We left our apartment and headed into Rome around 9 am, the treck to the metro was much less stressful this time around. We did have to squeeze into a very small parking space, but the boys are almost experts at driving and parking in Europe, a couple more weeks and they could be as good as natives.
Our first stop was the Spanish Steps in Italian known as Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti. They were constructed in 1725. They were built to link the spanish embassy and the church at the time. It was really crowded not ideal for photography, but here is a picture.
Our next stop was Piazza del Popolo, in Italian this means people’s square. Historically this was the first area travelers would see when coming into Rome. It was also the area for public executions, the last of which was in 1826. Unfortunately there was a lot of construction in the area and not as beautiful as Sarah remembers.
Then we headed to the Trevi fountain, in Italian Fountana de Trevi. The fountain marks the terminal point of the Acqua Vergine, which is the revived Aqua Virgo one of the ancient aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome. It took 30 years to finish.
We had pizza at an Italian restorante and headed to Vatican City. Dustin and I took a tour of the the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel while Sarah and Josh headed off to the market called Campo di Fiori and a stroll around town. They have seen the vatican on past trips. The market had fresh fruits and veggies and nuts. We are set for breakfast tomorrow. Here are a few pictures they took.
The tour of the Vatican was definitely worth paying for, we skipped the lines and had a guide describing all the major highlights as we walked through. Here are a few shots from the Vatican Museam.
The purple granite in this last tomb is very expensive. It comes from an area in Africa that was completely excavated by the British once they found it.
We saw the Sistine chapel and our guide was great at explaining the paintings. Pictures aren’t allowed to be taken in this area and we did see a man get thrown out for taking pictures. The last stop on our visit to Vatican City was St. Peter’s Basilica. It was beautiful, here are a few shots from there. There was marble everywhere!
We met up with Josh and Sarah outside St. Peter’s Basilica. Then we headed to the Pantheon, the Pantheon was rebuilt in 126 AD as a temple to all the gods. It is one of the best preserved of the ancient roman buildings, and since the 7th century as been a Roman Catholic church.
Afterwards we headed for dinner. We debated going back to the restaurant from last night, but decided to take a chance on something different. We ended up at Il Falchetto. Dustin had the lasanga and I had the gnocci. Both were wonderful! Here are a few pictures.
We love the Italian food except for the bread. The bread is so bland and hard at both restaurants we went to charged extra for it. We should have learned our lesson last night. But the menu last night said they charged and we saw after we dug in, and tonight no mention on the menu but they charged 1 EUR pp. Bring back the French whole grain baguettes! 🙂
We stopped by an Italian supermarket on the way home in our area. It was pretty similar to a Super Walmart or Kroger Marketplace except all in Italian. We purchased some gelato for dessert much cheaper than in town and some pasta making kitchen accessories for making pasta at home. Josh & Sarah have made homemade pasta before and we really want to try. Then back to the apartment to relax for the rest of the evening.
We are leaving early in the morning tomorrow for Venice. We are going to stop for a few sights in Florence on the way. One more full day in Italy. Rome is such a beautiful place with rich history, so glad it was part of the trip!
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