Roma

I know this is long overdue, but thanks to a cold I actually have the time, so I'd better take advantage of it. Nate and I had talked over the last few years about traveling somewhere before we have kids, otherwise we knew we never would. We finally decided that we'd go as a graduation present for me finishing my bachelors and Nate almost finishing up his MBA. For months we debated on where to go and finally decided on Italy.

Our trip started in Rome.

First stop: the Colosseum.  It was amazing, although not as big as Nate and I had pictured it.

Then the Roman Forum.  Gotta love those trees.

The view from the Roman Forum.

Our second home in Rome.  We got to know the bus/subway system so well that we could get just about anywhere without even thinking about it.  While this is definitely the way to travel in Rome it certainly wasn't my favorite time of the day.  There were times that the bus driver would pull in at the next stop and I would think, "There is no way one more person can fit on this bus."  The doors would open and 6 more people would cram themselves in.  It was hot and many people there don't wear deodorant.  It was fun.

The view from our hotel.  I know, I never thought there would be palm trees in Rome.

Angel Bridge.  Nate took this picture.  Awesome, huh?

La Pieta by Michelangelo.

One of the domes in St. Peter's.

Nate looking angelic in St. Peter's.

The main dome in St. Peter's.

Me in Saint Peter's Square.  (And you'll notice in these pictures that the hair is never looking very good.  Despite buying an outlet converter to be able to use anything electric we noticed that it said in the instructions not to use it with things such as curling irons or clothes irons... so a flat iron was out of the question.  I had to get along with just blow drying it.  Some days it worked, others not so much.)

Looking down in St. Peter's.

The view from the Cupola... taken above someone's head.  

Nate and I on top of the Cupola.  I about had a panic attack on the climb up.  I don't think I could ever do it again.  The stairs are really narrow, once we got to the spiral staircases there were no hand holds, and multiple times we had to try to maneuver around people who were having to take a break from the climb.  But we made it to the top!  We're both terrified of heights, but I thought, "I may only be here once so I'd better get over it and look over the edge."  Nate, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with.  I had to beg him to scoot close to the edge so I could take a picture that I'm not even using in this blog.  I'm so mean!  I wasn't looking forward to the trip back down, but oddly enough I was just fine.

Saint Peter's Basilica- view from the roof.

Our first gelato experience.  Set us back 20E, which comes to $30 American... for 2 cones.  Thankfully we quickly realized that without all the jazz you could get a waffle cone and 2-3 scoops for 3-4E.

The Pantheon.  Afterwards we just hung out in the square and people watched.  It was so relaxing.

The Trevi Fountain.  Legend goes that throwing a coin into the fountain will insure a return to Rome... I couldn't pass that up!

Nate tossing his coin.

One of the few pictures of the two of us.

Trevi Fountain.

Trevi Fountain lit up at night.  We just hung out for awhile (and dozed off a bit) and watched it light up.  It was nice to just relax for awhile.

The Colossuem at night.  Loved it.

I loved this... had to take a picture.  Pretty much sums up the driving experience there.  It's frightening.  We had considered renting a Vespa, but after seeing how people drive there we decided against it.

Waiting at the bus stop.

A lake at the Villa Borghese gardens.

Man I love this kid.

Me at the lake.

The fun bike that we rented to get around the Villa Borghese.  Nate was so good being the driver.  Every time that I tried we ended up having to get out of a rut or having to push it backwards from a tree.  

After the park we had lunch in the ritzy part of town.  One of our waiters was really cold.  He spoke to us, but you could tell he was annoyed with us Americans.  The other waiter was this big-eared goofy looking kid with an adorable smile.  He was so excited to speak English and was so sweet.  One of my favorite people that we met in Italy.

Dessert... it was so hard to find desserts without coffee or some sort of alcohol in it, so we often ended up getting something that didn't really look that good.  

Overall we loved Rome.  Definitely was the best city at night.  I never felt scared.  But from there the trip just continued to get better (although our hotels didn't!) and I was really glad that the trip began here.

Coming soon: Florence.