We just returned from an adventure-filled week in Italy! We're separating our stories into the different areas we visited for ease of reading and photos. Here we go!
Our first day in Italy was spent in the beautiful city of Rome. We began our day by eating a wonderful breakfast of crusty bread with cream cheese, yogurt, croissants, and Italian ham and cheese slices, all found at the terrace eatery on the roof of our hotel. We then set out to walk around parts of historical Rome, specifically to see the Colloseum and consume as much Gelato as the hot and humid weather would allow. Both of us enjoyed seeing so much history all in one place. What amazing architecture!
As amazing as the Colloseum was, my favorite site was Trevi Fountain. (I’m a water-lover, like my mom.) The “streets,” alleyways by US standards, near the Fountain were packed with people milling about the small shops and trying to catch glimpses of the historical monument. Truly an impressive sight to see, and a crazy experience becoming one of the hundreds on those tiny streets! And just when we thought it couldn’t get any crazier, we watched a taxi drive its way, albeit at an absolute crawl, through the pedestrian-crowded street!
On a side note, that’s another thing we appreciated about Italy – their drivers. Most of the time in Rome, both vehicles and pedestrians shared the streets (the sidewalks just aren’t large enough for the volume of sightseers), and everyone seems quite fine with that arrangement. No angry, screaming fits to be seen, just friendly waves. Coming from Pennsylvania, my description sounds a bit like a Twilight Zone episode. J The fact that most Italian drivers are courteous and will just drive around you if you abruptly stop in the middle of the road would come in handy for us for the rest of the trip, as you’ll read a bit later.
We finished our day with a piece of delicious lasagna at a small one-room eatery near our apartment. We even managed to beat the dinner crowd (dinner is usually eaten around 7-8pm in Italy), so we were the only customers! Great food, great service! All-in-all, a wonderful start to our Italy experience!
