When in Rome...

It had been 2.5 months in south east Asia and we had finally come back west to spend the whole summer in Italy. We arrived as the sun was setting on the eternal city and still had to find our accommodation: a spare room in an apartment of a local who we found on the website "air bnb". Luckily we had been given good instructions and it was only 10 minutes ride away from the main station termini. It was nice to stay in a home and our host made us feel instantly welcome, plus she had a gorgeous Persian cat who was also very pleased to make our acquaintance!

Me, Claire, Rome and the Trevi fountain - a history

The beautiful Trevi fountain

This is our 3rd time in Rome, having fallen in love with it the first time round and to understand why it's so special to us I'll need to digress... We got engaged at the trevi fountain on the first day of our first trip to Rome, where despite being 11pm it was just as busy as ever and to this day I still don't know how I managed to pluck up the courage to pop the question in front of hundreds of people.

I had made Claire take part in the tradition of the fountain where you throw coins over your shoulder into the fountain - throw 1 coin and you guarantee your return to Rome, throw 2 and you'll find a new love, throw 3 and you'll guarantee marriage. I gave her 3 coins, told her to close her eyes and throw them, when she opened her eyes again I was there on one knee with a ring on display. I still remember all the details despite the cheeky 2 shot of booze I'd done minutes before to build my dutch courage. As I got on one knee and got the ring from my pocket, I could hear the usually bustling location take a noticeable drop in terms of noise level and my cheeks felt like they were burning with embarrassment and nerves. Her first words after the question were "are you joking?!", to which I replied "do I look like I'm joking?!!!", but she said yes and from there on out the trevi fountain was forever entwined in the fabric of our lives.

The 3rd visit

When we've visited previously, we'd always only come for just a couple of days whereas this time we had a whole week. We'd been looking forward to our return so much already but the cherry on top was knowing that one of our friends was also due to be there at the same time and we were both glad of another English speaker to talk to, let alone a friend from back home!
The first day we set off to amble around, knowing the place quite well by now due to previous visits. We knew that of you head in the right directions you can see many famous sights just by casually walking by.

The ancient Roman forum

The Colosseum from the side - the part everyone usually sees first is having a face lift right now!

In that day we revisited the Colosseum, the Roman forum, the trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, piazza navona, the pantheon and villa Borghese. Just seeing all these places again stirred up a host of memories and emotions in the both of us - not least romance due to my proposal here nearly exactly 4 years ago - but mixed into those emotions was the feeling that although we've seen these sights countless times already, they never fail to leave us awestruck at their beauty, their majesty and at the history that lay behind each one of them. Safe to say that as we sat and observed our surroundings, we held each other's hand that little bit tighter.

Get off me!! (Fountain at piazza Navona)

In the evening we'd arranged to meet our friend Chloe - who had just landed - at a bar overlooking the Colosseum before heading to dinner at a place by the pantheon that had tempted us back by earlier promising us a free glass of prosecco. We caught up over prosecco, wine and pasta and experienced that phenomenon where an evening can skip by in a heartbeat due to having such a good time. The evening was very nearly soured for me because as we got the underground metro on the way home I was very nearly pickpocketed; in a space where you often feel a little bump against another person I was off guard due to the wine but I felt something as I was boarding the train and looked down to see a small hand creeping into my pocket. I grabbed it and gave a it a crush before turning around and seeing it was just a little girl trying to pickpocket me, I left it there along with some choice words she wouldn't have understood, but if it hadn't been a little girl when I turned around I don't like to think what my reaction would've been.

The next day we met up with Chloe again and decided to head to the Vatican - I warned her and Claire that being Sunday before 12pm it was going to be busy due to him giving his weekly address to the masses but we decided it would be worth seeing so headed with the crowds (being very alert on the metro this time!). Claire and I had been at this time on a Sunday on our first visit but we didn't realise what was going on during our first visit 4 years earlier and it was only when we were at the very top of St. Peter's that we saw a modest crowd and realised what was going on. This time was different however, the new pope "Papa Francesco" was clearly more of a crowd puller and the whole of St. Peter's square was packed to the rafters.

As we observed, we couldn't obviously understand what was being said but we fed off the great energy and feeling that was in the air. Being from Argentina, this pope draws a lot of South Americans here and they were here to pay homage to him in their numbers.Afterwards we all strolled along the Tiber chatting the day away before leaving Chloe at capitolini to discover Rome in her own way.

A day after we arrived, we saw that more people we knew - my friend Dave and his fiancee Sarah - were also in Rome! So strange that everyone seemed to be converging on this beautiful place. We managed to catch Dave and Sarah for a coffee just before they headed to the airport - as they had obviously been busy seeing all the sights - and it was great to see them again, especially as Claire and I hadn't had much in the form of company other than each other over the last few months.

Getting ready to get match fit again

One thing we did during our time was we bought new running gear. We'd shed our old gear when we hit the road in Vietnam but we felt we couldn't fight the urge to run any longer - and knowing we would be living in one place soon means that we should have the chance to run more often. It was actually quite hard to find gear for a reasonable price in Rome - basically unless you can get out of the city to an outlet, you're looking at much higher prices - but we did manage it eventually.

There was a park near where we were staying and we went for morning runs there on two of the days, which was a liberating feeling to be back out running again. The park was full of fellow fitness fanatics - most in the senior category - and I could feel the spark of enjoying running being reignited once more. I doubt I'll ever again go so long without having fitness in my life - barring injury of course.

The end of the week

After our 2nd day of running we met Chloe for her last day in Rome and headed to villa borghese for a picnic. We feasted on salad and deli meats we bought at a Carrefour, as well as downing wine. The day went in instant as we were having so much fun and before we knew it we were saying goodbye again. Afterwards we went for an early dinner and more wine before heading back to collapse on the bed, with Claire feeling the effects of wine a bit more than me!

One thing I've felt here is a calming sense of familiarity. I left wanting to absorb countless new things and I've had that in abundance, yet being in familiar Rome and even just the comfort of Europe was a feeling I wasn't expecting to encounter. Having spent the previous months in Asia, being here in a place we long for whenever we aren't here felt like being in a dream. The feeling I get here is such a sense of happiness, a feeling that arises in me from so many methods here: from sauntering down the beautiful streets, feeling the effects of the local wine, staring in bewilderment at a piece of history or even just from incredible gelato.

On our penultimate day however, we decided to do something new - we'd seen on a tv show once a beautiful villa just outside Rome called Villa d'Este which had stunning gardens and fountains, so we decided to check it out. All I can say is, if like us you've seen all of Rome, then you MUST go to this villa! About an hour away by train (only about 5 euros each I must add) in the picturesque village of Tivoli, you are suddenly far from the madding crowd and in a hillside village bursting with charm. The villa is the main attraction here, even though we hadn't heard of it much before.

The breathtakingly beautiful fountain at Villa d'Este

The villa itself is a walk through history of the Renaissance walls and fashions of the eras, but when you step into the garden out back you see what you're here for. You're suddenly catapulted into something that looks like it belongs in Alice in wonderland as fountains emerge from every corner and flowers and greenery adorn everything but the pathways.

Row of fountains - all different animal faces

For over half an hour we walked around admiring before coming to the centrepiece - a giant fountain surrounded by long mirrored ponds pumping out more water than a waterfall. If the trevi fountain wasn't so important to us it might have competition as the best fountain we've ever seen but either way this certainly takes a firm second place!

Cornetti - When you can have this for breakfast why have anything else?

On our last day we repeated what we'd done so many times before to ensure we left having lived the way we always dream about when visiting: got a cappuccino and cornetti in the morning, sauntered around more world famous sights, got some lunch, saw more sights, got gelato, got some dinner, had wine and returned home exhausted.

The drama wasn't quite over as we woke up ready to get on a 7:25am train to Naples and thought we should leave early in case of a delay. Upon leaving we thought we might get a coffee and cornetti downstairs and although it should've been open it wasn't. As we saw that, our tram approached so we dashed and just made it. On the tram we thought we would "triple check" our pre-booked train tickets and good thing we did - we were headed for the wrong station! Adrenaline and panic took over at 6:30am so we quickly regrouped, ran to the metro and got to the correct station in time and even had just enough time to get a cornetti the other side before boarding our train - I can't help but feel either fate or karma played a part in the coffee place being closed!

We left not quite believing it had been a week here, time flies when you're having fun and here the speed is cranked up several notches in that respect. To us this is our favourite city and the most romantic in the world and the fact that I now write this in Naples exhausted beyond belief should tell you that I think I've just had one of the best weeks in my entire life.
Now for Naples, exploring Pompeii, climbing mount Vesuvius, eating the supposedly best pizza in the world and the small matter of our first wedding anniversary! I bet you're exhausted just reading this...