- Meredith

Who cares? We weren’t in the room that much.

The view from the roof of the inn.

- Meredith

We spent our two and a half days walking all around town.  We stayed in Trastevere, so all the major sights were within walking distance.  On Saturday afternoon/evening, we got our bearings, sticking close to the center of town (Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Navona, Pantheon).  On Sunday, we covered a lot of ground – probably too much, because on Monday, my tootsies were a wee bit sore.  We set out at about 8:30 am for the Colosseum and Forum.  Then we walked over to Piazza Navona to do some people watching and eat a ridiculously overpriced but decent lunch with crap service (expected).  Then we walked up to the Spanish Steps, climbed them and strolled around in the Borghese Gardens for a couple hours (this was wonderful – we didn’t go here last time, and it was beautiful and shady and had a lot of fountains with drinking water so we could cool off from the 90+ degree heat).  We walked back across town via the Trevi Fountain and got home around 6:00 pm to rest a little bit before dinner in Trastevere.  On Monday, we went to see St. Peter’s Basilica.  We didn’t go to the Vatican Museum and see the Sistine Chapel, but if you go to Rome, you should definitely do that (we did it last time).  Then we strolled around some more, ate lunch at a wonderful and cheap tavern near Piazza Navona, walked around some more, went home, rested, then went out to dinner at the Peroni Birreria (like an Italian-German beer hall, complete with sausage and sauerkraut!), and then walked to the Trevi Fountain to see it by night.  Pictures below:

One of the statues in the Piazza Navona

Another statue in the Piazza Navona

Detail of one of the statues in the Piazza Navona

The crowds move through the entrance of The Pantheon.

The interior of The Colosseum

A view over a part of the Roman Forum. The garish, white building in the background is the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

Meredith leads the way through the Forum with guidebook in hand.

Detail of the Arch of Septimius Severus in a corner of the Forum.

Drinking from Il Nasone, one of Rome’s many public fountains.

Meredith loved the many dragons around Rome. This one is another public fountain.

Domes of buildings in the Piazza Venezia in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument.

The view down the Spanish Steps.

A view from the Villa Borghese Gardens out onto Rome, with the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the background.

Boating in the Villa Borghese Gardens.

The Trevi Fountain during the day. Actually, not the fountain but the perpetual crowds around it.

Here we are at the Trevi Fountain at night when it is lit up and looks very nice.

At the Vatican, the Swiss Guard stands ready at one of the entrances.

A Bernini altar in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

Detail from the ceiling in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Outside L’Antica Birreria Peroni where we had dinner.

A typical night scene in Trastevere.

- Meredith & Dave

Whether we are in a restaurant, a trattoria, an osteria, a caffe, an outdoor terrace, or at the dining room table in our villa, we eat and drink and love it.  I’m not saying every meal here is the most amazing food (yes, there are mediocre cooks in Italy too).  But each meal is an experience that combines the food, atmosphere, people and wine to make a memorable event.  Below are some representative pictures:

The four of us eating dinner at the villa in Tuscany

The dining area for the villa in Tuscany

Pizza with tomatoes, basil and mozzarella

Gnocchi with tomato sauce

Filletto di manza with roasted potatoes and spinach

Rigatoni with oxtail sauce (YUM!!!)

Meatballs and beans

Cacio e pepe

Sometimes we ate dinner at the apartment because we were still full from lunch!

Hands down the best view while dining on the trip – that’s the Ponte Vecchio in Florence behind me…sweet!

Antipasto

Crepe with pumpkin, leeks and cream sauce

Tortelloni with ham, mushrooms and peas

Vino!

Lemon tart with strawberries and cream

The four of us eating in Rome

- Meredith

We spent a really nice day with Dan and Han checking out the sights and walking around town.  Some pics below:

One of the buildings on Il Campo, Siena’s main square.

An apartment building with one of the town’s many churches in the background.

The Duomo’s nave and dome.

Detail from the organ in the Duomo. 

An original stained glass window from Siena’s Duomo made by a Sienese artist named Duccio in 1288.  It’s now in the Duomo Museum, while the church has a copy.

I could spend hours in the small Piccolomini Library, just off the nave of the Duomo.  The frescoes around the walls portray the life of Aeneas Piccolomini (1405-1464), who went on to become Pope Pius II.  The ceiling is intricately painted with geographic designs and scenes from nature and mythology.  There is a statue of the Three Graces in the middle of the room, and lining all the walls below the frescoes are hymnals with illuminated scores of music.  This room is fantastic!  

- Meredith

- Meredith

We’re staying in a villa in Tuscany just outside San Gimignano. We stayed here during our 2008 trip and loved it so much we decided to come back. Last time, because there were only two of us, we had a small apartment that didn’t have much of a view from the window. This time however, with four of us, they put us at the top of the villa and we can see the beautiful countryside in many directions. So you, dear reader, get three pictures today. I present View from our Window #2:

This overlooks the pavilion where the villa serves dinner three times per week.

Vineyards of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, the local white grape variety (yummy!).

Cypress trees and more loveliness.

– Meredith

– Meredith

The area is called the Silver Coast, about an hour and a half north of Rome, and has some beautiful hills descending right into the Mediterranean.  We stayed in a little town called Orbetello on a spit of land leading out to a peninsula.  We did not remotely do this area justice in only one day and night, but we had a nice time.  Some pics below:

Looking toward Orbetello.

A windmill on the water at sunrise.

 Gorgeous coastline.

 This guy is hilarious.  But not effective, because we ate gelato elsewhere.

 Outside for dinner at a yummy pizzeria.

 Fishermen at dawn.

Street scene.

- Meredith