Rome (day 1)

We'd booked an Airbnb for the 5 of us near the main train station that looked awesome online. Walking through busy Roman streets with your luggage is not a ton of fun, but we eventually found our place. It had a tiny elevator into which we threw our luggage and climbed the five stories to our new home for the next few days. It looked a lot like we were squatters living in an abandoned place. It was definitely the place from the photos online...without any furniture or upkeep. What a bummer! $660 for three nights in a junkier place than expected. :( Sorry, girls! We felt so bad. There was no time to dwell, though, so we dropped off our bags and got to exploring.

Wow. What a nice bed.
NOT.

Tiny elevator!

The view from our new place

Jackson and I headed for Rome's Hard Rock Cafe to get my Mom a pin and the girls went on their own. The HRC ended up being pretty far away so by the time we got there we were hot and hungry so we ate nachos there. SO GOOD. When in Rome...quench your cravings for chips and salsa? :)

HRC ROME!

From there we got on a hop-on/hop-off bus tour. We normally find these to be a good way to familiarize yourself with a new city. This was not true for Rome. A ton of streets were closed for the Pope to make a speech or something so the whole tour made no sense. It was also right at 67 million degrees in the city. We'd never been more miserable so we opted for a "riposo" which is just an Italian term for an afternoon nap. Again with the when in Rome...

We're on a bus!

Rome was not built in a day, but Jackson wanted to see it in one. After a short nap we headed back out on the town. We skipped the tour bus this time and just walked.

I had done plenty of research on Roman tourism so I knew that sites did not have lines in the later evening hours. We got into the Coliseum in about 10 minutes when morning crowds sometimes wait 3 hours. We are not huge into audio guides or tours or anything of that nature so we just walked around, soaked it all in and then headed out. It was a little pricey to get in, but you just have to go if you're that close! I much preferred the looks of the outside to the inside, honestly.

Obligatory Colosseum selfie

Inside selfie

 We made our way back to our apartment and got cleaned up for dinner. The girls were still out sightseeing so we went off on our own in search of a great Italian meal. It turns out we're still cheap even when we are in Rome and we stopped at a take-out place down the road from our apartment that sold pizza by weight. We got the most amazing looking and tasting pizza, a glass of wine, a bottle of water and a pasta dish for about 15 Euros. It was amazing. We sat outside and took in the sights and sounds of the newly cooled down city. It was a lovely ending to a somewhat rocky day.

The BEST pizza EVER!

The apartment did not have central air conditioning as advertised so we had to sleep with the windows open. This made for a loud, warm night of sleep since the apartment was on a busy city square. We've told ourselves that such things build character. HA!

The square did not quiet down at night...