Vacay, part 1 - Rome if you want to

I'm still a little wonky from the jet lag, but I'm eager to get started on my recaps! I'm going to try to break them up by city and sprinkle some pictures (*ahem*- aka food porn) throughout. And I warn you that these posts are gonna be loooooong, especially this first one as we spent the most time in the first city.

Sunday, Sept. 23
Early that morning we took a cab to the airport. We had exit row seats from LA to Atlanta, which was fabulous. Our flight from Atlanta to Rome was only about half full, so we were able to spread out. I was able to spread out over a set of three empty seats, so paired with the vodka/Fresca cocktail (I know, strange but surprisingly good) and Simply Sleep, I was able to sleep a few hours quite nicely. I'm a bad wife, though, because while I was able to spread out over three seats, I didn't realize until we had almost landed that my poor hubby only had two empty seats. And he's 8" taller than me! He wasn't upset about it, luckily.

Monday, Sept. 24
Our 15-hour flight meant that we landed in Italy on Monday. Rome's airport is a 20-minute train ride from the actual city so we were able to check out the outskirts of the city. Our hotel was about half a mile from the Termini (train station), which wasn't bad at all, although it was a little warmer than we expected. We stayed at a cute hotel called Hotel Alpi.


(Brent did an amazing job with choosing/booking all our hotels, btw. Oh, and researching restaurants! Hubby of the Year material for sure!) Hotel Alpi's staff was friendly and helpful. The hotel itself was very clean and filled with charming decor. Our room looked out into a little courtyard. The bed was hard, which Brent prefers. I prefer something a little cushier, but I have no complaints. Oh! And the room featured a flat screen tv, which was very nice!

Hotel Alpi, like all the hotels we stayed in on our trip, included breakfast in our room fees. They all had dining areas where they served cappuccino and other coffee, croissants and other pastries, cold cereal and yogurt. It was nice to have a light meal that was enough to give you energy through lunch but not enough to make you sluggish.

So after we got settled in, we took a double-decker bus tour around the city for a big picture view of Rome. And even though I had slept quite a bit on the plane, something about the rocking motion of the bus (and probably some jet lag) put me to sleep for part of the tour. Luckily Brent was awake enough to keep my head from bobbing everywhere. And I was only asleep for a few minutes so I didn't miss too much.

After the tour we strolled around the city on foot and picked up our first piece of authentic Italian pizza. We strolled some more and I had my first gelato, cherry flavor.

Sadly there was a bit of a casualty as I offered Brent the last bit of the amazing cone.

That night we had our first full Italian meal at a restaurant called Da Tullio. According to travel guru Rick Steves, whose Italy guide book was quite helpful throughout our entire trip, most restaurants in Italy are lit so brightly to assure patrons that the restaurant isn't pulling one over on them. Even with that warning, we were still surprised by the brightness of the restaurant. It didn't hinder our experience, though.

The meal started off with very rustic-looking bread (every meal comes with bread) and olive oil that Brent deemed a bit lemony. (He'd bathe in olive oil if he could. He looooves the stuff.) We started with an appetizer of prosciutto and melon. (Oh, and he looooves cured meats, ESPECIALLY prosciutto. Anyone know where I can find some bed sheets made of it? He'd be in heaven.)

We also had our first taste of Italian wine, in this case the restaurant's house red, Chianti. So yummy! Brent's main dish was veal shank with porcini mushrooms, which he thoroughly enjoyed. I had fettuccine with "wild" mushrooms, which was so freakin' yummy. I want all my mushrooms out of control, thankyouverymuch. And lucky for us it's mushroom season in Italy, so that meant plenty of quality fungi throughout our trip.

We thought we were too stuffed for dessert at the restaurant, but we changed our mind after we took a taxi back to our hotel. The Metro (subway) closes surprisingly early and we had no choice but to catch a cab. Anyhow, we picked up some pastries from a cafe/bakery just down the street from our hotel and enjoyed them on our hotel's terrace. They included a cannolli (amazing!), something filled with creme (ok) and an apple/almondy thing (also just ok).

Tuesday, Sept. 25
We started with breakfast at the hotel. Like we did throughout most of our trip, we played "American or not?" as we tried to figure out where the other tourists were from. Usually the shoes are a good indicator (Americans typically wear white sneakers, although we were good and tried to blend in with grey and black sneakers).

After breakfast we headed to the nearby Palazzo Massimo, one of Rome's National Museums, which featured a lot of neat old stuff, including the history of Roman money and a lot of impressive sculptures along with some strange ones.

Oh, there was also a mummy of a child, which we were a little shocked to see. The museum features a gorgeous courtyard, which was a great place to rest.

We then visited the Pantheon. Huge and impressive, especially as the entrance is one piece of marble. This was another great place to people watch.

We got lost looking for a place called Il Bacaro where Brent wanted to book dinner reservations for that night. After we finally found it, I reasoned that we should instead have lunch there and find a different place to have dinner. The restaurant can be found on a cute little back street about a quarter mile from the Pantheon. The outdoor tables are nestled beneath a beautiful lattice of leaves.

We started with a yummy appetizer of squid salad.

My main dish was pasta with pumpkin and cheese, also delightful. Brent enjoyed his salmon macaroni with peppercorns.

Then it was off to the Vatican!

So for a little background, Brent and I aren't religious. Although I was baptised Catholic, I consider myself agnostic. And Brent was raised partially Jewish (long story) and does not currently practice. But we were in Rome and we HAD to see the freakin' Vatican. I had heard that it's much easier to go in the "afternoon" as the lines aren't nearly as long then. So we arrived in the "afternoon," which we defined as 2:45. Um, the Vatican freakin' closes at 3:45! And doesn't let people in 90 minutes before closing! So "afternoon" literally means right after noon. LAME! That threw us off a bit as we had planned to do Vatican and then St. Peters (the church next door) that afternoon and then spend the next day in Ancient Rome.

Instead we spent the afternoon at the Forum in Ancient Rome, which doesn't require tickets or waiting in line and it's open until 7. We did the walking tour in Rick Steves' book, which was informative yet not boring. While museums tend to bore us, places like the Forum that have such amazing history behind them and massively tall and intricate architecture was quite cool for us.

We had a place in mind for dinner but it was totally booked when we got there, so instead we found a place in Rick Steves' book where the service was a bit rude and the food was mediocre. I didn't even write down what we had nor did we take pictures of it.

Wednesday, Sept. 26
After the hotel breakfast, we made our way to Saint Peter in Chains, the Roman church where the chains that bound Saint Peter. It also houses an impressive statue of Moses that Michelangelo did.

We headed back to Ancient Rome to visit the inside of the Colosseum, which was again quite awe-inspiring. We did the audio tour and learned all about the games and the history of the huge landmark. One of the games they did involved a huge faux whale on the field. The gladiators entered the field, the whale's mouth opened to release 50 bears! I can only imagine the gladiators' faces upon that realization. "What the???"

From Ancient Rome we want back to the Vatican, where we had a 25-minute wait (much better than the hour+ waits that most people deal with. And we got there shortly after noon. As we waited, we enjoyed watching the various illegal street vendors, trying to sell knock-off designer sunglasses, handbags and scarves, scatter and run away wildly as any sign of police presence. And as quickly as they disappeared, they reappeared as soon as the coast looked clear.

The Vatican was nice and all, but my feet were starting to ache. It's also a nearly 4-mile hike through the Vatican to get to the Sistine Chapel! We finally arrived and craned our necks to admire the ceiling. After we had our fill, we used the super secret exit at the right rear of the chapel to make our way directly into the St. Peters church, skipping the long line. Sweet!

By this time my feet were throbbing, so I wasn't able to enjoy the beautiful decor as much as I could have. The church really is gorgeous, though.

We rested in the nearby square, where we avoided the way-too-friendly flocks of birds. Ugh.

After resting a bit, we got some gelato. I had strawberry and chocolate mint. Brent had lemon. We rested more back at our hotel then visited the Spanish steps. They're beautiful at night and filled with lots of people. They're behind us in this picture.

We walked through the neighborhood of luxury goods and brands, much like LA's Rodeo Drive to our dinner at nearby Al Moro.

I started with spaghetti al moro (soooo good) while Brent had antipasta.

My main dish was baked lamb, which looked gigantic but was mostly bone. The meat I was able to pick out was delectable. Brent's main dish was a spicy lamb cacciatore. He's now officially a fan of lamb.

My dessert was the most phenomenal creme with mixed berries. Brent had a pie-like torte.

After dinner we swung by the nearby Trevi Fountain where we threw in some coins to ensure a return trip to Rome, as legend says.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for pastries at another nearby cafe/bakery near the hotel. That was the end of our Rome adventures.

I'll post more pics on Flickr, but we have so many to go through (1,000+) that it may take me a while!

Next: Siena, baby!

"Everyone have a nice Summer? Yea? Have fun? Go to swim camp? Eat snow cones? Pony rides? Yea? Well, Summer’s over. Time to get back to work." - Dwight, The Office