When in Rome...

...do as the Todas do. 

Obviously.

Our trip to Rome started with a quick 2 hour flight and a less than stellar 1 hour wait for our bags to show up at the carousel. Which was followed by another exciting hour in a Roman taxi. Come on Rome, get it together. But once we got into the city and checked into our apartment, we wasted no time ordering some pizza from the "best place in the city" as described to us by our Airbnb host. The place was called Giacomelli and it did not disappoint.

The next morning we got up early and headed out for coffee and breakfast, stopping at 2 cafes on our way to Vatican city. We had signed up for a guided group tour that would let us into the city before the regular folk, which sounded like a good idea. Here are Val and Marion posing in front of the entrance to the Vatican Museums.

But what started as a great idea quickly turned into a hot mess, as Marion made it abundantly clear that she did not want to travel the halls of the Vatican and "keep her voice down" while doing it. So she and Mom decided they would head outside and take their own personal tour of the city, while Dad stayed with the tour group and soldiered on. Inside the Museums one could find many hallways and galleries that looked like this one.

That one guy literally held his iPhone face up and took a video of the entire ceiling as we walked through this hallway. While Dad was inside the Vatican, Mom and Marion found their own artwork as they traveled the city.

After Dad left the tour group we all reunited and headed back into the city for a bite to eat. We found a place that was almost open called Un Angolo di Sicilia, or A Corner of Sicily. We say almost open because we showed up 15 minutes before they were supposed to open but when we asked if we could sit down, the owner - who was covered in flour - invited us in to eat anyway. The restaurant was empty and stayed that way for an hour, but the food was amazing. We had fresh pastas with pesto and a tomato-garlic sauce, and Marion chomped on some delicious breaded chicken. 

After lunch we walked down to see some famous Roman landmarks in the heart of the city, but unfortunately almost everything we went to was under construction or being repaired. For example, the Spanish Steps.

And the Trevi Fountain.

And the Pantheon, which was open despite its construction work, but was too busy for us to go inside.

We did however find the Fountain of the Four Rivers located in the Piazza Navona quite by accident, but it was a welcome surprise on a day where we missed so many other cool spots. It seems the Romans have a thing for obelisks.

After all the sightseeing we had worked up quite an appetite, so we grabbed a bite to eat at one of those little places in a dimly lit alleyway with tables outside and a decent crowd of people inside. Our entrees were fine, but the meatballs we had as a starter stole the show.

And Marion subsequently stole all of the meatballs.

The next morning we took a quick walk back to St. Peter's square so that we could take a family selfie against the Basilica. We were all very impressed by the size of this open area and the super-cool architecture.

After that we saw the Colosseum, which Dad basically fawned over for 45 minutes while Mom and Marion battled over who should be pushing who in the stroller.

After the Colosseum we stopped at a little cafe across from the Altare della Patria, or Altar of the Fatherland, to grab some cappuccinos and take in a great view. Devon was again impressed with the architecture and would not stop talking about how amazing everything was.

On our way back to the apartment we happened to go past the Pantheon again, and this time we arrived just minutes before it opened. So we stuck around and waited for a few minutes so that we could jump inside and check it out. 

Then we started the long journey home. A synopsis of that journey would go something like this: Marion didn't get to take a nap, our plane was delayed an hour on the runway, the airline lost our stroller at the Amsterdam airport, after an hour they found it, Marion cried in the cab all the way home and finally fell asleep right as we arrived back at our house. Thanks kiddo. We love you too.