Mom and Joe visit Italy!

Anna and I took the morning train from Florence to Rome in time to meet her family.  We walked for a while through the China Town of Rome until finding their hotel.  We said our hello's and such before heading to lunch.  they all ordered pizza's which looked delicious but I just got some bruschetta since I was meeting my family later in the day.  After lunch, the Gleason's headed to the Vatican for a tour and I made my way toward my parent's hotel.  As luck would have it, I was walking into the entrance of the hotel just as they were getting out of their taxi from the airport!

They were staying at the Hotel Bristol Barnini which was massive and luxurious!  We settled in for a few minutes but were all starving so we headed out to find some lunch.  Mom ordered pizza, I got a caprese salad, and Joe also ordered a salad.  Everything was delicious and filling so we walked around to explore for a while.  We went to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain before heading to get gelato and then to the hotel for a nap before dinner.  For dinner I wanted to take them to a restaurant with a set menu that I had been at back in January.  Unfortunately the restaurant didn't have any available tables so we moved onto the next restaurant which also had a set menu and was just as good! 

Saturday we started the morning a little later than expected by taking the Hop on, Hop off bus tour.  The bus showed us all the major points around Rome without us having to walk too much and the sunshine was perfect for sitting on the top deck!  We hopped off near the Vatican and walked to a fort.  Inside the fort there was paintings and facts about Rome.  The top of the fort gave the perfect view of Rome!  After the fort, we walked to Piazza Nuova and got lunch.  After lunch we went to the Pantheon and then the National Monument.

After the National Monument we planned to walk around the Collossum since Mom was feeling tired.  Outside the Colosseum there were crowds of people and we debated going inside until a guide came up to us and asked if we wanted to join his tour group.  The group was leaving in about 10 minutes and included a tour of the Colosseum, a tour of the Roman Ruins, and a tour of the gardens beside the Ruins.  The tour guide was funny and the group was small but it was a little difficult to understand him since he was Italian.  Once we finished at the Colosseum and walked to the garden next to the Roman Ruins where we met up with another tour guide.  The second tour guide was really informative and easy to understand since he was from Ohio!  It was getting late and we were all tired of walking so we headed back to the National Monument to get back onto the bus.  We waited for almost half an hour for the bus and then the bus stopped at evey single stopped before bringing us to our stop which was the last stop.  The bus also decided that for that day, they weren't going to be stopping at our hotel and were going to be stopping at the Trevi Fountain instead.  So instead of walking the 15 minutes to the Trevi Fountain and then 10 minutes home, we waited 30 minutes, rode the bus for another 30 minutes, then had to walk 10 minutes back to the hotel.  Talk about a waste of time!

We all got ready and headed out toward a place Joe picked out from his guide book.  It was supposed to take 10 minutes walking but 40 minutes later and hungrier, we were no where near finding a place to eat.  The restaurant Joe picked didn't exist at the address provided so we ended up improvising and had a mediocre dinner.  Back at the hotel, I slept like a baby in the luxurious hotel bed.