italian adventures || 8

Second day in Rome was spent visiting the Spanish steps and the Pantheon-- which was super impressive. My dad suggested we selfie with the oculus (the opening at the top of the dome, see above) and everyone thought we were crazy Americans. True, obviously. We tossed a few coins in the Trevi fountain and wandered around the Colosseum. My favorite part was sitting outside enjoying a beer across the street from the Colosseum... it was like a scene out of a movie. The accordion player was just a bonus ;) Later we went back to our little part of the city and headed back to Buona for dinner + Christian served us again. My mom offered for him to come stay with us in Chicago and he gave her his email + number... typical mom move. I definitely did not complain though... fingers crossed he takes us up on that offer. (We made plans to meet up with him the next night for drinks but we got back late + didn't have time... bummed).

They serve a beer at Buona called Birradamare Rossa-- a German-inspired red double-malt ale. SO GOOD. I wonder how much it costs to import it...

My birthday is in two months.... cough cough.

italian adventures || 6 + 7

PISA / FLORENCE. The first thing we did yesterday was drive down to Pisa solely to see the tower and continue on our way. What was supposed to be a quick stop turned in to a big fiasco because we circled trying to actually find the tower itself... wasn't fun. You know what else isn't fun? Florence traffic. Driving in Italy is generally awful but there was something about Firenze drivers that caused a headache. We stopped at Il Duomo + climbed 15394690 stairs to view Florence from the high point. Once we escaped the Duomo (and I literally mean escape -- it was a maze getting out of that thing) we raced over to the Uffizi museum. We saw original works from Michelangelo, da Vinci, and Botticelli, and my personal favorite, Laocoön and His Sons (just found out that was a replica -- bummer).  The Uffizi was also a maze; it took longer to get out of the museum than it did to walk through it. By the time we left we were all a little cranky, mostly from hunger, but were able to remedy it with some good eats + beer at a local pizzaria.

Yes, that large mug was all mine.
Also, we were approached by real gypsies. They exist.

Today was a lot of driving since we were just focused on getting to Rome. But hey, we're here. We managed to stop by some aqueduct ruins and snap some pictures. An Italian man stopped me and asked to take my photo... so that was fun (see above). We also made room for a tour of the catacombe San Callisto (yay humanities!) but weren't allowed to take any photos so just google some pictures and use your imagination. Currently we're staying at a B+B owned by the cutest little Italian man. Love me some Leonardo. He recommended a place called Buona a block away so that's where we ate dinner. It was delicious per usual and I fell for our waiter. He was teaching us proper Italian and giving us the ins and outs of Rome. Love me some Cristiano. Tomorrow's a big day + I can't wait to explore the heart of Rome.