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Week #4: March 26-April 1
Sunday morning, I had a lovely breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast was served in the restaurant on the rooftop with pretty views of the city. I checked out right at noon and took a taxi over to Trastevere where we would be spending the next two weeks. I wanted to have the apartment ready for Lance when he arrived so I did some grocery shopping, took my clothes to the laundromat and found a fancy bakery to surprise Lance with a birthday cake and candle.
Lance arrived safely but tired on Tuesday evening. We of course had our first pasta dinner along with the best Saltimbocca we’ve ever had right on our street at one of the many Tonnerella restaurants in Trastevere. We spent Wednesday hitting up all the touristy spots — Campo Di Fiore, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon (24,130 steps!) but were too tired to eat out. Rome is quite busy with it being close to Easter and spring break week for many people.
On Thursday, Emily arrived for the weekend. It was her spring break so she was excited to see Lance and spent time in Rome together. Lance and I got a 7 day bus pass and figured out how to get to the Trastevere train station to meet her. We spent the afternoon over by the Coliseum at Trajan’s Market to see the ruins there. We found a cute spot in the Monti neighborhood for lunch and then walked back past the cats at the Torre Argentina. Turns out, there is a rescue organization there and you can go in and visit with the cats. We spent a few minutes there loving on some kitties, then headed back to Trastevere for a rest and dinner.
The next day, Emily wanted to go to the Vatican so we hopped on a bus up there. Lance has been trying to run every other day so he didn’t come along. (He’s been taking his runs along the Tiber River!) We walked around the plaza then Emily went off to the Vatican museum and I headed home. That evening, we had an early cooking class near the Campo Di Fiore which was fun. We made fettuccini and ravioli. All review for me of course (lol) but now Emily and Lance know how to make it!
On Saturday, we headed out to a church called the Basilica San Clemente. It’s a beautiful church near the coliseum and it has an archeological site below it — 2 actually! The church is built on a church which was built on a pagan temple. You do have a pay a small fee but then you can go down to see it all. It’s been very well excavated and there are frescoes, tiles, etc. We enjoyed it very much – especially Emily as her field of study right now is mostly archaeology! After that, we headed up Aventine Hill (one of the seven Roman hills that make up the original boundaries of Rome) to see the beautiful view. Plus there is a famous keyhole in a huge green door at the Embassy of Malta that allows the viewer a perfectly centered view of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. We crossed the Circo Massimo and the walk up the hill was lovely and cool. There was a bit of a line for the keyhole but it was worth the wait – though getting a picture is near impossible so I included a photo I found on the internet so you’d know what it looked like. After that, we headed down to the Testaccio neighborhood which we read was fun and has a funky vibe. We had a delicious lunch then hopped on a bus back to Trastevere. Emily’s train left at 7pm so we got her back to the station then headed home for a rest. No dinner out again as we have been eating well at lunch!