And whilst its felt like a minute - but also a lot longer, we arrived in our final European destination, Rome on a cold and wet afternoon. We found our apartment, a very generously sized 2 bedroom Airbnb located within the footprint of the Teatro di Pompeo, a theatre which is remoured to have been the site of Julius Caesar's assassination.
After a quick take-home lunch from Rocioli (which turned out to be one of the highly-recommended places we planned to visit, without realising it was only a couple of doors away from the hotel) of some Pizza a Taglio, we headed to find out what all the fuss with Rome is about. That, and lots of opportunities to use the old dad-joke, "when in Rome...".
After strolling around for a while, we came across our first fountain, in Piazza Navona.
And then continued all the way down to the Tiber River, to visit the Castel Sant'Angelo.
We were a bit taken aback by the size of the seagulls here!
We found one of our targetted gelateria, Giolitti, another which was very much worth the hype.
And then storolled through the goverment buildings and then onto the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II (which was a rather bit monument - even for a king!)
As usual, dad made us walk up the stairs to the look out, and to check out the Santa Maria in Aracoeli Basilica, with its amazing ceiling and details.
And then, after deciding to head back to the apartment (after what was a monster walking day) we came across the ruins of Teatro di macello, and spent some time admiring the beauty of the place at dusk.
Our second day in Rome started with a visit to the Pantheon, and once again we got to enjoy the benefits of travelling in the off-season, when the hoardes of tourists that everyone warned us of were some place warm (not that it was that cold, with a max temp for the day of 17°C).
Before heading inside we grabbed a quick snack... these places are like food heaven!
The Pantheon was amazing, as expected, and we had the place (almost) to ourselves.
After being completely awestruck, we headed out and wondered into Sant’ Ignazio of Loyala and was amaized once again.
The next step on an increasingly big day was the Trevi Fountain... a bit busier but we were stilll able to walk up to the railing and take photos in a few locations without many people around... It might have been nice to go past in full sunlight, but its definitely a very special fountain.
The Column of the Immaculate Conception.
And then to the Spanish Steps, and of course, up to the vantage point above.
We enjoyed the Terrazza del Pincio and then the Piazza del Popolo, before heading for a nice lunch (Tagliolino con tartufo fresco and Tagliolini alla carbonara con guanciale @ Tartufu & Friends).
Some quick retail therapy...
And then some proper tiramisu at Two Sizes - yum!
As evening came around, we headed out to Trastevere to explore the streets, finding a nice record store, the amazing Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. Another church with an amazing ceiling, but also with incredible mosaic panelling both internal and external.
We then started the food part of the night, with a Suppli (from Suppli) - Yum... then gelato from Fatmorgana, and then some more Pizza a taglio and some nice roast chicken for dinner.
And that wraps up Day 2 in Rome... with two more days in the city we thought it'd be best to split this post!
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