To celebrate the end of busy season, Shelley and I booked a two week trip to Europe. Our flight there was anything but convenient. We flew the red eye from San Francisco to Newark and had an eight hour layover. Luckily, my aunt and uncle live nearby so they offered to host us for a few hours. It was definitely nice to be able to take a shower and get some home made eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast. For lunch, we tried finding a sandwich shop but everything was closed for Memorial Day. In the end we settled for burgers at a local pub.
Our next leg was from Newark to Stockholm and then on to Rome. I had been a bit worried leading up to this trip because we had booked a separate flight on Norwegian from Stockholm to Rome and only had 2 hours to connect. That may sound like a lot, but we were flying United and you never know what kind of delays they may have. Not to mention, I wasn’t too sure about the immigration situation. Have you ever been to SFO? It could take at least an hour to get through the line there. We ended up arriving early, breezed through immigration and didn’t have to change terminals for our flight. So I pretty much worried for nothing.
Upon arriving in Rome we caught the express train to the city center where our hotel was only a 15 minute walk away. We couldn’t have asked for a better location. Our hotel was a short walk from most of the attractions we wanted to see and the metro was nearby. We dropped off our bags and grabbed some pizza and a thing that resembled a hot pocket for lunch.
Our first attraction was the Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately it’s undergoing restoration so there wasn’t much to really see. Next, we walked down the street to the Pantheon. It’s pretty impressive to think that the dome is self supporting.
We continued down the side streets until we came to Piazza Navona and sat at one of the fountains where we enjoyed some street performers playing music.
Street performers at Piazza Navona
We continued around the square and took a look at some art before heading down to Campo de Fiori. Unfortunately, the market had already been packed up and it was too early for any of the bars to be open, but we did encounter our first roman drinking fountain. They look pretty sketchy at first, but the water is the same that you get from the tap. There’s a makeshift way to make into a fountain if you cup your hand over the spout. The water was surprisingly cool considering how hot it was outside.
Roman drinking fountain
We continued to wander around side streets and ended up near the river. We walked along it for a bit before we settled at a restaurant for drinks. Let me just say, if you drink anything other than wine you’re a fool. It’s so cheap.
We ended the night grabbing dinner at a restaurant near our place. It didn’t seem too authentic, but the ravioli and plate of prosciutto we got were delicious. We didn’t stay out too late considering we had jet lag and needed to get up early to visit the Vatican the following day.
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