Hi all,
Oh dear, I am so sorry for neglecting my blog!! It has been such a blur this last week, I intended to do a few posts about Rome the week I got back but then came down with a cold which just got worse through the week and still recovering from it now. So here is the first post about Rome :)
I was unsure whether to do 7 posts, 1 for each day for bunch in a few days in each post. However we did so much I am going to do a post a day so you won't be sitting reading for half an hour for each one :) aren't I so thoughtful :).
Our plane departed from Stanstead on the 20th Feb. My sister surprised me by booking the lounge there where there is all you can eat and drink, it was so nice to chill out before the flight and the food was pretty good too :). I'm not the best flyer but I did't cry this time at least xD i had the film Spy on my iPad ready for the flight to keep my mind of flying in midair...thankfully wind was behind us so our flight was shorter then it was supposed to :).
We finally arrived in Rome and went to our transfer, was quite a long journey to the hotel and I still don't like that they drive on the wrong side of the road! XD. We stayed at the Condotti Inn and I would definitely stay there again! We were a bit uncertain when we arrived as it was in what I believe was an apartment building but the inside of the inn was lovely and the room was very clean and fresh :) and right in the centre of Rome!
We got to the hotel at night, so we went out for food first, was a bit of a challenge as we didn't know where to go! We found a place which we thought had pizza but it turns out they didn't :( although we got a lovely carbonara which was lovely, no fatty bacon :).
Will start on the Sunday as the saturday wasn't much of a day. (Sorry if this post it really long!)
[view from our window :)] loved the shutters!
As its sunday we decided to go and see the Pope at noon. The Vatican was really close to our hotel so we went there quite a lot :). It was a 15-20 minute walk I believe. It was a lovely sunny day too :D
[crossing the bridge by the Castel Sant'Angelo]
[The road leading to St Peter's Square]
[Kylie in St Peters Sqaure]
We got to St Peter's Square and there were so many people, we weren't sure where the Pope came out but soon figured it was where everyone was facing! Where a red cloth was hanging out of a window. We had great timing too so we didn't have to wait long and had a great spot too :).
Unfortunately, I didn't have a clue what he was saying but it was a lovely atmosphere, glad we got to go, was definately an experience :)
[balloons were left off when he finished]
I'm not really a religious person but I really enjoyed his speech and feltat peace listening to him.
After the speech we were getting hungry and there was a sign for Mcdonalds 5 minutes away, well they lied! We went in search and had to use my phones gps to find the damn place! Typical british getting a Mcdonalds on holiday! Was yummy though and even got some cakes at the McCafe :).
[The sun was in a lovely spot on the way back to the hotel]
Walking back to the hotel we went down to the riverside and walked along the river :) was lovley, would have been nicer without grafitti but never mind.
[Castel Sant'Angelo from below]
[View after going back up the stairs]
We had a great first day, the sun was kind to be out most of the day :). We had fun exploring and went back to the hotel to rest before going in search of food again.
We discovered that if we went in the opposite direction to the night before we would find the Piazza Novana and loads of restaurants :/ what a fail. We went into a place called Zio Ciro which was lovely and quite cheap too.
[first pizza of the holiday :D]
We both got pizza and it was amazing! Couldn't even eat it all and the staff were lovely, even gave us free limoncello ahots after our meal which were delightful :)
After our meal we went to investigate the piazza navona which is beautiful, especially at night :).
[fountains in Piazza Navona]
I love the poses the statues have on the fountains xD really cheered me up.
[Statue in another Piazza]
We went exploring further and found another square with an awesome statue.
[cat sanctuary]
We came across the Cat Sanctuary we had read about alas we didn't see many cats at night :(
We then decided to head back to the hotel so we could get an early start the next day.
Such a great start to the holiday!
What did you think of the things we did?
Have you been to Rome?
Join me again next time for Day 3 in Rome :)
Toodles xx
