ARCHITECTURE + AIRBORNE European Travels: ROMA, ITALIA

June 6-7
It has sadly been 6 years since I graduated from college so when I found out that Alex, a college friend, was going to be in Rome for a month I jumped at a chance to visit. I was in Rome for a few days back in 2008, but it was PJ's first time experiencing the large city. We also thought that this would be a good time to start prepping Reesey for our 11-day road trip that we were planning for the end of June. We left Vicenza around 4 am and, with a few stops, arrived at our hotel a little before 10 in the morning. A trip without stops takes about 5 hours and 15 minutes. We were there for just the weekend, which isn't enough to see and do it all, but we tend to cram a lot into our weekends so we were able to see and do a lot.

It was a hot one that weekend! The temperature was in the 90's and walking around was slightly uncomfortable. Reesey managed to walk around with us for a little while, but the pavement became too hot for her paws so she spent some time napping in the hotel. We stayed at Hotel Villa San Pio and the location, staff and pet friendliness is fantastic there.

A special treat

We started near the Colosseum and walked throughout the historical city. Alex was a great tour guide and navigated us all around. We managed to see a lot on Saturday including:
The exterior if the Colosseum
Arco di Costantino
Colonna Traiana
The Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II
Campidoglio
Teatro Marcello
Campo de Fiori
Palazzo Farnese
Piazza Navona
The Pantheon
Isola Tiberina
Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere
The Roman Forum

We also walked through Trastevere and the Jewish Ghetto. Alex had made reservations for dinner at a great place called Nonna Betta which is also in the Jewish Ghetto. I would recommend the Carciofo alla giudia, and the Baccalà al forgo con le palate, but the whole menu looked delicious and everyone loved what they ordered!

Arco di Costantino

Colosseum

Colonna Traiana

The Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

Streetscape

On the Island of Tiberina

The Roman Forum Foro Romano

Campidoglio

Piazza Navona

Fiume Tevere

Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere

Campo de Fiori at night

The next day we were on our own. We had checked out of the hotel so Reesey was with us for all of our sightseeing. Our pace was a bit slower with her, but it worked out well. We walked along Fiume Tevere, passing sights like the Synagogue, Palazzo Spada, and S. Giovanni del Florentini as we made our way to Vatican City. Luckily there are free and clean water fountains throughout the city so we were able to get plenty of water for ourselves and Reesey. We brought her traveling water bowl which I would recommend to anyone traveling with a pet.

St. Peter's Basilica

We then headed down Via Della Conciliazione, past the Castel Sant'Angelo to Palazzo di Giustizia. It was a hot walk, but we made it. We also discovered a dog park amongst the ancient ruins located next to the castle!

From there we headed past Ara Pacis and the Mausoleum of Augustus to Piazza del Popolo. Mid-day was approaching so we headed in the direction of our car, making a few more stops along the way. We set out along Via del Corso and first stopped at Piazza Colonna, then continued on to Tempio Adriano and back to the Pantheon [we arrived as it was closing the day prior]. We saw a lot in 24 hours, but there is much more to see. I suppose we will need a round II in Roma, but we will wait for the cooler weather to return!