EUROPE MAY 2011: ROME

After Paris and Venice, we took a train to Rome. The hotel we stayed at was the the fanciest of the three and the only one with air conditioning. It turned out to be in an amazing location, right on the Tiber River, within a ten minute walk to the Vatican. While I can't say that the Vatican as a whole was of huge interest to me, it was pretty fascinating to see the people there, marveling over everything. St. Peters Basilica was beautiful, though, and it was cool to see the Pieta in person.

Our hotel was in neighborhood, and at night when we would walk back to the hotel, we would stop at this neighborhood bakery and get something sweet. Best meringue I've ever had. Those little moments, like walking back to the hotel at the end of a day, or having breakfast every morning, are what makes our trips special. The huge sites to see are great, and I love that I've seen these famous things, but the little things are really what I love about traveling. The little things that we do that makes me feel like we have a part of that place now.

One of those moments for us was our last night in Rome, before we would fly home to Georgia. We decided to eat dinner at the same restaurant we found our first night there. The food was amazing, it wasn't packed, and it was a charming place. The chef and owner recognized us from before, and with no language in common, we managed to have a conversation of gestures and understood words. His wife eventually joined in, so pleased that we had decided to come back. Somehow, though we didn't speak Italian and they spoke barely any English, I feel we connected with them. Every point that needed to be made got through. They understood we were father and daughter, having an adventure together in Europe. They also understood we were from Georgia, and began to sway back and forth together, singing "Georgia On My Mind" roughly, in heavy accents. This dinner is one that my dad and I frequently recall when talking about our wonderful trip together. It was a moment, like the one I wrote about from Venice, where everything seems to be amazingly okay, and I feel able to appreciate everything for what it is.

Here are some photos from our Rome adventures:

Favorite Rome Things:

1. exploring the neighborhood our hotel was in

2. statues and ruins everywhere

3. watching and laughing at the "gladiators" at the coliseum

4. visiting the surrounding suburbs near Ostia Antica

5. when my dad would order food that he didn't know what it was