My first introduction to continental Europe was a trip to Rome with my Grandmother & Aunt back in 2001. This ignited my obsession with Europe which has brought me to live here today. Since I covered a lot of ground on that trip, this weekend was more about spending some quality time with a friend I was meeting there and we had no firm agenda.
So, affter work on Friday I did my semi-usual routine of heading straight to the airport where I caught my flight to Rome and headed to Palazzo Montemartini where I waited for my friend to join from Dublin. We hit the sack early to make the most of our 3 day weekend.
Day 1: Saturday
I woke up before my friend and went out for a run to start to get to know the area and then stopped by D’Angelo Cafe to pick up some coffee and croissants to bring back to the hotel.
I went back and we got ready with just enough time to grab an Uber to head over to the Vatican for our 12:30 entrance to the Vatican Museums. This was one of the things that I didn’t get to do on my trip back in 2001. My grandmother had done it before and said it wasn’t worth the crowds. And yeah, she was kind of right about that… it was incredibly crowded. I was relieved that we had pre-booked online so didn’t have to wait in line, but even on the inside there was a whole lot of jostling around. It was still worth getting to see the Sistene Chapel despite the throngs of people, it is truly a wondrous work that should be seen.
Now we were ready for some lunch, so what do you think our first real meal in Rome was? Well, if you guessed pasta, you’d be right. We had some simply fantastic pasta at Da Francesco which started our Roman Holiday off right.
Now, if you hadn’t noticed today is actually March 17th, aka St Patrick’s Day. And yes, I had met a friend from Ireland. So the next stop on the agenda was Abbey Theatre Irish Bar so he could watch the Irish Rugby match. In honor of St Patrick’s Day I allowed it – especially since the match was against France. This was the first rugby match I’d ever seen, so that was also an interesting cultural experience.
From there we wandered around past the famous Castel Saint Angelo….
Until we found Risotteria Melotti for dinner. We wandered a bit more after that, finally winding up quite by accident at my beloved Piazza Navona.
Medical history bookstore in Rome 
Medical history bookstore in Rome 
Street “art” in Rome 
Rissotto from
Risotteria Melotti, Italy
Piazza Navona, Rome
Day 2: Sunday
We woke up and headed to Faro Caffetteria Specialty for breakfast and coffee.
Faro Caffetteria Specialty, Rome 
Coffee at Faro Caffetteria Specialty, Rome
The slightly overcast weather broke just as we arrived at the Trevi Fountain and it was glorious.
We continued walking & exploring the majestic architecture of Roma….
Until we had worked up an appetite for some gelato. I found a place called Vale which had not only delicious gelato, but was delightfully quirky.
Vale Gelateria, Rome 
Giant flamingo in Vale Gelateria, Rome
Thusly re-fortified, we continued our walking/rambling/exploring, picking any random church and going inside to find something incredibly awe inspiring. Until we got to the point of awe-fatigue.
Like a moth to a flame, we wound up in the vicinity of Piazza Navona at the end of this day too. So we decided to end our day with pizza from Cantina & Cucina Hosteria Pizza. It seemed appropriate. Then we found the adorable Enoteca Il Piccolo where we enjoyed the intimate atmosphere over some drinks. We had called it a night and were headed back to the hotel when we passed by Altroquando. It was a bookstore, but it claimed to have a pub beneath. We were so intrigued that we decided to have one more drink and went inside to check it out. It was exactly my kind of place, I was so glad we tried it out.
Day 3: Monday
Due to our late night out, we started our day quite late. The first stop was breakfast at Elsa Coffee which was a real, local place and I really enjoyed watching the regulars come in and interact with each other and the staff.
We headed back to the Vatican, hoping to get in to see St Peter’s, but it was closed for a special event, so we meandered until it was time to grab one final meal of pasta from Il Corallo before we needed to head to the airport.
