ROMA!

Today was lovely. We slept in a little bit and got going about 11 or 12 to head into the city center. Once there, we ventured back to the souvenir shop that we visited yesterday next to the Vatican. Mum and Dad saw some things they liked and we wanted more time to pick out what we wanted. Buying a crucifix is serious business when they come in such a variety of shapes (haha), sizes, and colors! So we spent a significant amount of time there, and then on the recommendation of our friend Mario (a friend we made while making purchases at his store), we went and found Ristorante Spinosi, where we were greeted by a bleach blond fat Italian grandma. She asked us if we wanted wine or beer, salad, and pizza or pasta…and a few minutes later we were eating the best meal of all our lives. It was wonderful, and I’m certain that she took our “order” and went back to her kitchen and prepared our salad, pizza and pasta herself. It was glorious, and of all the good meals we’ve had on this trip, this one is in the top 3. That’s really saying something.

After the landmark lunch, we wandered our way back west across the city and first found the Pantheon. It really is a testament to the incredible engineering and architecture the Romans were capable of – without any kind of heavy machinery or computers! The dome is the biggest unsupported dome of its kind, and engineers and architects around the world still marvel at its structure and ability to stay standing, let alone for so many centuries. The White House, among other government and national buildings worldwide are modeled after the Pantheon. It has some cool altars inside honoring kings of Italy, and Jesus – the side where mass is held weekly. How cool would it be to go there regularly! “Oh me? I belong to the Pantheon Church of God, how about you?” Right. Anyways, after that we kind of followed a walking tour that took us to some extra special churches and monuments, and eventually finding our way to some old Roman ruins, the Coliseum, and the Palatino which includes the Roman Forum. These sites really were fabulous, and showcase the former glory of the Roman Empire. I’d say that we probably would have gotten more out of them if we had gotten a guide or done a guided tour instead of just wandering around. While it was nice to go at our own pace and leave whenever we wanted, we certainly had a lot of questions about what we were seeing that went unanswered. Still, definitely worth it! Check out the pictures (they will go up eventually, promise) for some cool views.
By the end of our Roman ruins exploration, it was about 6:30 or 7pm, and so we had to sort of speed up our tour to get to the things we wanted to see before dinner reservations at 8pm. So we caught a taxi to the Trevi Fountain since we had heard this was a must-see while in Rome. It definitely was wonderful! The fountain is a little different from others in that it’s not in a traditional piazza – the fountain is huge and is only a one-sided fountain (instead of circular) and was set against the side of a building. This makes for a neat looking fountain and good views from the facing street, but it’s not so good for the thousands of tourists coming by daily to take pictures! We managed to work our way down and snag a spot in front of the fountain to take our picture and throw some coins over our shoulders for good luck, as is the tradition. One coin to come back to Rome, and a second coin to find love, and apparently a third coin to get a divorce…not so sure about that last one. Mum and Dad tossed one each, and I tossed two just in case :) From there, we walked to the Spanish steps to take some pictures…I have to say the steps were not as glorious as they were talked up to be, but still very pretty! Plus they’re on one of the streets that has all the designer shops on it, so that was fun too.

Sight-seeing finished, we got a taxi to our dinner destination: Lo Zodiaco. This place was great – it sits at the top of a hill/mountain which overlooks the whole city of Rome. As you can imagine, the views were wonderful of the city all lit up at night! We were one of the first people to get to the restaurant (surprise, no one eats as early as 8pm in Italy), and so it was nice to have the porch to ourselves for a little while. The food was good – I had spaghetti in seafood sauce, which means I had spaghetti in a light red sauce with shrimp, clams, oysters, and muscles. Mum had a delicious veal in light lemon sauce, Dad enjoyed beef and cannelloni, and we all had some yummy dessert – tortufa, gelato, and a bowl of strawberries. Hungry yet? After dinner we caught another taxi back to the city center where we waited for the hotel shuttle to pick us up at 11.

Tomorrow we have decided to leave Rome early and head south to Sorrento to make sure we get some good relaxation time! Only a few more days…