When in Rome …

We got out of our little apartment by noon today. We took a short little walk over to the smallest country in the world … Vatican City. The last time we were here in 2006 we took a tour of Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Vatican museums, etc.… So we decided just to look around in St. Peter’s Square today.


Jim with a foot in each country — Vatican City & Italy.
 
Fun fact: Did you know that Vatican City is Europe’s only absolute monarchy?  And, one of only a handful in the world. 



There’s really only one reason to be in Italy, MANGIARE!

With that said it was time to have lunch. We consulted Rick Steves website forum to see if anybody had any good suggestions for a restaurant near the Vatican. Of course they did… We had an amazing lunch at Luma Bistro… if you’re going to be in Rome please don’t miss it.  It’s just a short walk until the tourists subside, but it was only about 10 or 15 minutes, if that. 







After a fantastic pasta lunch we met the owner and chef, Max. He was so nice and even told us how to make the pasta dish that Kristi had. It’s his take on a classic spaghetti alla Gricia, but his has pears in it. We will be trying to recreate it. Oh, he makes his own fresh pasta! Buon appetito!



After lunch we just strolled and made our way back to the apartment. Oh … we had gelato on the way. We also did some shopping. At “home” we rested a while before heading back out. 

At 6pm we headed out towards the must see monuments. Along the way, we did some shopping. We stopped at the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, and through the Forum ruins. Before heading to our restaurant, we made the requisite stop outside of the Colosseum.







Jim has a friend who is from Rome, Chiao Fabrizio! His brother has a restaurant here. It’s a little bit fancy, definitely not where the tourists stop. Fabrizio made a reservation for us and we were able to dine tonight. We each had a pasta dish and we had an appetizer. Jim also had tuna. we also had a dessert and Limoncello. To say the least we were stuffed.  Of course the limoncello is just for digestion. 😉  Thank you to Fabiano for being a great host!







Rome really comes alive at night, we do not. 😂  It was about 10 PM by the time we finished dinner. We decided to walk about 1.3 miles back to our little apartment. Walking through the streets at night in Rome is a little bit like being in a Shakespearean play like Romeo and Juliet … but we felt very safe. It seems like there are bars and restaurants down every little alley-wide street. It’s definitely a fun place to visit… But for us, we would never live here.

We got back to our apartment at about 11 o’clock. If we wanted to do we could continue to enjoy some time out on the in the city … but we are headed to bed.

P.S. — this is where we don’t stay …



This is where we stay so we can spend more on food …



It’s clean, comfortable, and safe … but not glitzy. 

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