Italy Part 2- 1st Day in Rome

Saturday, December 15 - To Rome! 

On Saturday, we got up and made it to the train station by 7am. We rode this high speed train to Rome. It was a wonderful way to travel! It had free wi-fi and coffee and beautiful views... well... after the fog lifted it had beautiful views. I had yet to see Milan since the sun goes down at 4:30 and it was foggy in the morning when we left. But, I got to see Tuscany ;)

When we got to Rome, we took the Metro to the Spanish Steps, (which were about as close as we could get to our hotel) and then walked to the Pantheon which is where our hotel was located.

After we checked in, we walked all around the city, (in the drizzle... it was warm... but wet and good for frizzy hair). We walked to the Piazza Navona where they had a market set up. We found a great gelato restaurant, shopped in fun touristy shops, walked over to the Tiber River and saw lots of people. When we were tired of walking, we went back to the hotel to rest up. For dinner, we asked the concierge for a recommendation for a pasta place. He led us to Il Falchetto. Adrienne had Ravioli and I had Spaghetti Bolognese... it was soooo good! Our waiter spoke very little english and seemed unimpressed with us, but we loved the food so much that we went back the next night. Our waiter remembered that we were there the previous night and was so happy to see us. (Maybe he didn't feel good the night before??) He even was teasing us and taught me to say Thank You...(grah-zi-ay, not grah-zi, in case you are wondering). "Now you speak like a real Italian!"

After dinner we made our way to the Trevi Fountain which was on Adrienne's bucket list. The color of the night literally looked like this:

When she was done throwing money into the fountain, we took a stroll, (with most of the rest of the Roman city), to the Spanish Steps where there was a huge Christmas tree. Italians do not decorate like Americans do for Christmas. I saw potential for balconies and terraces to be spiffed up for the holiday, but apparently that is not the culture.

The Streets of Rome are crowded with people. Occasionally a car would come through and everyone would casually move apart, but mainly the streets are for people.

After this beautiful day of sightseeing, I slept 12 hours straight!