Our adventure to Rome & More!

July 31st - August 6th

Our next week started with a chill Saturday in the city, We enjoyed spritzs on the balcony and strolled along the river before heading to dinner at Buca Mario. Steinar was the most excited for this meal because it was his first time having Florentine steak. While being the fanciest dinner of our time in Italy - it was SO WORTH IT. We both loved our entrees and we tried zucchini flowers for the first time time (so good!!).

Sunday turned into a museum marathon since Florence has free entry to most museums on the 1st Sunday of the Month. We decided to prioritize the smaller museums and planned to end up at the Academia if we had time and the line wasn’t too long. We started the morning (well afternoon) at the Medici Chappelle which was well hidden from the street. Walking in the space looks just like a regular building, but up a few steps you find one the most unique spots we’d seen. The room is full of marble and stone with giant tombs around the space. Down another hallway we were able to see another smaller chapel that was much more simple but still very beautiful. There were multiple Michelangelo pieces spaced out in the space.

Our journey continued as we walked past the Academia to see if there was a line and luckily there wasn't! We did a quick tour to see the David and the Hall of Models. We’d already been here together (the morning we got engaged :)), so we were able to make it a quick trip. After the Academia, we tried to go to the Museo Nazionale del Bargello but somehow ended up in the Orsammichele. While it was far from what we expected, it was one of the best views of the city with a view of the Duomo! The views were incredible and worth the many steps up, across and up again. It was our best mistake of the trip by far! Luckily, this space is smaller and we were able to make it to the Museo Nazionale del Bargello right after. We were able to see the whole museum before close, including the armory and the coin exhibition. After that we were pretty museumed-out, so we headed back for a brain break before dinner and ended the evening with gelato on the Arno!

The next morning we woke up early for our train to Rome! While the train ride was uneventful, our first hour was not. Once we grabbed a quick sandwich for lunch Haley was stung by a bee in front of the Capitoline Hill while someone was playing Despacito on a violin - LOL. After that we continued our walking tour to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and across the river alongside Vatican City before a quick nap time. That night, we headed out to see Piazza Navona and the Pantheon before our dinner reservation. We couldn’t stay up too late because our adventure continued very early the next morning!

By 8am the next day we were well on our way south of Rome. The morning started with a couple of stops along the Amalfi Coast on our way to Sorrento. We got to the coast just in time for lunch and spent the rest of our free time there enjoying the views and walking through the shops. We left the coast to head to Pompeii to explore the ruins and spent another 2 hours on an insightful guided tour. We walked around the grounds and then headed to the museum by the exit before our long ride home. Once we made it back to Rome we booked it to our dinner reservation, and it was one of the best meals we had in Italy! We enjoyed an app of 3 three meatballs in 3 different sauces and then two really great entrees before heading home for bed.

Our second morning in Rome marked the kickoff of a very busy day. We started the morning entering the Vatican Museums at 8:30am and enjoyed touring through the halls for a couple of hours. We were able to enter the Sisteen Chapel and head straight to St. Peter’s Basilica from there. It was Steinar’s first time in Vatican City so we also went down into the Papal Tombs before starting our trek across the city. We managed to grab sandwiches at ____ and some dessert at Two Sizes on our walk to the Colosseum for our 3pm tour. It was very very hot, so we had 30 minutes to spare and enjoyed some people watching in the shade before filling up our water bottles right in front of the Colosseum- Steinar waited in line for still water while I enjoyed the free sparkling water they had available! Our tour walked through the Colosseum before heading over to the Roman Forum. We enjoyed the views from above the city as our last sightseeing moment before heading to the train station on our way back to Florence.