Sorry for delay again, I swear I thought I would be better about posting but kids again and all of their activities got the best of me. I need to hurry and post because I am already forgetting all the details of my trip so these posts will probably get shorter and shorter ha!
On this day it was Friday and I had bought tickets to the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, and the Coliseum. It is so nice they bundle everything for $18 but I did like how you used to be able to just walk up to the Roman Forum and get tickets without waiting. Whenever I buy tickets I go to Trip Advisor first to get the official link because I can’t even tell you how many times I have almost bought from a third party based on a google search but then reference Trip Advisor and find the direct link for cheaper tickets.
Everything was as I remembered and better! During the closures of everything because of the virus they were able to uncover lots of new discoveries and ruins and even add stuff to the Coliseum. It was great to see how something terrible like the virus was a small blessing to discover so much!
It was so hot this day but we packed our umbrella, water, and fan and it was tolerable. I never really mind the heat in Europe and I knew I wanted to make the most of our day.
After lunch we headed over to the Pantheon, we made frequent stops there during our stay since it was free and you didnāt need tickets during the week .
Later that night I had made reservations to a restaurant called Aroma. I saw their ad on Instagram and I am a great sucker for things so I booked a table to celebrate a belated birthday dinner for Dan.
When we first got to the restaurant we did have a minor hiccup. I told them my name and the hostess tried seating us at the bar and said my reservation was the first floor bar and not the rooftop. I am very meticulous and paranoid so I had already emailed and had my Italian friend call to confirm my reservations and she didn’t believe me! Thank God I screen shot and save every email for my trips and even had the printouts in my purse and she immediately got flustered and apologized. I wouldn’t have cared if she had tact and said it to me in private but she said it in front of 3 other couples and I got embarrassed. She later came to our table and apologized again and told us someone had put it in the notes to seat us at the bar for free drinks and appetizer as we waited for our table as a special treat for celebrating there but she got confused. Who knows if that was true and as soon as we sat at our table Dan loved the view so my embarrassment went away just seeing how happy he was with the table. We did get free drinks and appetizers at our table so that was very nice.
We did have amazing seats and the food was delicious!! It is a Michelin star restaurant so if you can afford it, it is worth the splurge but if you can’t no worries. There were plenty of restaurants with a similar view surrounding the Coliseum so just do your research. We always plan for a nice “fancy” dinner on all of our trips but we justify it with it only being one. We love to eat but wouldn’t consider ourselves foodies. Dan loves a good view and I just love seeing him love the view and food. He can be a picky eater so I always worry what he is going to eat, but to my surprise he ordered a steak! And to my even bigger shock he loved it!! He doesn’t like any red in his meat (I know a sin, but alas I can’t change his mind) so he rarely orders a steak because he feels embarrassed to order it well done but the waiter was so nice and friendly, Dan asked for a substitution and they happily said yes and made it to his liking. He is still raving about this steak and I am so so happy he loved it.
When it was time for dessert I had put it in the reservation we were celebrating his birthday and they brought out an additional dessert and played “Happy Birthday” on the speakers. It was so cute and amazing and even though he turned bright red, he loved it all! It was honestly such a memorable dinner. The ambiance, the service (minus the hiccup,) the food, and of course the company. We stayed for hours eating, drinking, and talking. We remembered why we loved Rome so much and planned future trips. We get so cheesy on these trips so we sat in the corner just talking, laughing, and holding hands.
Afterwards, we walked backed to our hotel and took our time walking by the Coliseum and enjoying the night with the other tourists.
The night was magical and I really loved walking back to our hotel that night. I am happy I wore comfortable heels because we kept getting side tracked with more and more ruins and our walk back took like an hour and half instead of 20 min it should have taken lolol.
Adventures of Janet 