Ciao from Roma!

Weeee’rrrreee heeeeerrrreeee. This is a long post soz! But I received a WTF at not having posted in 24 hours sooo two posts have been combined!

Of course our hotel wasn’t ready for us upon arrival so we grabbed lunch at a place around the corner (The Bramble), came back and changed into something cooler because it is SO DARN HOT (refused to believe in this “heat wave” nonsense – I am from Straya mate – but legitimately we’re sweating), and ventured out to peruse the neighbourhood. We spent the afternoon chilling out in the room which for me included a shower and face mask and for Hardy involved endless Hulk and Spider-Man fighting which to me appears to have ended very amicably (picture coming).

The hotel itself is “quaint” with fabric walls and ceiling, and is actually split over two levels with a huge window/door which has a little balcony overlooking a side street. I’d take a photo to show you but we’ve already destroyed the joint, including a twice-broken cup. (Look I’ve fixed it / smash).

I told Hardy to pick any restaurant we came upon for dinner, and lo and behold we found ourselves back at The Bramble. Wise choice for the young lad, he came away with free frites and a t-shirt! His face has been pinched about 4 times, in a nice way, as predicted by MZ at work. My bum however, yet to be pinched (can’t win them all Zancs).

To be honest the trip over absolutely destroyed me and I still can’t believe we lasted until an acceptable hour to get to bed yesterday. By acceptable it was 6 pm but so sorely needed. With jet lag kindly introducing itself, we both woke up around 1 am (our time) and tossed and turned for around 2.5 hours. I couldn’t fathom surviving the day if Hardy didn’t fall back asleep, but luckily he did. We woke up around 7, feeling much better.

Our tour guide Gerry from this tour kindly showed us around town for a few hours today. It was a lonnnng day but we managed to see a lot. By the end I was really knackered and was like ok bye Gerry gtg before I faint. I hate to admit the heat is getting to me! Managed to get a free bus ride by the fact that no one asked us to show a ticket/not knowing wtf to do/not caring by this point.

Highlight for me today was the Pantheon. What a structure and so beautiful inside.

Highlight for Hardy was the public drinking fountain outside which he played with for about 15 minutes. Gerry showed him how to plug the main tap to create another drinking hole, thus another 15 minutes ensued. He proceeded to instruct other people how to use it. He was pretty wet by the time I pulled the plug, pardon the pun.

Second highlight for me was Piazza Navona. So open and beautiful, with a sweet duo playing music (when we got there it was Despacito, not going to lie, but they went on to play other [great] tunes).

So in keeping with my shit luck, the Trevi Fountain was ‘off’ when we went today. But we both threw a few coins in nonetheless. It actually was quite nice because the crowds were smaller and it was really quiet. It was so much bigger than I anticipated.

Other touristy photos..

By the time we got back to the hotel I thought I might vomit again I was so exhausted. But we came inside and Hardy said “what a great day we just had.” I almost cried – such a sweet thing to say considering he sat in a pram all day and it wasn’t exactly super interesting for kids. He timed it perfectly too. Bless him!

Hardy has also managed to charm housekeeping, who gave us free water after saying “sssh” with a wink when she restocked them. And a dude at the mini mart gave him a free “croissant” (he consequently spat it out when he ate it later saying it was mouldy). Seriously the saying that Italians love kids is understated.

If there’s something you can recommend for Rome please comment! Tomorrow we hope to see Villa Borghese, Trastevere, and Vatican City.

Until then, thanks for stopping by.. xx

xx