Rome

We are home from our trip of a lifetime. We enjoyed every second of it and we owe a HUGE thanks to my wonderful sister in law who came to watch the kids for us to make this all possible. We came home to healthy, happy children and a clean house. What more could you ask for? Thank you Bridget for caring for and loving my kiddos even though I am sure it was crazy and difficult at moments.

I am giving a disclaimer right now that not a single one of my pictures will do any justice to what we actually saw. The places we went and the things we saw were so amazing and while the camera can capture a bit of it, the memories of sights and sounds and colors and smells in my head will always be better than a picture. You will just have to trust me when I say it was beautiful and if you ever have the chance you should go!

We stayed in the Grand Hotel De La Minerva right in the heart of Rome. The location was perfect. We walked to everything except for The Vatican. We were literally a stones throw away from The Pantheon. This was the lobby of our hotel. We had a huge room over looking The Pantheon. It was so nice to be able to come home for a bit in the late afternoon and take a little nap and head out again to stroll the streets at night and have a late dinner.

Our hotel was right outside a piazza with a beautiful church, but in Rome there is a jaw dropping church around each and every corner.

All the streets in Rome are covered in these small cobble stones. It was very charming. As you can imagine, high healed shoes are a catastrophe here. All the women wear flats. I wore heals one night to a fancy restaurant and it took us twice as long to get there because of the care I had to take each and every step.
I can't say enough about Rome. I loved the language, I loved the people, I loved how they dressed, I loved the streets, I loved the sights and sounds....I LOVED IT.

It was such an interesting blend of old streets and homes and stores that transported you to another time, yet they were filled with the most modern and expensive displays and clothing and high end labels one after the next after the next. Every street you went down was filled with cafes or amazing shops. The blend of the old and the new somehow mingle together in a beautiful and perfect way in a maze of twisting and tangled streets.

There were many charming shops with vines of beautiful flowers growing up the walls. I loved that the streets and piazza's were filled with people but for some reason you never felt crowded. One of my favorite memories of Rome was the late night walks back to our hotel. The cafes would be filled with people the lighting on all the old buildings was warm and beautiful and every night there was a man playing beautiful guitar right outside our hotel. We would sit on the ledge of The Pantheon and listen to him quietly playing as we watched people stroll on by enjoying the night as much as we did.

Rome was perfect in every way. I enjoyed every second of it and I would love to go back and explore more some day. I have never really thought that much about learning a language but after this trip if I ever did, it would be Italian. Stay tuned for more posts of all the sights and experiences!