm we headed onto our "Crypts and Catacombs" tour. The Catacombs of St. Callixtus, Catacombe di San Callisto were outside the city walls, and were fairly interesting. We then headed to the Basilica of San Clemente, which was a 12th century church built on top of a 4th century church, which was built on top of a common-living area from the 1st century.



Matt and I both agreed the common area was the most interesting - there is still running water leading into the ruins of old homes that no one knows the source of. All the floor tiles and walls of the homes were original!

The final stop of the tour was the Cappuchin Crypt. I'm not even going to explain to you what the inside of the Crypt was like. Just click here. Story of these guys here.

That evening we ventured to dinner at a place near our hotel that I read about in a magazine, Otte e Mezzo. The service and wine was fantastic, but we were just a bit disappointed in the food. Don't get me wrong that is a relative term, because I still think it was a great meal. Just a bit pricey and smaller portions compared to other meals we had consumed.

This was also an adventure because this was the one place we had been where they spoke pretty limited English. Our waiter tried pretty hard, but I think I ordered something I didn't intend to ;)

Italy: Day 2

We woke up *somewhat* early on Sunday morning, and I was fighting off the Prosecco hangover from the night before. Regardless we hit the pavement and headed out for a lunch of pizzas which helped massively. On our way, Matt and I happened across the Armenian Church in Rome. Yes, we were there for less than 24 hours and Matt found the Armos.



We then headed to Barberini Square to catch the hop on-hop off bus. We took the full tour and saw the sites from the top of the bus.





Parking? Si!


Temple of Vesta - believed to be the oldest building in Rome.

We jumped off at the Colosseum and took one of the guided tours. It really was amazing to see this thing in person.




The tour also took us over to the Roman Forum, which was awesome as well. We stood up on Palatine Hill and learned about the stories of Romulus and Remus, how Rome was populated, and the wild parties that used to go on.


Looking down to the party spot. Did you know those who were of the highest social class would gather here for parties and then eat and drink until full to the brim, and would then stick a feather down their throat to puke it all out and go at it agian? Yeah, no thanks....


Here Kitty Kitty........ I was a bit disappointed that this was the only cat we actually saw. I had heard so much about how many cats there are in Rome!

After a long, LONG day, we headed back to our little bar in the hotel for Campari, and we were directed to this great little place right around the corner from the hotel by the bartender. Matt and I shared some Bruschetta and Pasta Cartoccio Frutta di Mare. For my second course I had some Veal Meatballs with a mushroom sauce that was to DIE for. And a nice bottle of Chianti, of course. Sadly, it was the one place we didn't pick up a business card for!

We crashed hard that night. Luckily we got to sleep in, but wanted to make sure we got up in time for breakfast. SO SO glad we did.

Italy: Day 1

After running through the Frankfurt airport at full-speed to catch our connector flight to Rome, Matt and I were whisked up by our driver @ the airport and driven down the crazy, CRAZY streets of Rome to our hotel.


My first view of the Colosseum.

Arriving totally wiped out and exhausted by the 24 hours of travel time, we were greeted by the sweetest sight ever: A bottle of Prosecco and chocolate cake.



We sank into the couch and ate 1/2 the cake and drank a glass of Prosecco, then promptly passed out for a couple hours (thank GOD dinner time is 830pm in Italy!) After we woke up we showered, drank the rest of the Prosseco, and headed downstairs to the bar for a couple of Campari & Sodas.


PS - Check out Matt wearing Cobblestone ;) His handknit sweaters got lots of use on this trip!

Our first night in Rome happened to be Valentine's Day, and we had this fabulous four-course meal already arranged for us. I fell in love with Italy walking through the streets that night!!!