Day one:
We left Vicenza around 11 am; which was originally supposed to be 9 am but we had some minor setbacks. We went with a couple of other people that Richard met from work. Since we had to wait for one of the families to get everything together we went to the PX and ate breakfast, then we hit the road or the autostrada (Italian freeway). To get onto the autostrada you have to go through these huge booths and get a ticket that says what time you got one and other stuff and when you get off you go back through a booth and pay a certain amount of euro. It is crazy that even to drive on freeways you have to pay something! After about 5 1/2 hours of driving we finally made it to Rome. :) We stayed at a holiday inn that was about 10 minutes away from downtown Rome. Once we got everything up to our rooms we went to hang out by the pool and just relax for the night. Since we got there kind of late in the afternoon we didn't go and see anything. I was so tired from driving all day, well sitting in the passenger seat and taking naps, I fell asleep as soon as we called it a night...I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow. haha
Day two:
We woke up and caught a bus into downtown at 9:45 am. We planned to walk around Rome and see as much as we could. We saw so many attractions, everywhere you look there is something else to see. Of course, with my luck, one of my flip-flops broke like 40 minutes into our day! It was a disaster and so embarrassing. I had to walk around without a flip-flop until we found a shoe store (luckily it wasn't that far away from where we were at). I had to buy a new pair of flip-flops for 17 euro! And it doesn't help that they were completely hideous. It was so sad to have to throw away my favorite pair of flip-flops!
After we got past the flip-flop dilemma we went and walked around Rome for a good couple of hours. I finally got to eat authentic Italian pasta and it was pretty good. We really got to see a lot for one day.
After a long day of sightseeing we headed back to the hotel. We decided on pizza for dinner and ended up at this little Romanian/Italian pizza place. We ordered cheese pizza but actually ended up getting bread with cheese on it, it was not what we were expecting haha. The kids swam for a little bit and Richard and I watched some Olympics before heading out to see what we could of Vatican City. We didn't leave the hotel until late so we actually only got to go to the entrance and take pictures, we didn't actually get to go inside, which was a bummer. When we go back to Rome that is something we are definitely going to go see first. We did get to see a lot of Rome but its impossible to see everything in one day. After our attempt to see Vatican City we headed back to the hotel and called it a night.
Day three:
We headed home Sunday morning at about 9. It was hard to find breakfast since all they eat in Italy are croissants for breakfast. Richard ended up eating pringeles and I ate pretzels. The trip home felt a lot quicker than the trip there, but that's usually how it always is. The drive and scenery was just amazing! It is all mountains and rolling hills and so. much. green. It really was incredible. Rome was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go back and see more!
I am already trying to convince Richard that we need to go to Venice on his next 4 day weekend...we will see how that goes ;) Today was also our 1 year anniversary! yay!!! Richard went out and bought an xbox this morning and I ran some errands and got to skype with my shelbster:) It was a nice relaxing anniversary and I was happy to just hang out with my hubby all day. We went to the USO and called home and then went out for gellato, it was our first time eating it and it was pretty good, even Richard liked it, which is pretty amazing. I love my hubby so much and am grateful for everyday that I get to spend with him. I can't wait for an eternity with him! :) :)