Day 55: Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Rooftop Dinner, Sunset Over Rome, & Too Much Fun

Sunday, October 20th

We got off the flight around 1 am. We snagged some food right as we got off the plane. It was some of the best pizza we’ve ever had. We were so happy to have some good food in our bellies.

We got an Uber that was a mercedes van. It had seats like a limo. We were all excited and laughing. Our driver drove insanely fast, but got us to our hotel in one piece.

We got to the creepiest hotel of our lives past 2am. It was like we were in a horror story. A kid on the side of the street let us into the hotel and told us to be careful because we might get mugged here. We finally got a hold of the man who was running this hotel and he told us what floor we needed to go to and how to get into our room. There was mold on the ceiling and it smelled awful. There was also a loud water running outside. Speaking of water there was no running water. We were unable to shower and the sink would hardly run, but I managed to be able to brush my teeth. Christopher refused to sleep under the covers. It scared me so I used my coat as a blanket. We tried to get a few hours of sleep and we headed out as fast as we could in the morning. We took an Uber to our next hotel in the heart of Rome, and praise the Lord this one was clean. it was beautiful on the inside, although it was very old they did a great job of making it clean and nice and the decorations were all very traditional. We dropped our luggage off and went straight out to go find breakfast.

We found a cute little café. I ordered a nice English breakfast and Christopher got gnocchi. As we were eating, we got to watch the Rome half marathon. We were sitting along mile 12. It was so fun and inspiring. Everyone eating was cheering on the runners. It was the best atmosphere and the perfect start to our day.

Our first stop was the Pantheon. It was a mad house! The crowds around all of the sites you want to see are crazy. We discovered a cute little Italian clothing store and got Christopher 2 nice linen shirts for the cruise ship. We talked with a lovely couple inside the shop for awhile. They were from the UK and older than our parents. The wife shared a bunch of lovely stories with us about her children.

We then came across the Spanish steps which were one of the “instagram worthy” picture spots, and once again, it is flooded with tourists.

We then ran into Piazza del Popolo. In this area, there was a beautiful fountain that we took some photos of and called it Trevi 2.0, because it was actually turned on and there wasn’t a million people around it. There was a beautiful monument in the center and some other gorgeous buildings. The location on my phone says “Campo Marzio.” Next, we walked through aback alley and had a lovely view of the Altar of Peace.

We headed back to our hotel to catch sunset on the rooftop. They have a beautiful terrace on top. Christopher ordered bread and butter, and they brought out a giant crouton with anchovies on it. I was dying laughing. Neither of us could stomach it, so we just drank our wine and enjoyed the sunset, then headed out for an actual dinner. We went to Osteria. It was right around the corner from our place. I got my typical Caesar salad, and Christopher got Gnocchi. This was definitely the best one yet. The family next to us was from Scotland, and the wife shared with me some travel tips for when we go. As we were enjoying our meal, a man came by selling Polaroid pictures. He said it was 5 euros. Chrostopher told him he didn’t have any and offered him all the different currencies he has in his pocket, from New Zealand, to Bali, to Swiss Franks. He finally said he would accept the Swiss. We laughed and we got the cutest photo of all time. We joked afterwards and said the joke is. on him, because we would have paid a million dollars for this photo. The whole restaurant was dying laughing with us at this point. We were definitely putting on a show.

Then a different man walked by trying to sell dancing animals. He had a little pink bunny that would run across a table and then a cat that looked like Garfield that was dancing. Christopher started doing a funny dance in his chair, the entire place was lit up with laughter. One lady yelled “give him more of your Swiss money!!!” The entire evening was priceless. Two girls sitting next to us ended up getting a Polaroid photo, because ours turned out so great and we joked saying we need commission.

After dinner, we ended up talking with the older couple for a long time. They adored how we were traveling the world together. They told us how they still travel the same way and so do all their 4 children.

We then stopped by a restaurant called Trentaquattro for dessert. They had live music, and the whole place was singing and having a grand ol’ time. We ended up not eating our dessert, it was a funky cheesecake and some other cake that had something weird poured over it. LOL, but as always, we make the best of it.

We then ran into one of the workers from our restaurant and stopped to have a drink with her. If you know me, you know I don’t cuss, but she was teaching me how to cuss in Italian, and it was so comical. Then we ran back into the two girls sitting next to us at dinner, and we talked with them for a long time as well. They were from California and on a little best friend trip together.

We ended our night with mini scoops of Gelato. Christopher got his favorite, mint chocolate chip, and I got milk cream. It was delicious. At this point, we were both a little bit past tipsy. Our night was filled with endless laughter and goofing off, and we found our way home a little past midnight.

Both of our highlights today were getting the photo and our entire time at that restaurant. Especially when Christopher was dancing. I couldn’t stop laughing. It is my absolute favorite when he acts so silly. There was a saying I heard one time about how when you’re in love, you act like children together. I love that we feel like we are 16 years old and madly in love. I know as we grow old, we will always hold on to this young love feeling that we have. Still to this day, I see my parents act like complete goofballs with one another, and it warms my heart every time I see it. Anyways, this was one of my favorite moments of the whole trip. We had the most memorable time talking with all the people around us and sharing laughter with everyone.