Part One: Starting 2014 on holiday in Rome and Copenhagen

J’s parents and sister came to visit us over Christmas and Hogmanay (what Scottish folk call New Year) here in Edinburgh, which was lovely. And we also decided to head to Europe with them, just so we could spend some more time together.

J’s mum had her heart set on going to Italy, since she had never been, so we decided to tag along with them to Rome. Oh Rome, my third time and J’s second. What can I say? I can never get enough of Italy.

We decided in the end to take a week and a half off work, and make a bit of a trip out of it. So then we decided on going to Copenhagen for a few nights as well. Especially, since we hadn’t made it to any Scandanavian country thus far, which is a shame, because I don’t think (at the time of writing this) we’ll be able to visit another Scandinavian country until…well who knows.

Our reason for wanting to go to Copenhagen you ask - well I don’t know, apart from seeing the photos of the colourful houses along the canal in Nyhavn and hearing about how wonderful Scandic life is. Copenhagen, out of all the Scandinavian countries was probably the cheapest option as well, as there is a direct flight to Edinburgh with Easy Jet.

We had managed to find cheap train tickets on trainline.com to train it to Manchester on New Years Day and so we booked our flights to fly out from Manchester Airport on January 2. We stayed at the Premier Inn (the South complex) near the airport. 

Which was a perfect location for our early flight the next day and after our four-hour train journey from Edinburgh. But we had great meals at the restaurant and a nice comfortable sleep there. The staff are friendly as well, which was lovely (you know what I’m like with bad service).

Rome, Italy January 2 – January 6

Day One

We left when it wasn’t even light out, we hadn’t been up that early since that shady flight from Faro, Portugal last year. Even at this hour though, I was very excited to be going back to Rome, to be with ‘my people*’.

We had collected our bags and were waiting for our shuttle bus (an open return to Termini Stazione was €8) by mid-morning. Once we arrived at Termini, we bought metro tickets and caught the metro to San Giovanni station, and found our way to the airbnb flat J’s Mum had booked for all of us. We had to walk through the ancient city walls to find it on Viale Carlo Felice. We were buzzed up to the third floor, where we were greeted by one of the owners, Susanna.

Due to last minute changes to our arrival (we booked earlier flights), instead of J’s parents and sister beating us there, we arrived first and Susanna was still having the house cleaned and prepped for our stay and the current guests still had their luggage there. So instead of getting in everyone’s way, we decided to head out for lunch and a wander around the area. After finding the suggestion that Susanna had made was closed during the day, we turned around and went back to the corner of Viale Spezia to eat at Bar Spazio, where the food was appreciatively cheap.

J ordered mushroom pizza and I order gnocchi in a tomato and basil sauce. ‘Mmm,’ I hear you say. It was delicious and cheap, and I had my first real experience of ‘trying’ to order espressi. This was mainly a failed attempt, because, a) It was break time, and a big group of people rushed into the café and b) they ordered as Italians were intended to do… they ordered their espressos and drank them at the bar, but in the ‘Italian’ way, which it means it was really fast and really noisy.

Needless to say J and I had our espressos brought to our table…how un-Italian of us.

J’s parents and sister arrived later in the early evening. While we let them settle in, I decided to try out my Italian skills over the phone. You know what they say, ‘practice makes perfect.’ I was calling Al Duello, the restaurant J and I ate at two nights in a row when we were on holiday in 2012. My favourite restaurant in the whole world (apart from the ones we’re yet to eat at), so I dialled and someone picked-up and I said…

“Vorrei prenotare un tavolo per cinque persone, per le otto domain notte.”

Which loosely translates (or I wanted to say)…

“I would like a table for five people, for eight o’clock, tomorrow night.”

The lady on the phone, basically then said sorry I don’t understand. And then I said something along the lines of “oui” and “pardon,” which is of course French! Pretty embarrassing. Then the lovely lady on the phone then asked if I spoke French and I said ‘no’… so she spoke English to me. Oh the irony of the situation is not lost on me still. Look at me, I’m multi-lingual, not!

When everyone was ready, we decided to try out Susanna’s recommendation, and headed for dinner at Al Grottino. A pizzeria, which used traditional pizza cooking methods, which mean it was cooked in a wood-fired oven.

J, his dad and sister and I ordered a pizza each, and J’s Mum ordered chicken wings for herself.

I had pizza alla Romana, a pizza typical of Rome, a pizza topped with mostly onions, it had to be one of the best pizza’s I’ve ever had*. We also shared red wine that came in decanters. And then came dessert, I had a chocolate fondant, which had a delicious oozy chocolate centre. Dinner was perfect, definitely one of the best places where I’ve eaten in Rome.

After that it was bedtime, so we could get a full nights rest to prepare ourselves for a day of sightseeing.

Day Two

As soon as everyone was ready to head out, we walked from the flat towards the Colosseum, stopping off first at Chiesa Basilica di San Clemente, a church that J and I visited in 2012 after reading about it in Lonely Planet Traveller magazine.

It is historic excavation sight, which has three distinct levels, home to the ruins of a Roman house and the original fourth century basilica. After exploring the depths of this lovely church, we were only a minute down via di San Giovanni in Laterano before we stopped again, this time at a small bakery, where we bought delicious baked pastries, with either spinach or bits of pancetta.

We eventually arrived at the awe-stopping sight of the Colosseum. We all stood across the road first taking photos before getting closer and walking around the front to find of course, a huge line-up. J and I then lead the search to find a representative who had the best rates for a tour, because that’s what we did in 2012 and we did get in fairly quickly, plus we got a tour of the Forum.

While they were doing their tour, J and I decided to go and find Largo di Torre Argentino, the site of the ancient Pompey’s Theatre, the ruins of an 18^th Century opera house, now turned cat sanctuary.

I remember back in 2009 going there on my Topdeck tour and my tour guide telling us that it was here where Julius Caesar was murdered and that the legend was due to his relationship with Cleopatra that was the reason why cats lived there.

Largo di Torre Argentino

After trying to spot all the kitties, we decided to retrace our 2012 tracks and try and find Al Duello and Caffé Sant’Eustachio, where of course J did lead the way to, with his extremely handy map reading skills*.

Then it was that awkward time of day when your travelling, you’re busting for the loo and in desperate need to find a public one… an extremely rare find, if you have ever been to Europe. If you spot a McDonalds, it is usually your best bet, but this one we found happened to be the BUSIEST McDonalds toilet EVER.

I’m only using caps to help exaggerate how busy it really was. I waited half-an hour to use the ladies. The only thing positive that came out of this experience (apart from being able to relieve my bladder) was being surrounded by only Italians and hundreds of them, and experiencing a normal time in the life of Italians.*

After such a long wait we were due to meet J’s parents and sister back at the Roman Forum. We all then walked back towards Via San Giovanni in Laterano and stopped off at one of the nearby streets to have some lunch. The food was good, the service and price is almost what I expect of places situated so close to tourist attractions.

Needless to say it had been thus far a long day and I was ready for a sit down before going out to dinner at Al Duello that night. But J lead us the long way round and for a little while I think he was lost, as we walked all the way past Circo Maximo to arrive back at the flat.

We rested, before we headed to Vicolo della Vaccarella, a short walk from Piazza Navona for dinner at Al Duello. We were greeted by a gorgeous, smiling lady, and I told her I had made a reservation for ‘Dunlop,’ she said then said there was no reservation, but then said not to worry and she and a waiter pulled two tables together and rearranged the table settings for the five of us. I love good service! And this is one of the reasons why this restaurant is one of my favourites in the world, not only is the food delicious, but friendliness of the staff is next-to-none.

Anyway, after going on about how we’d eaten the five-course degustation menu last time, J’s sister thought she would give four courses a try. Well she failed in style, I don’t even know how J and I did it, I think it took us good few hours.

I had three courses; the French onion soup (with an Italian twist), the Al Duello pasta and the chocolate fondant dessert – everything was delicious and I’ve already vowed to return again.

On leaving the restaurant, we were seen off by the waitress (the owners sister) who first greeted us, and she did the very ‘Italian’ thing and kissed me on the cheek, a good sign of friendship in my eyes.

Day Three

J had caught everyone’s cold, and thank god for his Mum and giving him all these drugs, he seemed to be a bit better this morning. But we decided to sleep in anyway, while his parents and sister went to do a tour of the Vatican Museum.

When we eventually left the flat we headed to the Bocca della Verità – a site at a church, made famous by Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck when they place their hands in the ‘mouth of truth,’ in the scene from Roman Holiday. It was a new place for us that we thought we could explore.

We walked there from the flat, passing Circo Massimo on the way, and J even gave directions to a lady and her daughter*. When we arrived, there was a huge queue to get in, but it passed reasonably quickly. We eventually got chatting to the couple behind us, who were also Australian and in Rome on their honeymoon, to pass the time. Once we were at the front of the queue, we gave a gold coin donation and asked the Australian couple if they could take our photo for us.

We then stuck our hands in the mouth of the Bocca della Verità…and they didn’t get cut off. 

J and I putting our hand in the mouth of the Bocca della Verita

Lucky we don’t tell lies I guess.

After we also gave a donation to go underneath the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Cosmedin and have a look at the ruins of an old chapel. After we crossed the bridge into Trastevere.

Where we wandered around the winding cobbled streets, losing ourselves in the gorgeous surroundings. We stopped for lunch at a bakery, J had mushroom pizza bread and I had spinach and ricotta ravioli.

Then we walked along the winding cobbled street we were on and found a gelaterie; I had a hazelnut chocolate scoop and J had Crema di Catalana.

We continued on our merry way, walking past flats, shops and the daily life that surrounded us, and then we had to find a bathroom, so we stopped to have an espresso at this franchise café that we’d seen before somewhere.

The symbol of busy Italian streets; the Vespa

The view along the River Tiber

We then walked along the Tiber River, leaving the magic and peaclefulness of Trastevere behind us and headed towards the Vatican City.

We waited under the columns, that guarded us from the rain, when it stopped and the sun had disappeared, we took a few photos in front of St. Peters with the lights on. Then we walked to find J’s sister and his folks waiting for us at a nearby restaurant.

St. Peters Basilica shadowed by grey clouds

Once we arrived back at the flat, J and his sister made their way up to the flat and J’s parents and I headed to the nearest supermarket for ingredients for a picnic dinner; we bought salami, cheese, bread rolls and olives and arancini balls from a local pizza bar. I even got to test-drive my Italian again, this time I managed to stuff the words for orange and the rice balls.

We ate all this accompanied by wine, also bought from the supermarket.

Day Four

So today, it was J and my turn to lead the way. Firstly we caught the metro to Fontagna di Trevi, to throw our coins to make sure our future included another trip to Rome. J’s parents and sister loved it, and I really don’t think you could find someone that wouldn’t, especially because there was no scaffolding attached like there was in 2012. We threw our coins in and hoped for the best.

The Trevi Fountain: Not under renovation 

Then we wandered through the cobble stone covered laneways to find San Crispino, on Via della Panetteria, for some gelati. 

The street where San Crispino lives

Then we were off to the Spanish Steps, climbed the many stairs and trying to ignore as many men as we could who were trying to flog us roses, among other things. And what a great view it was. When we were there in 2012, J and I didn’t walk up, due to how overflowing it was with tourists. The last time I saw that view was when I was there in 2009 with Topdeck.

On top of the Spanish Steps

We then walked to Piazza Navona, where it was full of people all trying to take photos of la Fontagna dei Quattro Fiumi, though I stood to admire the intricate fountain, my eyes we scanning among the bustle for Tre Scalini, a café/gelaterie that sells its infamous tartufo nero, a deliciously large ball of chocolate gelato, with chunks of chocolate chip, served with cream and with a glazed-cherry in the centre. One of the most disgustingly over-indulgent things I’ve eaten and somehow I’ve managed to eat two in my short lifetime.

K and I overindulging 

After boasting about the ‘best’ coffee in Rome, we finally took J’s parents to Caffé Sant’Eustachio for an espresso. And this time J and I weren’t here in the morning or as part of a tour group, again it was every man or woman for themselves. And I was brave enough to order in Italian, among the many Italians on their coffee break. It reminded me of that scene in the movie version of Eat Love Pray, where Julia Roberts finds it daunting ordering a coffee. It was insane.

We then walked towards the Pantheon, though it felt like we were going on a huge detour, considering they look so close together on the map*. We ended up stopping at a small bakery for flat bread and pastries, where they were nice enough to give us tasters.

After a much-needed sit down in the church pews at the Pantheon, we did some more walking, but this time with the intention of reaching the flat, we were stuffed.

Though we did make a minor detour to have a close-up look at the Vittorio Emanuele memorial and then it was back to the flat.

We were so tired all of us from the long day of walking that we decided to eat dinner close to home again, but this time at La Spaccio for dinner – just around the corner from Viale Carlo Felice – a laid back franchise, where the food was tasty and cheap. It even had some Italian craft beers on the menu.

It was a nice relaxing night for our last night in Rome, and the last time (well until September this year) we’ll see J’s parents and sister.

Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano down the street from where we were staying

Day Five

Well we said our ‘see-ya laters’ to J’s parents and sister, since it would be another eight months till we see them again and then caught the metro to Termini Stazione; where we just made it in time to catch the shuttle bus to Fiumincino Airport.

On the way, possibly the most-scariest thing almost happened – the bus almost broke down – it started shuddering and the bus driver had to stop and wait about five minutes while he kept trying to re-start the engine. Especially scary because we didn’t have travel insurance, we definitely did not want to miss our flight to Copenhagen.

And then of course our flight was possibly the shittest we’ve had so far (*touch wood*), it was quite rough due to wind on the last hour of the flight, scaring the s**t out of me.

We caught the metro into the centre of Copenhagen where it was about a ten-minute walk to Generator Hostel where we were staying.

Arriving there at around 1:45pm. We then went for a walk around town, and had a delicious sandwhich in a café nearby, before continuing on our walk and admiring all the beautifully merchandised window displays of the shops…it was truly cool and how I imagined Scandinavia to be.

We eventually headed back to the hostel where we ate Danish meatballs for dinner and washed it down with a pint of Tuborg Classic.

Just a funny photo of Italian parking skills you can see all the time in Rome

*I don’t identify as Italian, but sometimes I like to imagine that I am.

*My favourite pizza that I've ever tasted was at the Barcelona food markets in 2012. 

*He can read a map, but that was an over exaggeration of his skills.

*Obviously that is not the recommended way of experiencing Rome like a local.

*Obviously he is good with directions, just sometimes he likes to rub it my face.

*A classic example of when J thinks he is reading a map properly, but actually he gets the directions so very wrong.

Part two soon to follow...stay tuned x

'La dolce vita' in Italia: Florence, Venice, Verona and Milano

Florence

August 25

From Rome to Venice, J and I had decided we would stop by Florence on the way. J wasn't in the best shape: tired from our fabulous last night in Rome, theso night before, but I was determined to see the sights of Florence. We got the basics in the bag, though we unfortunately didn't have the time to see 'the David.' Since it was only a stopover, our train to Venice was at 4:30, so we had only about 4 hours to spare.

We first made our way through the centre of town towards the Santa Maria del Fiore or also known as Il Duomo, where we went inside to have a look at the ceiling of it's massive dome; with beautiful renaissance art decorating the inside of it. Continuing our quick look around town, we stopped along the way at Groms, a gelato franchise that J and I were told about the guy in Fabio's in Rome. I had a lemon while J had bluebery and raspberry - wow they tasted like the real fruit but more delicious. After our quick stop, we came to the Ponte Vecchio. A beautiful shop filled bridge that goes over the Arno river; the shops are mostly jewellery stores, coinciding with how the bridge originally started off.

After we wandered along the bridge we turned back around and headed to huge queue that had formed outside the Galleri degli Uffizi that hosts Boticelli's most famed piece; The Birth of Venus. So you can imagine the line-up to get in. The most interesting queue we have been in thus far, one, because some guy started a fight with another guy for pushing-in and two, because there was a sign at the front of the queue right near the entrance that read, "go through door one, make a reservation and skip the line."

Thank god J spotted it, or otherwise I'm not kidding, in the time it took us to go in and out of the gallery, double it, we would've waited that long. J went and asked at Door one and you just need to pay a few extra euros on top of the entry and you could skip the 45 minute line. And the extra euros were worth it, because I got to see a painting, a beautiful painting that I had read about in highschool and imagined seeing so close-up. And again I got to check something off my bucket list.

Then before we knew it we had to head back to the train station and were off to Venice.

Venice

August 25 - August 27

Arriving in the late afternoon to the dreamy city of Venice, we were able to check in straight away. Then due to being on a train all afternoon, we were starving! We instantly regretted finding the closest pizza place to our hotel as it was tourist central. That frozen pizza was worse than the homebrand you find back home.

Well the next day in Venice, redeemed itself, beginning with a ferry ride to the Rialto bridge. Getting off at the Rialto bridge, we then started walking past all the fancy looking gondolas. It didn't take us long from looking at them to deciding to hire one for a ride. Our gondola ridee took us under the Rialto bridge and past the house where Marco Polo once resided. J and I don't do romantic very well sometimes and for most of the ride we weren't sitting that close to each other, well, until we came to bridges. Where there tourists and photographers waiting there for a couple to go by on a gondola, the Kodak momement. Embarassingly we gave into them and cuddled and kissed for them to snap away at us.

After coming full circle on our gondola ride J and I walked to San Marco's Square, to have a look at the beautiful basilica and the surrounding buildings and of course to have a look at the many pidgeons that inhabit there. Funnily enought the 'flying rats' are thought of as good luck in Venice. We did find one pidgeon that might redeem these lucky qualities as he was a beautiful blue. And everyone in the square (including J and I) were trying to get a photo of this pretty pidgeon.

We then caught a ferry back towards our hotel and walked around and found somewhere for lunch. Then afterwards we walked up the main stretch passed our hotel and found a sports bar to relax in; have a pint and watch the football (soccer) in. Then we caught another ferry returning back to San Marco's Square, walking down past the grand canal, trying to find a restaurant that I ate at last time I came to Venice. Then a huge storm cloud started crossing over Venic and we decided to head to the hotel. We still needed to find somewhere to dinner (and I apologised to J profusely for the following), walking close to our hotel, I fell for the tourist trap (probably for the fourth time now). Though this place didn't have any nice views to go along with it. J had the worst lasagne I've ever seen on a plate. I felt bad for the rest of the evening.

Verona

August 28

 The next morning we boarded the train for Verona for a day trip on the way to Milan. Straight away we got organised: got our backpacks stored, bought a map, and found a taxi, asking the driver to take us to the centre of the town. We probably could of walked, but we were feeling lazy. As soon as we got out of the taxi, we were in a park right next to a Colosseum looking ruin, the 'Arena.' Turned out one of our favourite bands played there a few days later. Walking passed the Arena and straight down a main shopping street, we found ourselves in the courtyard of Casa di Guilietta, at the time there was a wedding party getting photos taken on the balcony, so we didn't go up. We did however buy our own padlock to scribe on, and lock it to a steel gate, 'for all eternity.' Then I touched the breast of a statue of Juliet, a pagan ritual that apparently gives good luck. I didn't know this, I was just following the mass of tourist that were taking photos of themselves with it. Then we wandered around the corner, and up a cobbled stone street, finding this little cafe/bistro and thoroughly enjoyed our meal; cheese and bacon tortellini and a couple glasses of house red. The meal may have been frozen, but it was probably one of the best meals we ate in Italy, a part from Al Duello in Rome (nothing ever will top that). Then we walked to have a look around the markets in the centre of the city, before deciding we were so tired and really didn't want to spoil our time in Verona, let's get the next train to Milan.

Milan

August 28 - 29
Unfortunately we didn't feel like heading out in Milan, we got in at about 7:00pm and once we got into a taxi from the train station, and found out we weren't even close to the centre of the city. We just found a nice steakhouse around the corner of our hotel and rested up, for we were off to France the very next morning. Please forgive us Milan, we'll return.

'La Dolce Vita' in Italia: La Roma

Tuesday August 21 - Saturday August 25

Wow we left a hot Budapest for an even hotter Rome. Unfortunately after our first overnight train ride on Trenitalia from Budapest to Rome we weren't to enthused to walk around a sweltering hot city, and had to as soon as we arrived because check-in at Nardizzi Americana wasn't until 1:30. So leaving our backpacks behind at the hotel we were off to our first day of walking around Rome (the best way of getting around).

We walked down Via Nazionale, just around the corner from the hotel. Looking at our map we thought we'd get one of the touristy sights out of the way; Fontagna di Trevi(the Trevi Fountain). On our way we walked past ruins of the greatest gladiator school during the Romans reign. We also came across what the Italians have nicknamed 'the wedding cake' the monument for Vittorio Emanuele the Second - J was impressed with this sight.

Eventually we found our way to the Trevi Fountain through the throng of tourists and J was able to throw a coin behind his shoulder and make a wish.

After heading back up along Via Nazionale we ate lunch at a cafe and then walked back to hotel Nardizzi Americana - we could finally check-in! We had started running out of clean shirts, so we asked the male receptionist where we could wash our clothes, he gave us two options; a laundromat where we could wash our clothes ourselves or where you can pay someone to do everything. We chose the latter and it just so happened to be just down the road from us. After meeting the woman who ran the show at this laundromat, I joked to J that I wanted to steal her and she could be my cute Italian Nonna...she was so lovely

The laundry was sorted and J and I needed to catch up on much needed rest after being on that very fast scary train ride, where we didn't sleep much at all.

Waking up from our little siesta we headed towards the Lo Colosseo, probably the most famous sight of ancient Rome - the Colosseum. I told J this would give him a great view of its enormity without all the tourists (and I was right it was tourist free). We walked past the Colosseum and finally found a street full of cafes and restaurants, we walked past all the touristy ones (the ones where there is someone standing out the front hassling you to come) and settled on one down Via di San Giovanni in Laterano. J had the veal tortellini and I had gnocchi in tomato sauce. It was obvious to us that the pasta was not homemade, but we enjoyed being in a non-fuss restaurant and enjoyed our wine.

After awhile we got talking to a two lovely guys, a couple from California. J and I had a great time chatting to them about marriage laws for gay couples in" Australia and the US, how different both countries are and of course we loved telling them all about Australia. Though I think we scared them from ever visiting our lovely country. We were so busy talking to these guys, we hardly noticed all the other men that had appeared out of the wood works and the street had turning into, well, a street party. We found ourselves to be in a gay bar. After awhile we realised we'd had enough excitement for one day and wanted to store up the energy for the rest of our days in Rome.

Well we started our day with picking up our laundry, so I got to see my 'Nonna' again. Then we went and bought bus passes so we could take a bus all the way to Vatican City, because that was way to far to walk to. On our way to the tourist office on Via Nazionale I got stopped by a woman and she asked me in Italian, "Parla Italiano?" I said "Si, un' poco." So she continued to talk in English, and she told me, well actually blessed me. Yes, I got blessed by some random woman on a street of Rome. I later joked to J, because she was bats**** crazy she probably stalks the Pope and therefore has touched him, therefore I have been blessed- by the Pope himself. That was my theory anyway.

We then continued on from the tourist office on the same walk as we did the day before, and walked to the Pantheon. Remembering from my first trip to Rome, almost the whole Topdeck group sat at a restaurant opposite the Pantheon and ate lunch - it was one of my highlights of that trip. Though I couldn't remember whether I went inside or not, though this time, J and I did. It was amazing to look at from the inside and we got to have a look at the tomb of Raphael. J and I were quite touched by the quote on his tomb that reads: "Here lies Raphael, by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared that she herself would die."

Walking out of the Pantheon we bought ciabatta sandwiches and sat and at them right on its steps. We then filled our water bottle from the Roman aqueducts, so great to have clean, cold water that is free to all. We then walked towards the direction of Piazza di Spagna and bought ourselves a cup of delicious gelati each; J had limone and fruitta di bruscha and I had pistacio and bacio. We arrived at Piazza di Spagna to for J's reaction to be very underwhelming because the Spanish steps are just that, steps. Not really that exciting and I had already seen and walked up them before. Not only were we bored by this sight, but we got harassed by men selling roses, none of them left us alone, and we were asked five or more times.

Needing to cool off from the 42 degree heat we walked back to Hotel Nardizzi to sit in our air conditioned room for 15 minutes and rest our feet. After our little pit stop we caught a bus from Via Nazionale to the Vatican City, where we found our way to St. Peter's Basilica, where it was an effort to cover up in the stifling heat to be allowed in. I mean I don't mind being respectful, but the temperature was disgusting. I knew from last time I was there I had to cover my shoulders which I remembered to do, but just on entry I was made to cover my legs too, which was a bit of effort since I was wearing a skirt. Thank god it wasn't too short and I was able to adjust it, pulling it closer to my knees and I was allowed to enter. J was amazed at the thoroughly (almost over the top) decorated church. And for the second time, I still found myself fascinated to look at it all. Due it being so late in the day we weren't able to go have a look at the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.

We left Vatican City on a fully packed bus back to Via Nazionale (the buses were packed due to metro line being down). Walking up Via Firenze (the street the hotel was on) we stopped in at a pizza snack bar for a bite to eat, because lunch was so long ago. We saw that the male receptionist from the hotel Nardizzi was also grabbing himself a quick bite to eat, we bought two pieces of pizza and the receptionist then recommended we should try a more typical pizza of Rome and the owner then gave us a taste of this pizza, and we were on our way.

J and I refreshed at the hotel before we headed to Piazza Navona to find somewhere for dinner. I didn't get a chance to see this famous piazza last time I was in Rome, and I was impressed. It looked terribly romantic like it did in Fellini's La Dolce Vita. Again like most of Rome's tourist attractions, the romanticism of the sights gets ruined a little by all the gypsies selling stuff right next to them. We ate at Tre Scallini; where J and I had over very own 'la dolce vita' moment. The best thing about dinner was the dessert; the original tartufo. The tartufo is: a scoop of chocolate gelato, with a cherry in the middle, chocolate shavings and cream on top. It was heaven in a cup.

After two late nights in a row J and I decided to indulge in a little sleep in and didn't arrive at the Colosseum until 11:30, and when arrived we straight away the mass of tourists waiting to get in. After hopping in the overly long line for the ticket booth, we were confronted by an 'information' guy who worked for the Colosseum. He warned us that the line to buy a ticket was an hour and 45 minutes long and offered us a package to join a professional tour guide for an hour long tour of the Colosseum (where we don't have to wait) and after that tour we can also get a tour of the Roman Forums and the Paletine for 25euro each. Last time I saw the Colosseum with my Topdeck friends, we had been tricked into getting an audio guided tour, where we did end up waiting to get in. Though this guy as I said worked for the Colosseum - J and I trusted him, and he came up with the goods.

Finally in the Colosseum, we walked around the Roman masterpiece whilst listening to our enthusiastic and eccentric guide. Apart from the Colosseums stature and size, and being able to see the underneath what was the battle ground, J was not overly impressed.

Around one we finished our tour and by 1:15 we were on our next tour; of the Paletine and Roman Forum with Alex. Let's say J sighed when saw Alex, like most of the male kind who did the tour, because he was gorgeous (not Italian) but you wouldn't be able to differentiate his nice tan from a local. So of course I thought the tour was great, no it really was, even J thought so. Alex had the knack for a guide job; being informative but also entertaining. Especially when he started the tour with, "so your on this tour right, because your not sick of looking at rocks yet." I hadn't walked around the Roman Forum or Paletine ruins last time I was in Rome, so it was new to J and myself. After the tour had finished, we enjoyed our tour so much we booked a 'Roman Mystery tour' with Alex again the next day and also a 'secrets of the Vatican tour' with his colleague Rachel.

After a big day again in the intense heat, we needed to head back to the hotel before dinner. Especially because I think I suffered a bit from heat stroke. For dinner J had found Al Duello on tripadvisor, so that's where we were headed, back to the Piazza Navono area again. Again we felt the 'la dolce vita' but not because J and I were having a moment, but because we felt at Al Duello that we had finally struck gold. The menu was not overpriced and it was not touristy (which are two things that are hard to come by in Rome), we enjoyed our meal so much that we booked a table for the next night and told the owner Martina that we'd be having the degustation menu option. This night J had onion soup (a house favourite), while I had zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella and tomato for appetizers. For mains J had the seafood pasta special with scampi and I had the 'Al Duello' pasta: PASTA... with tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil, so simple but so fresh. And last but not least mouthwatering dessert and my new favourite I had panacotta with fresh mixed berries and chocolate shavings and J had a chocolate and pear soufle. Best meal I've had in awhile.

We woke up early because we were meeting Alex (the guide from the day before) for breakfast at Campo Di Fiori at 9:30. We had got their a little early and we walked around the daily fruit and veggie markets - we bought a freshly cut-up cup of fruit and nuts and dried fruit to snack on later (this stall even had dried sweet tomatoes). We then waited for Alex at the breakfast place where he told us to meet him and were pained to here the waitress tell us that they had finished the 'American breakfast.' Which meant no eggs and bacon, I could've cried.

Alex started the tour around ten-ish by taking us to an espresso bar, where he said you could get the best espresso in Rome; Lant Eustacio il Caffe. The espresso was great, gave me that kick I needed after missing out on a cooked breakfast. The highlight of this tour was seeing Michelangelo's 'secret tomb,' in the catacombs of a church that was used by the Pope of the day while the second (current) St. Peter's Basilica was being built. The tomb remained a secret according to Alex because the Vatican chose to re-write this part of history. Whether you are a believer, or you think its too 'Dan Brown' it was a fascinating story. On this tour J and I got talking to a young Irish couple; Dean and Julie and when the tour ended we all went together to Fabio's (a sandwhich bar Alex recommended) near the Vatican.

Fabio's is well what we needed, a simple, fresh and tasty sandwhich, nothing too different and a fresh smoothie or juice. It was great having a chat to Fabio himself (the idealist who makes your sandwhich) and ... who whizzes up your juice.

We then walked with Julie and Dean to try and find where we were meeting Rachel (Alex's colleague) for our tour of the Vatican Museum. Rachel, similar to her colleague was a great tour guide, informative and well just damn friendly. And cudos to her for making jokes about the Mutant Ninja Turtles when she spoke about Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo the artists. I had been on a similar tour of the Vatican Museum last time, but I got to see a different collection of Raphael's and got to see Carvaggio's .... J is in love with this Carvaggio, in awe of it, I think that was the highlight of the Vatican Museum tour for him.

Then we stepped into the Sistine Chapel, a building (yes, that I've been in before) that still takes my breath away. Michelangelo was a ledgend for a reason. Finishing our tour of the Vatican properly, we sent a postcard from the Vatican City post office to my nieces (because it is another country) and where we said goodbye to Julie and Dean. J had also told Dean all about our delicious dinner at Al Duello, so he gave them the details about where it was.

About dinner, just thinking about it, reminds me of how stuffed I was with food that night. When we arrived and were greeted by Martina, before thinking about it properly, I told Martina instead of the five degustation meal, that'll we'd do the six. Even though my waistline feels it was a mistake, it has to be one of the best meal memories I have. And I experienced many firsts during this mealtime, for not only did I try: mussels, clams, sea bass and scampi for the first time, but the scampi was raw! Be shocked everyone! When I try firsts, I go all the way. The reason we had that much seafood, is because our likes and dislikes kind of got 'lost in translation' so I ended up with all seafood meals. Our meals included (three appetizers each) which were: grilled baby octopus with a chilli black rice, a zucchini flower wrapped in proscuitto, mussels in a broth, brasata cheese (creamier than mozzarella) with salad, beef carpaccio and raw scampi. That was then followed by two primi piattis (pasta) each: clams with rigatoni, tomato and chorizo with rigatoni, sea bass with spaghetti and cabonara. We then had a main each, J had veal scalloponi and I had baked sea bass and potato. And we managed to fit in dessert; J had caramel panacotta and I had my new favourite, panacotta with fresh berries.

Our night was made magic, firstly because we were greeted by Martina with a glass of sparkling each and then because Dean and Julie ended up coming to dinner at Al Duello too. We ended up sharing our table with the lovely couple and made a night of it. J and I enjoyed their company, especially because they were the kind of people who gave sh** to us and we could give it back. We celebrated Julie's birthday, which was the next day and we actually closed the restaurant with Martina and the other two waitresses bringing out four glasses of champagne and a tirimisu with a candle in it for Julie and officially ending the night with a limoncello each. 

That night was what it was all about, 'La Dolce Vita.'

The Colloseum on our night stroll.

The view from underneath the shade of the Pantheon.

Michelangelo's secret tomb.