Rome Day 1 Update!

We made it!

Janet, mom, and I made it safely to Rome yesterday with very few problems! For the long version, continue reading here! For the short version, check out the video diary/vlog I made (Bear with me as it was my first video to put together!) Hopefully it works, wifi here is spotty at best! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGpQ_hTm8sg&feature=youtu.be

~At the Atlanta Airport~

Following the Delta power outage incident and 2 cancelled flights to Rome from Atlanta on Monday, we didn't think mom would make it on the flight as a standby passenger, but Delta had already been able to take care of everyone from Monday's cancelled flights and got on! ...In first class, lucky... We watched movies, ate food, and made airplane sangria out of free wine, sparkling water, and cran-apple juice (highly recommended!). The flight went well, though I got in total about 1 hour of sleep. Janet was able to sleep a bit better, but there is just no way to get good sleep on a 9 hour flight!

~Ready for the flight~

Once we made it to Rome, we were taken to our bed and breakfast, Navona Gallery Garden. When we got there, we were told that there was good news and bad news. The bad news: they were unable to put us in the room we booked. The good news: because of that, we had been upgraded to the largest suite they had!! 'Neat!' (Mom and I have learned this is Janet's go-to phrase and have adopted it very quickly...)  We were unable to check in to our room yet, as it was only noon, but were told we could come back at 2 to get checked in. This was slightly discouraging, as all I could think about doing at this point was taking a nap. We took the 2 hours to check out the Piazza Navona about 2 blocks from our hotel and get some lunch. When we were finally able to check in at 2 (and made it through the 30 min of instructions on how to use every single key and electronic device) we were FINALLY able to get a much needed nap!

~Door to our suite~

~Entryway to hotel~

~Entryway to hotel~

~These columns are 2,000 years old~

After about 2 hours of sleep, we made ourselves get up so we would be able to sleep that night (though it is currently 5:02 am in Italy, 11:02 pm in Georgia, and I am wide awake as I type this, so I don't know how well that did). The plan was to do a free walking tour I had found online, but right before we left, I realized it was something we needed to get tickets for in advance and have printed out. This turned out for the best because we were able to go see everything we wanted in the order we wanted and spend as much or as little time at each place as we wanted.

We took off to find the Pantheon (about a 5 min walk). This place is an architectural masterpiece, especially when you think about how long ago it was built and what resources they were working with!

~Pantheon~

~Pantheon~

From there, we headed to the Trevi Fountain to toss our coin & make a wish. It was very much full of tourists but was amazing to see! Mom said they were cleaning it when she was here a few months ago and you could definitely tell, it was so clean and gorgeous!

~Trevi Fountain~

We decided to continue on and find the Spanish Steps next and got there to discover they are closed for cleaning! So though it was a giant staircase with a pretty church at the top, it wasn't quite the same view with the barricades all around it. Oh well, we went, we saw, we can check off the tourist list! :)

~Spanish Steps~

It was time for some food and gelato at this point and we headed toward Giolitti, a gelato stop my dad recommended. We got chocolate dipped cones with 3 flavors of gelato (chocolate, Bailey's, and black cherry for me!) and crema (delicious fresh whipped cream)... SO good!!

~Giolittis Gelato~

~Giolittis~

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in at the restaurant next door and picked up pizza, bruchetta, salad and to-go glasses of wine (this is a real thing here, literally a plastic cup of wine with tin foil on top... totally legit.) to eat on our private patio/terrace. The weather was perfect at this point to just sit and enjoy the food and terrace; I took some time to upload pictures and piece together the vlog while Janet read up on some of our stops for tomorrow (Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill).

~Dinner on the terrace~

After dinner, we just got ready for bed and Janet and I colored in coloring books (because we are adults) until we were ready to go to bed. Alarms are set for 9 am to get ready and get breakfast before setting out on another adventure! It still hasn't sunk in that this amazing place is our home for the next 2 1/2 months! Probably once we have gotten to our apartment in Florence on Saturday, I will finally pinch myself to make sure it's not just some epic dream!
Okay, it is now 5:45 am and I am going to see if I can get back to sleep for a few hours before it's time to wake up!

Ciao for now!