Chasing Bluebirds: rome

we started our adventure in rome, i chose to do a week here because renting an apartment would be the cheapest way (i found out fast that a hotel room to accomodate 4 is very tricky, most hotels have doubles or triples but for 4 you need to get a "family room" which at a cheapy place can still be 3 or 400 dollars a night). i love to travel slow, really take my time and settle in to a place and a week in rome is very doable. i was surprised at how small rome is and how quickly we could walk from one place to the next.

our first day, checking out the coliseum. i wasn't sure what i would think of the coliseum but i was blown away. it was so ancient looking and well preserved and clean. worries about long lines were alleviated (thanks rick steves) with the purchase of a roma pass and the crowds weren't really that bad.

we enjoyed the hop on hop off bus, there were mixed reviews on trip advisor (we took the green line) which we got lucky to catch without many long waits but they decided to change up their route a couple times which left us stranded. oh well! we learned a lot about where everything was located between the ride and the walking which i love to do on the first couple days in a new place. if you only have two or three days in rome, this bus might not be worth the price. if you have a week? it can help get you around while you get over jet lag and that overwhelmed feeling.

the typewriter or wedding cake

with churches everywhere you look, we stumbled on more than a few weddings. how cool to be married in rome! i love how chris is just walking by and everyone is cheering the couple

out and about, palm trees were a surprise to me

romans built buildings and walls on top and connected to other buildings and walls, it was described to me as one big lasagna. layer upon layer of buildings were built and everything is recycled, nothing wasted. walking around is a architectural feast, even better than i imagined.

i went a little overboard on the shrine photos

i wasn't sure how we would manage eating in rome, with kids and being a vegetarian... just wasn't sure. i bought elizabeth minchilli's eat rome app and this one too. honestly, i wish i used them more but we were so dang jacked up from jet lag and the "american" meal times we never failed to arrive at a place when it was closed. i totally blame myself for being slow to check the days and times the place operated, duh, but once i got hip to checking we wouldn't find a (not to expensive) place anywhere near us when we were all beyond starving. luckily gelato filled in for many a lunch! what was our routine? here goes: breakfast of eggs, leftovers from dinner, cereal and lots and lots of expresso (we bought our own giant one). having ate a huge breakfast, we wouldn't even bother with lunch and instead snack on fruit, cliff bars and stuff like that. we drank about 10 huge bottles of water a day (it was close to 100 degrees in june, whew!) so food wasn't as big a deal as water, water, water. sometime around 4 or 5 we would try and track down a restaurant or pizzeria (here's where i would drag everyone around town to all the closed places on the app) and usually settle for whatever we found was open. guess what? everything STILL tasted great, never had a bad meal in rome, ever. sometimes we had to pay too much, but we always ate well and a lot and it was yummy!