Rome, I already miss you

Rome was by far our favorite city to visit thus far. The people there were kind and seemed genuinely happy that we were there visiting their city. When you walked into a restaurant you felt like you were being welcomed into someone’s home. People greeted you warmly and I loved it. On this part of our trip we visited the Vatican Museum, the Vatican church, the Spanish steps, the Trevi Fountain, admired the Sistine Chapel and of course the Coliseum. We walked more on this part of our trip than the others. On average we walked 5-7 miles a day! Husband loves to walk… and walk… and walk. I love to walk a little then take taxis, but since Phil loves to walk and explore the city that way we did a LOT of walking. 10 points for me for being a good wife and making husband happy with exploring the city on foot! Minus 2 points for me complaining when it was 100 degrees and 90% humidity. We can't win 'em all right!?

In the other European cities we visited there seemed to be an overwhelming amount of restaurants everywhere. In Rome, there were only a few by our hotel, so we ate at the same restaurant a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean every dinner, and some lunches. We were regulars there and I loved it. We ate outside under a canopy every night, being serenaded by an Italian guitarist, trying delicious Italian food that I’m still craving, and really got to know our waiter. On our last night there we had taken our time eating dinner (by our American standards), and had been there about an hour and a half, so Phil asked for the check. Our waiter clearly wanted us to stay longer and said, “No, no rush tonight, stay enjoy a while longer. Then I’ll bring your check.” We laughed because we felt like we had been there forever! Of course since we weren’t in a rush and couldn’t leave since we hadn’t paid yet, we stayed and enjoyed ourselves about 45 minutes longer, and chatted about our trip some more. After that our waiter brought our check, we said our goodbyes and headed back to our hotel. I loved that the culture there is very family oriented and people just wanted you to take pleasure in your experience. I loved Italy and can’t wait for us to go back there again someday.