Italy Day 3 - A Walk in the Park

We decided to let ourselves sleep in just a bit this morning. We hoped to have time to stop by a patisserie (bakery) for breakfast but like always we were running a tad late. Our tour bus pass only lasted us til 11am today (however, they never checked our receipt so we might try hopping on again tomorrow). We took the bus to a spot near the Spanish Steps and walked through a crowded shopping district to get there. We did some souvenir shopping and got some breakfast before heading to the famous Spanish Steps. We ordered a croissant, sandwich, and two café freddos.

Breakfast

The steps were very crowded and drenched with sunshine. We managed to find a shaded area to take some pictures. There is a small little fountain at the bottom that we took some pictures at as well. The entire time there are vendors walking around trying to shove roses in your face only to try to charge you after you take them. We kept saying “no” to the vendors before some random lady gave us a bunch of roses for free. We didn’t want to walk around with the roses all day so we left them on the edge of the fountain before heading up the stairs towards Piazza del Popolo.

On the steps

The Spanish Steps

The fountain at the bottom of the Spanish Steps

The Piazza del Popolo is the least crowded area we’ve seen so far. It had a fountain in the middle with an Egyptian Obelisk in the center. We cooled off in the shade then walked back through the shopping center and found a place to buy a picnic lunch. Buying lunch was quite interesting and stressful because we don’t know the language very well. Somehow we figured out how to order some prosciutto, two kinds of cheese (we’re not exactly sure what we ordered), some bread, two pastries and a bottle of wine.

Piazza del Popolo

Again, from the other side

While walking around trying to find our lunch we found an amazing basilica with open doors. We decided to take a look inside and it was incredibly beautiful.

Inside the Basilica

The basilica was called Basilica dei Sanit Ambrogio e Carlo

It was a long walk uphill in the sun to get to our lunch destination, Villa Borghese, but totally worth the trek. When we arrived in the park we saw some kids swimming in a huge fountain. We were very relieved because we’ve wanted to cool off in the fountains we’ve seen so far but it seems a little taboo. We stuck our feet in the water and uncorked the wine. After sitting there for awhile some guards walked up across the fountain from us and started to tell people they couldn’t swim or wade in the water. Since we had the bottle of open wine we quickly walked into the shade away from the fountain and proceed to eat our picnic lunch. It was incredibly delicious! This was one main thing I wanted to do while here, pack a picnic lunch and drink a bottle of wine in the park. We spent the majority of our day in the park eating great food and drinking amazing wine. Then we went on a little adventure to try to find a restaurant that served a great Apperitivo (Happy Hour), suggested by our friend Tony who spent a semester abroad in Italy. Sadly we couldn’t find it. We eventually made our way back to the hostel for a siesta (something we’ve done every day since being here).

The fountain, about to put my feet in to cool off

Uncorking the delicious wine!

Picnic lunch

Outside the park

When we woke up from our siesta the girl who shares our room (we went to dinner with her last night) had just gotten back from her adventures for the day. She was quick to ask us what our plans were for dinner. So we uncorked another bottle of wine and finished it before heading out for dinner. The front desk guy at our hostel (Luca, we now know) suggested another amazing place to eat. Today we asked for a good place to order pasta. Our meal was complete with bruschetta, pasta (we all ordered something different, Electra ordered the tastiest dish, cannolini stuffed with meat) and wine. Our waiter was very entertaining and taught us more Italian words (although now I have forgotten them). We finished the meal with lemoncello and tiramisu. The lemoncello was suuuuper strong and it wasn’t my favorite.

The restaurant, Leoni d'Abruzzo

Yummy!

Lemoncello!

Not as good as I was hoping!

Tomorrow, our last day in Rome, we plan to go to the Pantheon. Also, today we would like to wish a very happy birthday to our dearest friend Minda! Happy 25th Minda! We love you!