After a lovely little layover in the Big Apple, we arrived in Rome, an hour ahead of schedule, at 9:30 in the morning. We met our tour guide, Matteo, and Jan to load the bus for our trip around Rome. The ride was a scenic route, and we got a touch of what we could expect with Italian traffic. The bus passed grand old buildings, that could tell so many stories. Matteo had a lot of knowledge about what we were seeing that made the buildings come to life. I think the castles and the bridges were probably my favorite.
We stopped at the Trevi Fountain and it was a beautiful sight to see, but it wasn’t how I remembered it from the Lizzie McGuire movie. I pushed through the crowd to get to the edge of the fountain to take photos and videos. Just for luck, I threw two coins into the fountain (it all goes to charity).
Now, the thing that everyone cares about… FOOD. My first taste of Italy was at a small sandwich shop right next to the Pantheon. In a panic, I ordered the only thing that I could say, “mozzarella” and I was handed a huge sandwich with fresh mozzarella and salami.
Directly after, I was on an imidate mission for gelato. We went to Las Palma that had over 150 flavors to choose from. I ended up with a cone of espresso and Kinder flavored gelato, and it was probably the best accident that ever happened to me.
Finally, we made it back to our hostel and I got to shower and get ready for a lovely welcome dinner. We were all served a huge helping of pasta with a delicious vodka sauce then a salad, and a large piece of pork. For dessert, was the BEST tiramisu I have ever had (and I have eaten a lot of tiramisu in my life). I will be dreaming of that tiramisu tonight.
