Rome

Rome is spectacular.

2 years ago we took a family trip to Italy and had one day in Rome right before returning home. We hustled through the city, but had a fantastic time. Coming back we were excited to spend more time there (though also a little nervous that it might not live up to the magical 24 hours we previously had). We stayed for 3 nights (possibly 4… it’s all blurring together!) and it was awesome. We’ll definitely be returning on a regular basis. There is so much to see and do there, so much incredible food, friendly people, incredible 2000 year old ruins and plenty of cool areas away from tourist hot zones.

We stayed near the Spanish steps in an apartment down a very quiet alley, but within 2 minutes of tons of restaurants, shops and everything else. It was a cute little apartment and very quiet.

We did lots and lots of wandering around, eating great food and just soaking it all in…

This is worth a bigger picture…

We did a private tour of the Roman Forums and Colosseum which was awesome. Some fun facts that the kids keep repeating:

• The Colosseum sat up to 80,000 people and could be filled in around 15 minutes
• When it was first built, they sealed it, filled it with water and staged naval battles
• Emperor Nero built a huge bronze statue of himself which became known as the Colossus, then the colosseum was built and it got named that because of it’s proximity to the Colossus (which was long ago melted down)
• Attending the events was free to everyone aka paid for by the emperor

And, we did a cooking class to learn to make Fettuccini, Ravioli and Tiramisu and then ate our products. We will never take Ravioli for granted again. Pasta recipe:

Lots of flour (apparently you want super fine flour) + one egg + one pinch of salt, then lots and lots of rolling, squeezing, adding flour, more rolling, more flour, more rolling, more flour, more rolling, more flour, then eventually voila. It’s a lot of work, but rewarding.

So glad we came and look forward to future trips.