Day One

So exhausted! \240We tried to get early check in at the hotel but could only check our baggage. We walked around e looting and had our first Roman pizza (fair).

We walked to the Spanish Steps, and I want to remember to look up the significance of the images in the statue.

Back to the hotel and a luxurious soAk in the tub, where I actually fell asleep! \240Took a nap for an hour or so.

The room was gaudy but so lovely. I can’t say I was sad about the two beds.

After the nap we explored two Basilica. At that point I didn’t feel comfortable taking pics in a church, but the inside of both was so beautiful.

We had dinner and the fact that I didn’t get a pic of is a testimony to how exhausted I was. I had spaghetti carbonara and Tim had pasta with fish. We also had a cutting board app and lemoncello shots. The food was very good. We went back to the room and right to sleep.

I unfortunately couldn’t sleep the night and woke up starving. We went down to the hotel bar and Tim told the bartender “my wife is hungry”. I had an interesting sandwich of rolled up meats and cheese and a big glass of wine. That did the trick and I fell right back to sleep.

But the capuaccino was delicious. I joked with Tim about his bravery eating prunes and 2 glasses of pear juice.

We went back to the room and packed up so we could Uber to the air bnb and meet Christina and sissy!

We all dropped off our bags and set off on foot to the Vatican. Along the way we stopped st the open market and for gelato.

The courtyard at the Vatican was beautiful.

It was chilly and rainy and our feet were starting to hurt.

But we were so excited to be there together.

We ate another delicious meal. It was the best bruschetta we had and my salad with pear and walnut was fair.

We came across this awesome castle and walked through the grounds

Christina and John took some time to swing while sissy rode the horsie.

We were freezing and Fatima was creepy as can be but Christina had us laughing so hard.

The castle tour was very interesting. Really enjoyed listening to the history.

Although Tim may have enjoyed its little too much...😡

We walked past the point of exhaustion. We took a taxi back, all of us trying to squeeze in and got yelled at by the taxi driver. We went back to the apartment, checked in, and Tim and I went to pick up pizza. We had zucchini pie, plain, and a mushroom calzone. The cZlzone was the best. We all crashed after, but I was up at 1am, starving again and ate more pizza.

The 3 couples went our own way, but I had the pleasure of bumping into Nee and John a few times. The beauty in the Vatican was amazing. Here are a few of my faves.

It is impossible to choose a favorite. I loved the art section, the sculptures and the Sistine Chapel the most.

Tim and I took a few outside breaks - the weather was beautiful and the sun felt amazing. We had cappuccino and a cronuti with cream. So delicious.

We also took advantage of the very short Pokémon event.

Loved seeing the pope mobiles, particularly the one from when the pope visited NYC when I was a kid.

Tim and I took Christina and John for dinner on the way home. The food was eh. I had lasagna and it was gummy. We wound up walking back to the apartment. Dying of exhaustion on the way.

Lynne and Tommy went to the Colosseum and we were to meet them at 2. We took a taxi to the Pantheon with Nee and John.

Next stop was supposed to be the Trevi Fountain but we got distracted by another Basilica.

The ceilings were amazing. When I showed Christina to stand in the circle and look up, she became so overwhelmed and cried saying she saw heaven. This was in direct contrast to Tim, who was grumbling about the Jesuits the entire time.

No time for the Trevi Fountain at that point. We had to head straight to the colosseum, which closed at 4:30. The ruins were beyond my wildest expectation.

We met up with lynne and Tom briefly, but they headed to the coliseum while we opted to stay longer at the ruins. And no regrets there. It was a beautiful day.

Tired and hungry, tired and hungry. We met up with Christina and John and walked over to the Trevi Fountain.

The crowds were large so we didn’t stick around for long. We went into a gelato place for lunch and gelato. Tim and I shared a cutting board and a pizza with prosciutto and artichoke. I had Bacci gelato for dessert. \240Christina and I did some shopping, but then my stomach started bothering me and we left. \240We had to get out of the taxi - bano bano desperado and it was the best thing that could have happened to Nee and Tim with their pastries

After we got back, Tim and I were ready for some alone time and went out to dinner on our own. We found a local burger joint and had an ama omg dinner.

During dinner we did our best to follow football, having hope for a short time that the pats would lose but no such luck. We finished watching at home since John found a way to hook it up.

The cafe was closed so we had to get coffee from mc Donald’s. Which actually wasn’t bad. When we got home, the kitchen door was closed. When I went in, everyone was in there yelling SURPRISE!!!!!

Even Tommy was wearing the birthday glasses

I had the pastry Tim picked up firmer the night before but couldn’t finish it. I would have been full blown drunk for spa day!

Spa day. It was amazing from the minute we pulled up. We put our robes on and hit the steam room. Laughed hysterically at the sucking sounds. Sauna next. Followed by the spa sauna combo. Loved the Roman implavium. Cold-hot-cold-hot. Glad we didn’t follow Lynne’s suggestion and sit in it!

My favorite was the salt pool where I could just float. The spout massager was awesome as well. Eventually our robes and towels became sodden, the kiwi was gone, and it was time to shower and go.

We were supposed to have day 2 of colosseum but I just couldn’t do it. I was dead. We decided to have a relaxing day and meet up at Puazza Navona for dinner together.

From there we walked around a bit and settled on a restaurant. The waiter was drunk as a skunk and couldn’t stop talking about DiBlasio’s visit to his place.

Our meal was delicious. The cutting board, that fish with anchovies and capers. It was an absolutely perfect birthday.

We picked up coffee and croissants from the cafe and they were amazing. Then we got in a cab to St Peter Basillica. Despite thr conflict of faith it brought on, it was beautiful beyond belief.

We wound up walking home and made the plan to meet Lynne and Tommy for lunch near the Spanish \240steps. We had the pleasure of hearing a wandering opera singer.

Lunch was delicious, a seafood risotto and chicken cutlets. We wound up walking back to the apartment from there.

When we were all home, Christina shared her beautiful pics from a hilltop. While we went out to dinner, back to that burger joint, Christina was so wonderful and cleaned up.