World Tour Stop 25 - Rome, Italy

Roma!!! I had visited Rome exactly three years ago but was super excited to be returning to this amazing city with some great friends. Rome is an incredible city with so much history and culture packed into a major metropolitan. The craziness that is a Colosseum that housed events for centuries and is thousands of years, Vatican City, some of the greatest architecture and art in the world and all of this interspersed with universities and modern culture, it is just amazing.

We arrived to Rome around 7 in the evening and headed to our airbnb which was super centrally located in walking distance to Campo de'Fiori which has daily markets as well as a ton of great restaurants and nightly tourist traps. Our first night we went to Osteria da Fortunata and the meal and service were amazing. Highly recommend going here and having some of the hand rolled pasta and delicious Italian wines..

The other plus is that the plates and cups were made of this really cool clay (obviously glazed) that was unique and felt like we were eating in someone's home rather than a very popular restaurant.

The next morning we planned to have a very busy day with an early morning visit to Vatican City (we bought the skip the line tickets and then used the Rick Steve's Audio Europe App for the Vatican and it was much cheaper and easier than doing a full paid tour).. Plan on having about 3-4 hours to get around the Vatican (especially if you're intending to do the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica).

First thing you need to know about the Vatican is that inside the city they are a little more strict on dress code, so we wore pants and sleeves so that we would be covering up shoulders and knees, but it was about a hundred degrees outside and air conditioning isn't really an option, so we were definitely dying. The last time I was in Rome was August of 2016 and it was significantly more bearable temperature, so maybe think about visiting later or earlier in the summer!

With that said, perhaps because it was so hot, we did not see anyone getting called out about their attire unless they tried to go into the Sistine Chapel, so it may be a good idea to dress how you normally would and bring something to cover up for the Chapel and not die of heat stroke while walking the rest of the city. We were in peak tourist season and had not pre-booked St Peter's to climb to the top (regretfully) so we just did the Basilica and the square. I did climb to the top (roughly 500 stairs) a few years ago and would say if you can pre-book doing this that it is definitely worth it for the views.

This took until midday and then we headed to a quick lunch of pizza (so many carbs!) and then off again to the Colosseum. We booked advance tickets with TripAdvisor that were supposed to be skip the line - the same as we had booked that morning for the Vatican and was quite possibly the worst booking experience I've ever had. We have booked so many activities over this multi-month trip, plus several years of travel prior to this and yet, this experience really soured me on TripAdvisor as their customer service was terrible and they didn't respond to a single request for assistance. Our skip the line entry was due to start at 2 so we arrived at the Colosseum at about 1:50, struggled to meet our guide but finally found him. He told us to stand and wait while he gathered the rest of the group (which we didn't book a tour, just the skip the line so we didn't think we needed a group) and we did not go to the line to wait until nearly 3. This is in blazing hot sun with no shade and no communication on what we were waiting for. After getting in line it was nearly 4 before we got inside, so the skip the line part was clearly not evident. Then our "guide" took us to three spots on the lower level and talked to us about Roman history and then told us we'd be leaving for the Roman forum at 4:25. Thus, for a two hour wait we would be in the Colosseum for less than half an hour and we didn't even get to go to the upper levels or walk around and explore. I asked if we could just get to forum tickets from him and do it on our own so we could take our time and the response was a rude no. We tried to run around and grab a couple pictures but this was a super disappointing experience.

Anyway, definitely recommend just doing the tickets on your own and not trying to use a tour group. Rick Steve's has a great tour for the Colosseum as well so you won't miss anything by not having a tour booked, plus then you can do it on your own time. We did follow the group to get into the Forum and then left and did our audio tour on our own so we could go at our own pace and learn and enjoy without any pressure. The Roman Forum was thus, much more enjoyable.

The Forum is the ruins of what used to be an incredibly rich street where lords and ladies and virgin vestibules would reside and shop and trade with street merchants. The city of Rome has preserved this history and it is incredible to be next to these ruins in a city of such wealth and splendor.

On our walk home we stopped and took a couple of pictures in front of Vittorio Emanuele II Monument, the altar of the Fatherland that is in front of Capitol Hill and Piazza Venezia.

That night we went to the Irish Pub (Abbey Theatre Irish Pub) to watch the USWNT take on England in the Semi-Finals of the World Cup. It was crazy how many USA fans were there and it was still a really fun experience. Limoncello shots for goals! Our bartender was awesome and the atmosphere was great and we enjoyed a pre-treason day treat by kicking England's butt right out of the cup and Alex Morgan got a birthday goal.

The next morning we packed in another busy day with a visit to the Bocca de la Verita to kick us off. This is an monument of a lion's head that will bite off your hand if you tell it a lie. Obviously, none of us had ever lied, so we were fine!

From here we walked down the street to the Spanish Steps. If you're a millennial then perhaps you have seen The Lizzie McGuire Movie in which Hilary Duff does a cartwheel on the Spanish Steps while shes being pursued by a lip singing Italian pop star. It's a movie for the ages, of course. Anyway, had to recreate the moment and enjoy sitting on the steps looking out over the square.

After the steps we went to the Trevi Fountain, a place where Bri has wanted to visit for years. It was well overcrowded but still a beautiful place to sit and enjoy and also make a wish! The Trevi Fountain collects millions of Euros every year, all of which are donated to its upkeep and then to children's charities which means your wish is also a wish for someone else!

The Trevi fountain led us to the Pantheon where we again got to enjoy a Rick Steve's audio tour. The Pantheon is massive and old and has an open dome in the top to allow sun to enter and sloped floor with drains to get rid of rain. Worth a visit as it is free to enter and is where Raphael is buried.

After enjoying this final historic site we ran by the place to change and head to our food tour hosted by Secret Food Tours. The tour started at Piazza Navona and then was all drinking and eating for the next 4 hours. Unlike the one I booked in Singapore, this one had no shortage in alcohol with the drinks package, definitely worth the extra charge.

Our first stop on the food tour was right in Piazza Navona and was for either a glass of sparkling wine (prosecco) or an espresso. I will give you one guess to what we chose! Then from here we walked down towards Campo De Fiori (the entire food tour was in the Jewish Grotto area of Rome which happened to be where we were also staying, so very convenient for us). Here we stopped at the oldest Naples style pizzeria in Rome called Forno Campo De Fiori where we were able to try three different kinds of pizza and have a new kind of beer we'd never tasted before.

The three pizza pieces were on a thick bread and had minimal or no sauce. My favorite was the one with the fresh herbs on it.

From here we walked down the street a little and stopped for fresh buffalo cheese and then stepped into a boutique winery and tried three more cheeses and wine pairings.

The fresh mozzarella was amazing and sweet and the jam that was on the soft cheese was so good. I could eat cheese and drink wine EVERY DAY.

Our next stop was to have some homemade suppli (risotto balls that are breaded and fried and stuffed with cheese and other yummy ingredients). We tasted one that had mushrooms and one that had marinara and prosciutto. I could not tell you which I preferred.

Our next stop was cannolis and Bri's first time trying one. She wasn't too into it but Emily and I ate ours and hers to make up for it. If you're in Italy, you have to have at least one cannoli to say you've done it.

We then went to a lovely little restaurant called Taverna Cairoli and had two options of pasta (but of course we all tried both). One was a spaghetti carbonara and the other was a spaghetti bolognese. I sadly was too excited and didn't take pictures of this food, but it was again served with wine, so perfection.

Our final stop of the tour was for some gelato. Our guide told us how to see if gelato was made right there in the store or machine made by seeing the word laboratorio under the name. Honestly, most everywhere we went had this, so we were never disappointed. Gelato was the perfect way to end the evening and our stomachs were very full and happy. This is still one of my favorite ways to learn about the foods in a new city.

With this being our last night in Rome before moving on to Florence in the morning, we decided to grab a bottle of wine and head back to the Trevi fountain for some night views and people watching. We stayed for about three hours just enjoying the atmosphere and loving how late the sun stays up. It probably would be a great romantic place to bring a date, but perfect for friends sharing a bottle of wine as well. One thing to note is that after 10PM you can't buy wine anymore, so get your purchases done ahead of time!

Another amazing adventure down! Off to Florence and Tuscany we go.