Buongiorno, Roma!

After returning home from our trip to Houston, we had just a few days to wash clothes, re-pack bags and hop on to a plane bound for Italy.

Our destination was the Locorotondo region in Apulia, but I could not abide my first trip to Italy not including a few nights in Rome. So we met up with friends & family and spent 3 nights in the capital scratching the surface of what there is to explore and discover in this fantastic city.

Our little group comprised visitors from London, Amsterdam, Perth, Dallas and Austin.

On our itinerary in Rome, we covered:

A group tour of the Vatican Museum - never before have I been whisked past so many priceless historical artifacts in such a short period of time!
An evening tour of the Roman forum and the Colosseum; very cool to be walking through the Colosseum at night when it's almost completely empty.
A tour of the Domus Aurea, Nero's Golden Palace which is currently under exploration and restoration. Nero was so hated that his palace was buried to serve as the foundation for Trajan's public bathhouses in Rome. The tour included a VR reconstruction of the palace as it would have been in the 1st Century. Walking through these buried halls with original mosaic and artwork still present on the walls is a genuine Indiana Jones sensation.
Walking to the Trevi Fountain & the Pantheon, but not staying long because the crowds of tourists were insane.
Plenty of espresso, gelato, pasta all'amatriciana and cacio e pepe.
Rooftop pizza, beer and wine at the top of our AirBnb in Monti.

Our time in Rome was over quickly - too quickly. We definitley need to come back again, and it was with a mixture of sadness and excitement that we packed up our bags, walked to Roma Termini and boarded our train to Bari for the next leg of our Italian adventure.

Standing in front of the pantheon, after sipping Peroni at a rooftop bar