Rome – Day One

Day Thirty- Two

August 9th

Today is Rhys’s birthday! I got up early, got ready and snuck out the hotel in the morning to get some little presents for Rhys and the plan was to bring him breakfast in bed. Didn’t really go as planned, I walked around for about an hour and a half with nothing open because it seems like nothing in Europe opens before 10:30 …haha There was a little magazine stall open on the side of the road and as I walked past something caught my eye. It was a little pinnochio keyring, which funnily enough I had once bought for Rhys before but he broke it bit by bit haha … Cant believe I am half way across the world and I found the same one! So I had to buy that! I soon found a supermarket so I had to change my original birthday present plans and buy him snacks, which he LOVED! I bought him a bunch of packs of m&m’s other chocolate and some coke and redbull. Sucked that I couldn’t get him the other stuff I had planned, but we have other plans for the rest of the week to make up for me not being able to get him much.

I made a birthday card out of a postcard haha and I put 100 euros in for him to do a 100 euro quickie bag at the supermarket to pick ingredients for me to make him dinners in Rome  I also gave him money for him to buy some T- Shirts later.

We will also be going to a soccer game in Rome on the 12th for his birthday, which he is happy about.

Today though is a train day, which sucks and we are headed to our apartment in Rome. The train ride was pretty smooth, I fell asleep too quick and we were in a booth sitting across from people and I am pretty sure I was in that deep a sleep I was drooling on myself haha! HOT!

We got to Rome, caught the metro and found our apartment. The owner Gillian met us at the door and took us to our apartment. It is stunning!! We weren’t sure what to expect, but when we got inside it was spacious and perfectly decorated! You can tell that the owners have a real attention to detail, because everywhere you look there are cute little touches that make you feel like you are at home.

Gillian showed us around, showed us how to work everything and then left us to settle in. She had made us little pizzas as a welcoming snack – which is adorable! There are books on Rome, maps, display folders where they have given suggested things to do in Rome and maps with the closest shops and restaurants! You can tell they put a lot of love into their holiday rental! Love it!

We have Wifi here and Sky TV which we can put some shows in English THANK GOD! haha and of course the best bit is our own kitchen!! There are herbs and spices, a full wine rack, pastas and all sorts for us to use if we like and we will just add it to our bill, all at very reasonable prices! So great!

We felt very welcomed here and I HIGHLY recommend this place to anyone! This is called “Roma Guest house” It’s in the Vatican area.

We have our own balcony too and the place smells like potpourri, very cute

Pictured here also is Rhys’ chocolate birthday snacks! haha

I think Woodro is going to like it here! haha

We settled into the room, unpacked some of our stuff and checked out some of the tourist stuff on the net and in the books that were in the apartment. Soon the day was over and it was getting dark. Gillian told us if you want to eat somewhere special the restaurant just accross the road is fantastic and they spoil you. Perfect! This was the spot for Rhys’ birthday dinner!

The restaurant was called “Osteria Della Forchetta”. The menus were adoreable, all hand written beautifully in pencil, but unfortunately not in English, but we all know this is usually where the best food is to be had. The waiter was fantastic, he translated it all for us, which was above and beyond what he needed to do and we decided to go with his recommendations.

Entrees – The clam and mussels, and the seafood salad. My entree of clams and mussels was to die for!!! It was in a white stock that was so rich and delicious, when I had finished with the mussels and clams I wanted to sip the juice from the bowl! Rhys enjoyed his fresh seafood salad too! This was a good start!!

Mains – I got the lobster pasta and Rhys got the Salted Scampi. The pasta was a little salty but the lobster itself was like something I have never tasted before. When you have lobster in Perth is is chewy and tasteless, probably because it has been frozen before you buy it. But here it was delicious, soft white meat! Yumm!

The salted scampi was good, fiddely to eat, but I have no problems getting into my food with my hands haha since I was probably 20 before I wanted to use cutlery anyways.

After mains I went inside to “go to the toilet” but really I went and spoke to the waiter about possibly putting a candle on a dessert for Rhys. I got him to pretend to take our order anyways when really the only option was chocolate cake with chocolate sauce to get the candle haha. Lucky because as soon as Rhys heard that he was sold! haha

The cake came out, Rhys blew out his candle and he said his birthday was now complete. So glad I was able to get him a candle on his birthday! Satisfied after an amazing meal we headed back to our apartment for a couple wines and some rest for our day tomorrow which will be all about fresh food markets and shopping for cooking in my amazing kitchen! haha

E