The Rest of Rome and the Move to San Casciano!

Rome
Day 2: We started with a delicious breakfast across the street from our hotel that was included with our stay that consisted of croissants, espresso, orange juice, eggs, cheese toast, and a salad. It was so good! We sat at the table facing out the window which made for quite the photo op! :)

~Morning coffee on our terrace~

~Breakfast~

We ventured out to (and got lost in) the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill, met a new friend at the Colosseum, got our tiny Italian phone, and had a delicious tapas-style dinner on our terrace!

~Finding our way around Rome~

~Lost in either the Roman Forum or Palatine Hill... still not sure where one ends and the other begins...~

~Dinner~

~Tiny cups and tiny phones~

Day 3: After another great breakfast, Janet and I took a taxi to the Vatican. We toured all over the Vatican and Sistine Chapel then snuck in the secret short cut to St. Peter's Basilica reserved for tours so we wouldn't have to wait in line again! (Thanks, Rick Steve's tour book!)

~Sneaking into the short cut~

~Inside St. Peter's Basilica - the letters on the wall are 7 ft tall for reference!!~

~Outside St. Peter's Basilica~

Next was visiting the square of homeless kitty cats that are taken care of by a group called Torre Argentina. They were all so cute!!! We headed back to the hotel for another tapas dinner then off to bed!

~Janet and the kitties~

~Haley and the kitties~

~Home of the kitties~

~Dinner~

San Casciano
Saturday: We got up Saturday morning and were taken to the Peugeot dealership near the Rome airport to pick up our leased car! It was plenty big for Janet, mom, me, and all of our luggage, which was a relief! Once we were packed up and I got our address plugged in the GPS, we were off for my first Italian driving experience! It was about a 3 hour drive from Rome to San Casciano, and it was a surprisingly non-traumatic experience! I had been so nervous about driving here, but (at least on the highway) people stay in their lane (for the most part), and go (just slightly over) the speed limit!

~Our car! Still coming up with a name...~ 

~Giant sun roof!!~

We got to our apartment imagining the worst - a one bedroom apartment with a double bed we had to share, and no kitchen supplies. We felt like we had gone so long on the trip without any hiccups, surely the apartment was going to be terrible. We were wrong. Our apartment is a 2 bedroom, one bathroom apartment with a fully stocked, never used kitchen straight out of IKEA, and two windows looking out over San Casciano. Our landlord even had some staples waiting in the kitchen for us - coffee, sugar, salt, pasta, pasta sauce, crackers, jam, olive oil, etc. IT IS SO CUTE!!

~The kitchen~ 

~The first two windows on the top floor are ours!~

Once we watched the orientation video for clinic, we drove my mom to Florence where her hotel is, said our goodbyes, and dropped her off. On our way back to the apartment, Janet and I stopped in at Coop.Fi, our neighborhood grocery store, and got us enough food to get us started - all for 35 euros each, including lots of delicious produce, some staples, 5 bottles of wine, a vodka, and a coffee liqueur!!

~My first shopping trip! All of this for 35 euros!~

~One of our favorite purchases, our basil plant - named St. Peter BASILica~

That night, we just made ourselves dinner (harder than it sounds, as it took a good 30 min to figure out how to work the stove...), had some wine, and enjoyed the view from our window. We started the show Stranger Things on Netflix (very intense!!) and then headed to bed... Until the fireworks started! The National holiday Ferragosto is on Monday and there is a festival going on in the park right around the corner from our apartment! We were already in our PJs but we ran out to watch with the rest of our town. We like to think that the fireworks were really in celebration of our arrival in the town! :)

~We finally have fire!!~

~Sunset from our window~

~Watching fireworks from the park~

~Thanks for the warm welcome, San Casciano~

Sunday:
Because of the holiday on Monday, we won't start clinic until Tuesday so today is really more like our Saturday!  I didn't fall asleep until 3am so I slept in to 11:30. Once I was up, I made coffee and got to work unpacking my suitcases. So far, I've taken most of the day to unpack and get my room set up! Janet and I took a quick walk around the block to get a good look at the view from the park across the street! We have no plans the rest of the day other than enjoying the view from our window and getting used to our new apartment! So far, we are loving our new home of San Casciano and can't wait to explore the town and neighboring areas!

For the video I've taken during the time of this blog, check out my vlog! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uN56CYIOds

Ciao for now!