Friday, March 5
Thursday night we settled nicely into our apartment at Viale Mazzini 6 after getting lost a couple of times during our walk through the neighborhood. Then we enjoyed a very thorough tour from Mr. Torri who described how to turn on the hot water in each bathroom and throw a match into the gas grill to start the flames. Hmmm...hopefully we don't burn the place down.
Friday was an early morning because we had plans to visit the Vatican Museum at St. Peter's Basilica. I have to admit one of the best parts of the trip was watching Katelin take it all in. We marveled at the buildings, the statues and finally the Sistine chapel. Of course there are no pictures allowed but Katelin snuck in a couple.
Then we were off to Piazza Navona to see Lizzie's favorite fountain, which unfortunately was covered with construction. Also to grab our 1st pizza of the trip at a little restaurant on a side street. At this point we had gotten our fill of sight seeing and the girls had shopping on their minds.
Katelin especially because her bags had never made it out of Detroit. As we scoured the shops it started to rain. We held off as long as we could without buying umbrellas but it reached a point of impossible. As we stood in the doorway of a shop we tried to barter unsuccessfully with a man on the street. He knew we were desperate and there was no way he was going to change his price. Through the rain we found a couple more shops before heading home to change for dinner and a night of dancing.
Guia had recommended a local restaurant in the Travestere area called Da Enzo.It was a small dive of a restaurant with only ten tables but it was packed. Since it was our 1st dinner we decided to do it up right with sun dried tomatoes, fried cod, followed by Caccie Pepe and Abbachio! Being true to lent I didn't have dessert but the girls had whipped marscapone and chocolate panne cotta. Both Fantastic!
With a little time to kill we went next door for another bottle of wine before heading to the Art Cafe in Viale Bourghese. I have to admit I thought Guia was a little nuts when she recommended a bar in the parking garage of one of the biggest parks in Rome but she was right.
Upon getting out of the cab we started talking to some people who had a table and could get us in. Without their help we would have been standing in line for a very long time. They also got us in to the VIP area, actually it took a little sneakiness but we were able to slip in. At this point we realized it was a rather large celebration for the Italian Idol. The next couple of hours were spent dancing and avoiding the Italian boys that were a little more forward then we were use to.
Saturday, March 6
Bright and early was not the theme for today. I woke up, got around, went out and picked up some brioches for the girls then around eleven I started waking them up. We didn't make it out of the house until almost one when Lizzie and I went towards the Spanish Steps to grab a bite to eat while we watched for the girls.
Once they joined us we wandered the streets, fed them a little something then took in teh Trevi Fountain and grabbed a little ice cream at Gialiotti's, said to be the favorite gelato of the Pope. We didn't do much more after that. Wandered the streets in search of some antiques without any success. Then grabbed some dinner at Navona Notte before heading home for an early night.
Sunday, March 7
Our last day in Rome was a whirwind. We had our final breakfast at the Patiscceria on the corner of the Piazza, then started walking to Compo di Fiori with the hopes of a great market. It didn't happen! Instead we had a great sampling of cheese, honey, olives, olive oil and salami.
Then we were off on a trek past Palacio Venezia, Monument to Emanuele and the Roman Ruis before hitting the Collusseum. Our final destination of the day before grabbing some more ice cream and a doing a little shopping.
