Rome

First, the food.

I wish I could have eaten more. And I ate a lot. Roman breakfast is my favorite kind of breakfast: cappuccino and a pastry. Perfection. And that's just the beginning of your day because there is so much food to enjoy in Rome.

On our second evening, we had my idea of a perfect night as a Roman. In the late afternoon, we started with a little caffee shakerato - iced coffee - in a patio next to the Vatican wall on cobblestones, watching all the afternoon travelers walk through. The next stop was another block over in a perfect little alley full of restaurants with tables and umbrellas to shade us from the summer sun, where we had aperitivo: Aperol Spritz with small baskets of chips, fava beans, and small nibbles. I was thrilled to be surrounded by Italians relaxing in a regular routine, meeting friends, letting their kids run around, and enjoying the early evening. Our last stop was at the other end of the alley for dinner. We drank Chianti, ate cacio e pepe, and finished with limoncello. When you go to Rome, you have to eat and drink everything, or you will have regrets.

There is a history to Italian food that goes back thousands of years, and there's a basic value of respecting food.

-Lydia Bastianich

Cacio e pepe and Pasta alla Gricia

Heavenly Pizza - not a pepperoni in sight

Gorgeous pastries

More cacio e pepe

Apertivo!

The perfect breakfast

The people

The Places

Before the tour started, we had a day and a half to explore on our own, so we took in as many sights as we could that weren't on the tour. We saw the Castel Sant' Angelo, Borghese Gardens and Museums, Piazza Navona, the Boca della Verita, and we walked down alongside the Tiber river. We saw the oldest bridge in Rome and crossed the river at Isola Tiberna. It was easy to navigate just with our smart phones, and to figure out the buses and trains. And, although it was the hottest summer, there are free fountains throughout the city where you can stop and fill a water bottle or drink from your hand.

📌 Tip: on the first Sunday of every month, museums in Rome are free. We enjoyed Castel Sant- Angelo, Museums in the Borghese estate, and the Museum of Modern Art for free. On Monday, however, we went all the way out to the Baths of Caracalla only to find out that museums are closed on Mondays! We still enjoyed a walk around the outside walls and took pictures.

We rode buses, trains, and walked our feet off to try and see as much as we could. I want to eat all of Rome with my eyes the way my mouth wants the food. Just gobbling all the history, architecture, and beauty that I my eyes can possibly devour. Rome has my whole heart.

With our tour group, we had our first meal together at a restaurant in Piazza Navona, and then took an evening walk all around, ending up at the Trevi Fountain. The next day, our tour took us all over the ancient sites of the Pantheon, the Forum and the Colosseum. We also had a tour of the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica.

📌 Tip: use your smartphone to buy bus tickets and you can hop on at any stop and go all over the city. And the trains are great - your phone can give you the exact times and locations to get wherever you want, combining the bus, train, and a walk.

The Vatican

Our tour included time both in St Peter's Basilica as well as in the Vatican Museum. There is just never enough time! We used the Rick Steves App to take our own guided tour through the museum and it helped us understand much more than we would have walking through by ourselves. Corny joke warning: Rick has a lot of them!

Detail of the mosaics that line the dome of St Peter's Basilica.

The Vatican is hard to fully comprehend. The power, the wealth, the beauty, the disciples, and the history. It is one of the places that leaves me awe-struck and conflicted.