Italy Tour 2018 - Rome Day One

Let's get this Italy visit recap party started. This morning I woke up at 6 am so it seems the jet lag is wearing off and I'm coming back to American time. 6 am is much better than 4 am for sure! So where do we begin? Rome!

Our flight arrived in Rome in the afternoon so we checked in at our hotel and then set off for some sightseeing. Our hotel was the Inn at the Roman Forum, which we picked because it was within walking distance to a ton of the major Rome tourist spots and was particularly close to the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. In fact, the hotel even houses ruins within its walls because it is home to a crypotoporticus with engravings dating back more than 2,000 years! You can see this in the bottom left photo in the collage above. When our driver dropped us off he took us in there and we were served tiramisu...which was delicious!

We started our self-guided walking tour of Rome at Il Vittoriana, the Victory Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II (Italy's first king). 

It's also known as "the Wedding Cake" or "The Giant Typewriter" and it's apparently hated by Italians for being so blindingly white and sticking out among the rest of Rome. Admittedly, it really does stick out like a sore thumb when compared to the ruins you'll find everywhere nearby...but I still thought it was one impressive pile of marble. You can go inside and even go up to the top but we didn't since we had a few other spots on our list to hit that day.

We also stopped by the Trevi Fountain. It was not exactly what I expected (it was SUPER crowded and very congested to get near) but it was so serene to just sit at it's side and enjoy some gelato. You just have to watch your purse and valuables--there are a lot of pickpockets there.

Oh my gosh gelato. There are gelaterias everywhere and the flavors are SOOOO good. Throughout our two weeks in Italy I ate so much gelato. Not kidding, I probably ate my weight in the delicious sweet treat. I tried various combinations of lemon, strawberry, stracciatella (a milk and chocolate), chocolates (chocolate mousse/regular chocolate/dark chocolate), raspberry, cream, vanilla, caramel, and mixed berry. My all time favorite must be the raspberry and chocolate combination...which tasted like scrumptious chocolate-covered raspberries but I could also just sit behind the counter with a spoon/scoop and eat an entire bin of fragola (strawberry) and limone (lemon). So refreshing!

We also stopped at the Spanish Steps, the Borghese Gardens, and a few other random spots near our hotel.

It was so fascinating to be walking around and stumble upon some ruins. It really made me realize the level of history the city has. I guess that's why they call it the Eternal City (Citta Eterna)!

We grabbed some dinner at Alfredo, which had the most amazing fettuccine alfredo I have ever had in my life.

Everyone who ordered the fettuccine alfredo was treated to a table side fettuccine mixing experience. The waiter would come out with this giant bowl of pasta covered in cheese and then would mix it on up until it was absolutely deliciously creamy and melty. Then he would serve it to the customers. There was a super large party of men that came in after us and I watched the waiter mix up sooo many bowls of pasta. 

We also tried the carbonara here which was amazing. I don't think I have ever had carbonara before but mmmmm it was so good! I am going to try and make it at home one night but I'm sure I will not be able to do it justice. My mouth just started watering writing about this dinner. It was probably one of my favorite meals of the entire trip. No joke.

After dinner we walked around the city a bit more, stopped in to shops, and of course ate some gelato. Then it was off to bed. I was ecstatic that I didn't nap the whole day and I didn't end up being jet lagged at all. We woke up at 8 or so the next morning. I can't wait to tell you what we did on day two in Rome!

Have you been to Italy? Did you go to Rome? What was your favorite meal? What was your favorite thing that you did in Italy?