So I know most of you already know from facebook, but those of you who do not and still have your fingers crossed: Good news! Brian made it to Rome on Tuesday June 7th!!! We made a plan to meet in front of the McDonalds the Termini train station around 10:30 am and what Brian said to me when we were planning always brings a smile to my face. He told me he’s never been more excited to go to a McDonalds before. Even now, I’m smiling.
As soon as Brian got there, it was the start of a great week. He was going to try to fly out on Monday June 13th, the day after my birthday, and did with no problems. That same day, I would fly to Santorini, Greece to finish off my last week in Europe. That meant that we had 6 days in Rome, and interestingly enough, we were not actually staying in the city center of Rome. Due to how expensive Rome can be, we actually ended up booked a campsite that was 45 minute outside of the city. We got a ‘bungalow’ which was really a trailer. It was perfect. The campsite had mini-golf and a swimming pool, and a gelato bar, and a restaurant. Pretty much, it was better than any hostel I’ve been at, and I got to unpack all of my things and put them on shelves and shower without flip flops on. Now that’s the life!
Since I am now a veteran to Rome, this was my third visit, and Brian had never been, I got to be the tour guide. We saw all of the major sights and I got a new experience with each one surprisingly. I had never really appreciated the inside of the Colosseum before Brian’s visit. I knew it is was impressive and great engineering, but it just didn’t ‘wow’ me. But when Brian and I were standing in there and I was explaining how tigers would run out of trap doors (like in Gladiator), or how people ate in the stands, I don’t know, maybe I was working harder to explain it cause I wanted him to love everything about Rome and his trip, but I just started to get really into it. For the first time, I was really excited to be inside the Colosseum, looking at these ruins that were built in 72 AD.
After we went to Palatine Hill, and it was a different experience. When I went back in February, my friends and I had to fit in Rome and Venice in just 3 days. Now that is a lot. So, we rushed through it and saw everything, but didn’t just hang out there. So when Brian and I went, we had 6 days! That’s a long time. We just sat on Palatine Hill and ate lunch. The view was amazing, and I had never taken so much time in Rome before. I loved it.
Another of my favorite moments/hours was when we went to Trevi Fountain. We got gelato and shared it and sat there for at least an hour. Trevi Fountain is quite possibly my favorite thing in Rome. I love it and have always said I could sit there for hours; well Brian and I did.
Each thing we did during the week was slow and not rushed, except for when it was time to go back to the campsite. The only drawback to staying there was that the last bus left at midnight. That meant that a couple of nights we ended up running across town to make it back in time. Completely worth it in my opinion though.
Brian and I also spent one or two days just on the campsite. We went to the pool and he taught me how to actually do a handstand underwater, because I was actually not able to do one, I did a nice little banana curve instead lol. We also enjoyed and doctored up the campsite’s wine and enjoyed it with cherries and cheese. Fantastic snack, I highly recommend fruit and cheese and wine. Not at all low in calories, but I’m just ignoring that.
Finally on our last day in Rome, it was my birthday. We woke up and went to the hot tub and had wine and watched arrested development (the new TV show we got hooked on for the week), I skyped with my family (thanks Jeff and Mom that was great!) and then we went into Rome and got dinner and gelato. We went to my favorite gelato place: Giolittis. If you are ever in Rome, go there and get the cream on your gelato. It is free and it is amazing. I personally love Bacio, peach, pistachio, and hazelnut, but honestly you can’t go wrong. Then we went to a restaurant that our campsite recommended: L’archetto, and I had one of the best dinners of my life. I’m not kidding; it was amazing and not expensive. Absolutely go there; I know I will be returning. We each got bruschetta (Brian got his with salmon) and we got pasta (I had a lobster tomato pasta), and then we finished it off with tiramisu. I would not have changed a thing. Seriously, I want to go back just for another meal. It’s a shame we found that place on the last night.
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