When in Rome...

Ok so this post is way overdue but here's the story of our adventures in Rome. We arrived in Rome late Friday night. We park the car and walk up what seemed like 100 flights of stairs to our rooms. We're staying in this quaint little hole in the wall place on the 4th floor of some old nondescript building. Our rooms are small but nice with wood floors and a little bathroom and shower. We crash for the night and get some rest. We wake up late the next morning and have breakfast. Breakfast is small but good, juice and bread with jam. We finish breakfast and pack up to head out for the day. At breakfast we grab a map and plan out what we want to go see throughout the day and then hop a subway and start our adventures. First stop the Vatican! It’s an unbelievable place, its enormous. We walk around the courtyard a bit and take a lot of pictures. It’s about time for lunch so we cruise down to a place recommended by the guy who's place we're staying at. It's a typical little hole in the wall pizza cafe kind of place. The whole place is loud and the waiters are running around everywhere all in a hurry. Apparently this is normal. The pizza is awesome! After lunch we decide to cruise our way down to the Coliseum. The sun is setting and everyone says it's best viewed after sundown. They're right about seeing the Coliseum at night. It's all eerily backlit and ominous looking. It's closed when we get there so we don't get to go inside. We walk around it and soak up seeing the outside. Next we decide to hop a subway back across town to see the famous Spanish Stairs and the Trevi Fountains. We arrive at the Spanish Stairs to find the town square below it densely crowded and the stairs covered with people and peddlers. The Stairs are beautiful, there's a huge Christmas tree at the top. We climb the stairs and are greeted at the top by a marching, chanting procession of protesters of the recent Gaza Strip actions in Israel. This group is then followed by about a dozen different versions of the local Communist parties. it's quite a sight to behold and definitely something we're not used to seeing. As we head back down the Stairs we run into a Swiss Children's Choir that has just begun singing. It's a very happy contrast to the angry group we just saw. We watch for a bit and then head off to find the Trevi Fountains. No picture or video could ever really do justice to the Trevi Fountains. They are beautiful and ancient and captivating. This is by far our favorite place so far. We spend a bit of time here and even throw a coin or to in and make a few wishes. We've been walking a lot and we're all starting to get really hungry so it’s off to dinner we go. We go to another place that was highly recommended to us and is supposed to be famous for their pastas. We're not disappointed. They have every imaginable combination of pasta and sauces you can think of. It’s a very quaint place with a quiet atmosphere. We all pick something different and when our food comes out we're amazed at just how good it is. I love pasta, I'm a bit of an amateur pasta connoisseur if you will and I'll be honest it's one of the best meals I've ever had. We relax for a little while after dinner to let our food settle before heading back to the room for the night. The night is cold and the walk is nice as we make our way back. We make it back to the room and say our goodnights. We have to wake up at 3:30 A.M. to head to the airport so sleep is definitely precious. 3:30 comes way too soon. We pack the car up and head to the airport. After staying in line for like an hour we get our bags checked in and we're off to catch our flight to head home.