When in Rome...

We just returned from a week long trip in Italy.

We survived multiple prop planes, airports, Italian drivers, rental cars, pasta comas and have confidently come to the conclusion that it was an awesome trip.

It was so awesome that I slept for over 12 hours straight in recuperative mode this weekend.

I'm still struggling with the dreaded vacation laundry and detox necessary after such a trip but it was all worth it for our Roman/Tuscan adventure.

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Because I enjoy making life difficult on myself, we took one of the earliest flights out of Stuttgart and had to wake up at 3 am. This is the story of my life.

On the flip side, we landed in Italy before 10 am and were ready to hit the pavement immediately.

Oh...unfortunately our stroller didn't hit the ground running... it didn't hit the ground at all our first day because it was lost somewhere between Germany and Italy and no one could tell us where.

We didn't have time (nor patience) to wait around for the stupid thing so we took our shuttle to the hotel, rested for .5 seconds and headed to the Colosseum.

We were only in Rome for 2 days so it was absolutely imperative that we visit the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps all before night fall.

I'm an awesome planner, let me tell you.

Although it was almost the death of us we somehow survived and managed it all on day 1.

Day 2 was consumed with the Vatican City and we got the hell out of dodge on day 3.

Did you watch the news? The riots were CRAZY.

It truly was a Roman Holiday (with paddy wagons and riot suits included).

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I hoofed it around Rome with the baby on my back so Chad had to carry the pink backpack.

That was the deal.

Our first Italian meal was delish as we were completely famished after our tours of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We found this restaurant by chance... down a dark alley of course (which is where all the good Italian restaurants hide). We had wine, beer, appetizers, pasta with clams (me), a carbonara pizza (Chad), and lasagna (Rhett). Don't think he didn't eat the entire thing either.

We ended our day with a 20 Euro cab ride back to the hotel after wandering like 10 miles from our hotel.

And we had gelato.

Of course!