Italy 2013 – Day 2 / Rome

What a FULL day!!  If they can all be this good, the I declare the entire vacation a success even though this is only Day 2.

As predicted, breakfast was dessert; sticky buns and sugary bread things so all I had was a slice of stale toast. Just as well anyway because I always overeat on vacation so I’ll save a few calories by default this way!

We started the day in Piazza Popolo, then meandered all over the city. It was a HOT one! You can already see in the picture here how hazy it was, and this was a little before 10AM.

We walked up and down the Spanish Steps…

Threw coins in Trevi Fountain…

Spend some time at the Pantheon…

And took a walk through Piazza Navona all before lunch!

So with a next-to-nothing breakfast and a marathon morning tour of city, we took our time recovering during lunch. (Shared plate of cured meats & a mushroom pizza… and of course, some Barolo!!)

After lunch, we decided to knock off one the “must do” activities from my list, and that was to visit the Basilica di San Clemente to take the  archaeological time travel down down down through the centuries to see the first century house buried under the modern city. Meh, it was just OK.

On the way there we passed the Coliseum, and it’s a good thing that this is our third visit to Rome because a LARGE section or it was covered by scaffolding. In our case, the disappointment factor was nil, but I do feel for all the tourists in Rome here on their “Once in a Lifetime” visit!! Too bad for them :(

 

For the rest of the afternoon we walked and walked and walked all over town, wandering aimlessly, poking into churches here and there, stopping for coffee, and finally ended the day at Campo De’ Fiori around 7PM for dinner. (Still full from lunch, it was grilled fish and water!)

I can’t get over how crowded Rome is! I don’t recall thinking this the last time; my husband says it’s no different than previous visits, but I find myself dodging people left and right everywhere I go!

So, that’s it for today! It’s after 11PM again and I need my beauty sleep!

Ciao!