I’ll start this post off by saying, if you don’t like a lot of people, don’t go to Rome 😉 because they have no shortage of people!

No but all of that aside, we absolutely loved Rome. We booked an Air BNB in Prati knowing nothing about the area, and as far as location goes, both Evan and I loved it! I’ll link our stay here. Prati and Trastevere are two suburbs pretty closely located to the Rome city center (we also love to walk) so it was great!

We took the bullet train from Naples to Rome and in the picture you can see just how fast we were going! It took us a around 1.5 hours which is pretty dang fast.

When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hotel/air bnb. We got settled and I did a couple of hours of work while Evan scoped out the place, then when I was finished we headed to this absolutely incredible rooftop bar. Although the drinks were expensive, we both decided they were so worth it! They also brought us a little snack of mini bagels and chips to munch on with our drinks. We happened to be up there at SUNSET— which couldn’t have been a bigger blessing!

After this, we explored a few more places! One of our favorites so far on the trip was this moody emerald green bar- definitely going to try to replicate this in the house!

After this stop, we got a simple dinner at a place nearby and honestly, it was nothing to write home about (we didn’t do our research). But that’s okay- we have many more days! We took a fun walk home through fountains and beautiful piazzas and fell asleep because we were so tired from another travel day!

Day 2

The Vatican!!! Now THIS is what I mean when I say if you don’t like people, this is not the place for you. Evan and I woke up and began our quick walk to the Vatican, stopping at a cafe on the way to get some breakfast. We watched these 3 pigeons fight over a blueberry tart for around 30 minutes😂 it’s the little things!

We began our walk to the Vatican, and turns out around 1500 people had also decided to visit on that day! Luckily, we still both had our student IDs and were able to get half price tickets (score!) but when we got in we were instantly corralled through a loooooootttttttt of exhibits from Egyptian times that were a tiny bit hard to see because we had to look around peoples phones and video cameras. We listened in on a few tours to get some details. We walked through the rooms. And finally, about an hour and a half in, it cleared out and we were able to breathe! There were some INCREDIBLE ceilings, paintings, and even huge textiles. And when we finally saw the Sistine chapel, it was all worth it.

Sadly, you couldn’t take pictures in the chapel. After the Vatican, we took a much needed drink break at this amazing craft beer bar- he had around 12 local beers on tap and so many more in cans! The local sour was sooooo yummy!

After the quick stop, we headed back home so I could do another couple of hours of work. After we did so, it was dinner time! Evan had gone on another solo walk to find dinner and he lead us to an all you can eat sushi restaurant. Yes, you heard correctly.

And DANG did we eat! We got sooooooo much sushi, dumplings, and soup. Since then, actually, Evan has looked for a dumpling restaurant every day (and this was like 10 days ago) 😂 I’ll include some pictures of the experience, but it was truly so fun. We were laughing and carrying on- I think the people were a bit overwhelmed by our large order 🙂

We walked home and fell asleep immediately (that’s what a ton of sushi will do to you)- ready for a big day 3!

Day 3

Since I had so much energy stored up from the previous evening, I woke up and went on a run (selfie below of course). I have been using Strava to find new running trails in every city we visit and it’s been such an incredible way to get a lay of the land!

After I got back, I showered, got ready, and took another mirror selfie before we headed out.

We immediately headed to a restaurant to get carbonara and burrata before the big colosseum day.

After this, we walked 2 miles to downtown Rome where we visited the Vatticano (an Italian war history museum) and the Venetian palace! This is a combo ticket and we would both absolutely recommend purchasing it (especially since for “student pricing” it was €2)😂 it even included a trip up to the top of the Vaticcano which was a panoramic view of Rome!

After these two, it was time to hit the Colosseum (which Evan would NOT stop talking about)😂 the next day he made me watch the movie Gladiator which I will admit was pretty good. We walked there and found out because of the pandemic they are only doing online reservations so we couldn’t go in- but we walked around for a while and it was still incredible! It motivated us to start watching more shows set in Europe so we could really “relate” more to what we were seeing (this is partially a joke).

Our last stop was an Aperol spritz, Cannoli, and the Trevi fountain. We were also incredibly impressed with the fountain and would absolutely recommend going to anyone who is in Rome- it was awesome and we were there at the most perfect time of day 🙂

Day 4

Day 4 is more like “morning 4” because we didn’t have long! We packed up, found a cafe, strolled around, and finally got a taxi to the bus stop to board our bus to Florence! It was an amazing time in Rome- thanks so much for reading! Until next time 🙂