L Rizzy's Adventures: Rome, Italy

We drove away from Avignonesi and headed straight for Rome, enjoying the Italian countryside all the way down. Once in Rome, we dropped off the rental car, and taxied to our hotel. Immediately we were struck by the frenzied activity that was omnipresent in this city. Once checked in we headed out on foot for the Rick Steves Heart of Rome walk in reverse. During this walk, we were able to see the Spanish Steps, the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, the Piazza Navona, Piazza Colonna, and we ended the walk with a couple slices of pizza at Forno in Campo de' Fiori. Satisfied and tired, we caught a cab home to rest for our long second day in Rome.

Early the next morning we were up and ready. We had breakfast at the hotel then set out to meet our guide for the Vatican tour. Our guide, who turned out to be originally from Philadelphia, was quite late and quite short. Nevertheless the Vatican tour was amazing- seeing the inside of the Sistine Chapel (sorry no pictures allowed and I wasn’t willing to risk losing my camera), Michelangelo’s Pieta, St. Peter’s Basilica, and St. Peter’s square was absolutely breathtaking. L Rizzy was an absolute angel on the tour and L Mama was an absolute mule for toting our little/big one around the entire 2.5 hours!

We headed back to the hotel to regroup. We got a quick, but excellent lunch down the street, and put L Rizzy down for a nap. L Mama and I headed out to try to get into the Borghese Gallery but unfortunately on this day it was closed from 1-3 for maintenance. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you have rotten luck. We did, however, manage to stop by the Harley Davidson store to catch up with all the other American tourists in there buying shirts. Right next door was a Ferrari dealership and for one fleeting second I imagined casually walking around the store, eyeing the keys, taking the keys, peeling out through the glass storefront, and driving away to rural Italy to test out my new super machine and wrap it around a tree. I resisted the urge to follow through with such fantasies. I’m a family man now, after all.

We walked back to the hotel and by now L Rizzy was up and raring to go. So we caught a cab down to the ancient Rome section of the city and had a great few hours touring around the Coloseum, the Forum, and the Palintine. The highlights were the impressiveness and genius of the Coloseum and the site where Julius Cesar was burned following his assassination. Weary from a very long and tiring day in the sun, we went back to the hotel, grabbed some local paninis and had a picnic on the cold, marble floor of the hotel room.

Tomorrow morning we will train to Naples where a driver will pick us up, take us to Pompeii, and then to our hotel in Positano for our vacation within our vacation. Finally we will relax, enjoy the wine, food, and views, and soak up a few sunrays. We are looking forward to helping L Rizzy into the ocean, sleeping in, and showing off our well toned and oiled physiques.

There are a ton of pictures... 47 actually. It's a small portion of my tourist collection from Rome- but each picture tells a story, especially the ones of L Rizzy.