La Dolce Vita

The past two days have been busy and we'll be the fist to admit that we're getting a little burnt out. You aren't in Europe every day though so we've been pushing through. We went to the Pantheon, one of the oldest most well preserved buildings in Rome. That dome is just amazing, what a feat of architecture. 

The Castle Saint Angelo has a beautiful bridge leading up to it with Bernini statues lining the way. We walked there to take a look. Stephen has decided he's Bernini's new number one fan.

We made sure to stay out late last night to see some of the sights all lit up. We got some gelato...of course. We might be having a gelato a day but hey, we're on vacation.

It was hard to get a good night shot of the Colosseum but you can just google that, this is proof we were here! It was stunning at night.

The Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps are two very crowded tourist sites and we have heard they are great if you can make it there at a deserted time of day/night. We went during the day...



And then we went during the night! We got a 3:00 am wake up call, put on our running gear, and went for a middle of the night jog to these two sites hoping for a serene and unique experience. It was pretty deserted but we weren't the only ones up that late..or early.

If you look close (not too close please) we have some friends in this picture. This couple got to the Spanish Steps at the same time as us and just as we settled in to take a picture, they settled in to...well...you can see what they settled in to do. We tried to wait them out and although it was great weather and so quiet and peaceful with (almost) no one else around, they didn't seem like they were going anywhere soon so they just got to be in our picture.

We went back to bed for a long time after our early morning run. When we finally got up and about we took a stroll in the Borghese gardens and hit up the Galeria Borghese (for Stephen to get his daily Bernini fix).

The gardens were beautiful and we went rowing on this little lake. This picture isn't of us but you get the idea of the lake and the little row boats.

It was a romantic and relaxing afternoon. 

We hit up a delicious pizzaria for dinner and while we have been loving all of the food here, this meal was special for me because I finally got some crushed red pepper to add to my Italian food! This is big for me, word to the wise (Chris) they do have crushed red pepper as a pizza condiment here, it's not just American and don't eat several pizzas in Italy before you ask for it.