A home cooked breakfast and we were out the door greeting more blue skies!

We wandered over the bridge to Piazza Navona where we had our first espresso for the day (Todd's favourite part!) One our way though we decided to walk into a church and were just so blown away by the roof. These incredible paintings ... covering the roof .. almost coming down from the ceiling.
We came home and googled it and it was something like 14th on the list of things to do. It was called the Sant'Ignazio Church.

We were disappointed to find the Trevi Fountain under repair and boarded up. I guess in a city this old there is always going to be repair going on.

We kept walking until we made it to the Vittorio (or the 'wedding cake building' as Mandy and Graeme say!)

It is so bloody huge ... we stood for a while soaking it in and then decided to walk around it to make our way to the Roman Forum. We stopped for some fruit from some vendors on the way and then walked until we made our way to Palentine Hill. I loved the tilted pine trees that seem to be 'classic Rome'. We spent some time walking around up the huge hill for a view back over the Colosseo.

Hard to believe that it's still standing ... we had an audio guide each and wandered around. Very grateful to see it with a big blue sky backing it!

We took the metro then over to St Peter's Basilica and found our way to the square. After a bit of a hunt we managed to get two tickets to "see the Pope" .. for his weekly general audience.  We'd heard you could get tickets from the Square and we were told to go and see the Swiss Guards. These purple, jester looking men then asked us if we had a reservation ... "Um, no" so they reached in a small hole in the wall with a little door and handed us two purple tickets. VERY Willy Wonka ... 

That night we ate at the osteria next to our apartment in Piazza S.Giovanni della Malva. A hilarious meal due to our lack of Italian and their lack of English but we ended up with a litre of wine and a really lovely meal. Probably the best meal we had in Rome?? 

A walk through Trastevere at night afterwards to work off a huge meal (and a litre of wine ...) 

Our apartment in Roma was located in Trastevere ... a neighbourhood over the river known for little cafes and restaurants.

We had a great spot looking out over a building covered in vine. When we arrived the vine was completely bare and by the time we left it was covered in small green buds.

Our first day was a beautiful blue sky but pretty fresh! 

We crossed the Tiber and just began walking around with no real plans. 

We came across Campo del Fiore and enjoyed looking at all the fruit and vegetable stalls hidden under white umbrellas. We ate a delicious lunch down a small alley way ... our first Italian meal!

We kept walking through to Piazza Navona and were pretty gobsmacked by the size of this square. Artists were out, students taking photos, tour groups and cafes lining the outside of the piazza. 

It was here that we first discovered nociolla gelato  ... hazelnut ice cream. Ohhhh so delicious!

A little bit further along and we were stopped dead by the Pantheon. Such a remarkable building and just plonked in amongst restaurants and apartments. 

It was only our first day but looking back it became our favourite monument of the trip.

Really, really incredible. 

Home via the supermarket for a bit of a browse ... my favourite thing to do on holidays in other countries ... we got prosciutto, bread, rocket, beer, tomatoes and eggs. 

We travelled over to Melbourne to celebrate Chris's and uncle Graeme's joint birthdays! An important one for Chris ... 30 years old!
We surprised him with a tour of the Cole Clarke factory and a beautiful guitar to select and take home... they still make the guitars completely by hand.
We shared a place in Kensington with Mum and Dad and Mandy and Graeme. Phil and Carlo drove down from Sydney with lil' Macario. So nice getting to see him twice this year! He's growing like the clappers!
Loved seeing the life Chris and Taryn are creating over there and their gorgeous house!
Was such a good long weekend!