Off to Rome today! We caught the bullet train (300km an hour) direct to Roma Termini which took about an hour and a half. Our hotel is very close to the train station. New pet hate: street sellers who put things into your lap and then tell you to pay for it…or push it into your hands while touching you. Mel’s solution: it alternates between dropping the item on the floor, shoving back, or shouting NO BUGGER OFF loudly and in a very off putting way. Success varies for all methods.
We have done a bit of a sneaky and are room sharing with someone tomorrow night. We will be in Venice but still have the room for the luggage and to save checking out and back in the next day…so to save her spending her last night in a crappy hostel, we are loaning her the room key on the sly. Sneeeeaky. Very Australian! Haha.
We started our first afternoon in Rome with a walking tour courtesy of our intrepid leader, it was a very long tour! We started at the Spanish Steps which unfortunately were closed for works, but from the side you can hardly tell (lol) and the best part of this photo was no tourists on them!
We then visited a bakery that makes the best Tiramasu in Italy (apparently) and B gave it a big thumbs up.
That was the point where Andrea (our leader) told us he would take us to the three best gelato places in Rome so we could compare. Pretty sure it was meant to be a joke but I took him literally….
gelato place 1: il gelato disan crispo.
gelato place 2: Grom
gelato number 3: Fatamorgana
The verdict? I thought number one was best but number three was a close contender.
Aside from gelato, we also explored some well known sites in Rome including the Trevi fountain, Piazza Novona, a number of cathedrals, the Pantheon, the Parliament, the colloseum and others. We saw a political protest which was pretty cool. It was a beautiful warm afternoon wandering in the sun and a nice cool evening.
parliament
Piaza Novona
this is a pretty picture taken at last light near the palace
trevi fountain (under renovation so only the top part)
After our walk, we had a short rest and then it was off to our final dinner with our intrepid group. We did the whole envelope/card tip collection thing on the sly and Andrea (Andy!) was happy. The food at Hostaria da Vincenzo was delicious and very well priced, I highly recommend it.
prosciutto and mozzarella
veal for both mains omnomnom
lemon meringue pie and a dessert that started with M and had two double L’s in it!
limoncello to finish
We finished this feast with a leisurely walk back to the hotel and lots of goodbyes. There were hugs. I’m a terrible hugger dammit.
Steps today: 22571
Kilometres: 15.6kms
Tomorrow: VENICE! Looking forward to a romantic gondala ride with my special someone 🙂
Mel's Travel Blog 