All roads lead to Rome...and Florence

TWe couldn't pass by a second chance at Italian pizza, pasta, and gelato. Italia a second time is as wonderful as the first :)

We started in Rome, staying with Angiola again. She has an awesome bed and breakfast! We hit the classic sights again as well as discovered some new treasures.

Hanging out by Castel St Angelo listening to street music and watching the sun go down

We also stumbled upon some rare finds. A food lovers dream. 

Eataly.

Fresh produce, meats, cheese, pasta, anything! There are also restaurants, pastry stands...the possibilities were endless. 

We bought some pasta to bring home! One is chili garlic and the other is curry infused...mmmmmm 

Gnocchi with Parmesan crema

Only the best dessert in all the world. Pistachio almond white chocolate heaven. Didn't catch the name in Italian...

We also found a big outdoor market that was more of a farmers market with some cheap local eats.  I highly recommend it!

The food we liked here was a meatball sandwich...although the "meatballs" were much better I think that anything you'd find at Subway. No offense Subway fans. Italians also know the value of good bread. 

We added in a nice historical sight by visiting the non-Catholic cemetery in Rome. Home if Keats' grave

From Rome we stopped at Orvieto, an Umbrian hill town. Gorgeous. 

Took the funicular up to the top!

And what a view!

The streets were timeless. The town also had caves underneath and the one we explored had a "presepe" inside, or a nativity. Common in all Italian Catholic churches during christmas time.

We spent the day exploring this adorable town and then moved on to Florence! 

No seats so we were banned to the hallway. Ha!

In Florence we stayed with the Evertsens! An awesome American family that we stayed with last time. 

We just wanted to explore Florence more, take in more Tuscan goodness.

Ponte Vecchio

At our favorite indoor market, Mercato Centrale. 

$330,000 truffle... 

And our new foodie find in Firenze:

Trattoria Mario!

The one and only! Apparently you definitely want a reservation here...it was slammed. But somehow Harmon and I got a seat! We also shared a table with two Italian ladies, but that's common at Mario's. Squeeze as many people in as possible! It's a small space too, but the food is traditional and delicious! 

I got ravioli and Harmon got a steak that might have still been moo-ing. It's Florentine style... And yet so delicious! 

We also spent New Years with the Evertsens. We were able to watch the fireworks from a park on a hill overlooking Florence. Fireworks were lit off from the piazzas in the city, not to mention the surrounding area. Everywhere we looked there were fireworks. We even got to send away floating lanterns! Mine and Harmon's didn't make it past the dog park. Harmon hopes this isn't indicative of 2016 for us...

The goof. Life's too short to stop being silly.

Firenze! (Florence!)

After our adventures in Rome. We took off for Florence. We knew that with our trip to Italy we could not miss this beautiful city or the Tuscan Country side. In Florence we stayed with the Evertsen family, some members of our church ( The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). They are an American family that decided to relocate to Italy. They're an awesome family that provided great tips and even a few meals too! We took off into the town with a few musts, the first of which was the Duomo.  The Duomo is quite an impressive building. The original builder of the church knew that the technology someday would allow such a dome to top his structure. It was worth the wait. The Duomo is impressive not only from the outside, but inside as well!

OUTSIDE!

INSIDE!

Being in Florence we also had to see the Sculpture of David crafted by Michelangelo. Now if there are some art purists out there, they may recognize we are not standing in front of the original David sculpture, as this is outside. The truth is we are not die hard art enthusiasts, so paying €20 to see the original was not something we were going to do. Anyways we saw this excellent duplicate in Florence... in our book, count it.

One of our favorite tips from the Evertsen family was the way to locate proper Gelato. We were told that Gelato that looks fancy in the serving tins stacked beautifully and very ornate) is not good gelato. We were told to look for gelato that was down in the tin, as this is a sign of less preservatives, which means a more fresh Gelato! It might not always be appealing to the eye, But definitely appealing to taste. The gelato below is from Grom, which is a franchise, however our sources say that it is very good! This gelato cup contained raspberry, lemonand passion fruit! It was sooo good. Haon typically gets chooclatey gelato, but the fruit side is starting to be found more often on his cup or cone.

Our next plan was to get to an overlook called the Piazzale Michelangelo. Which would give us a fabulous view of the city of Florence. However, we first needed to cross the famous Ponte Veccio which holds the Vasari corridor, a top secret route to help nobles get out of town.

Finally the overlook! We were able to get an awesome view of the city, we enjoyed for a few hours while we ate Paninnis and listened to Harry Potter on tape. The perfect end to a perfect day!

The Rome of Dan Brown

I'm afraid I probably bore Harmon with my endless references to Dan Browns novels. Angels and Demons, set in Rome and Vatican City, is just too brilliantly suspenseful, educational, and well-written to be forgotten. I had to visit as many sites from the book as possible!!! 

I did my own "Path of Illumination" Tour!

1. The Pantheon

Apparently feeling quite in love at the Pantheon... Enjoying the oculus, the perfectly spherical dome, and of course the tomb of Raphael. 

2. Santa Maria del Popoli

 

Unfortunately we got here after closing and were unable to go inside and see "Habakkuk and the Angel" from the book. Site of the first cardinal's death in the book.

3. St. Peter's Square

Don't forget the "West Ponente" tile at the base of the obelisk. We couldn't quite  get close enough. Site of the second cardinal's death.

4. Santa Maria della Vittoria

Didn't make it here...... Site of the third cardinal's death.

5. Piazza Navona

 

The Fountain of the Four Rivers in front of Sr. Agnes in Agony. The site of the last cardinal's death. 

6. Castel Sant'Angelo

All the "angels" point here, where "Il Paseto" links this fortress with the Vatican. Final throw down between the assassin and Robert Langdon is here.

7. St Peter's Basilica

You can see the dome of the basilica. Peter's tomb is said to be underneath the basilica. 

8. Sistine Chapel

That's as close to a picture inside the Cappella Sistina as we were allowed...pretty fantastic!!!

And the rest of our Vatican adventures:

Waiting in line to get into the Vatican Museum. If you enjoy 2hrs in the hot June sun in Italy, this is the way to go. You can save money this way, and we are penny pinchers! However if you value energy later to push other tourists out of your way to see the Raphael Room, you can book in advance and bypass the line...

Practicing our lightning hurling skills with Zeus. 

Gun show with Hercules.

Talking philosophy with Plato and Aristotle. (School of Athens)

Downing DELICIOUS fruity gelato. Passion fruit + lemon + raspberry = match made in heaven.

And finally, squeezing into our wee lil elevator after a long day on our feet! What a day! 

The Eternal City

First off:

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! (Heavenly choruses not frightened screams)

We have arrived! We are staying comfortably here in Rome, no thanks to Airbnb! Each street has a new story to tell, with pillars and ancient walls around every turn, not to mention beautifully maintained buildings with fantastic architecture and unique character. We love getting lost in the streets here, stumbling upon unknown churches and gelato cafes... We are becoming real gelato snobs. 

Especially now that we have had Lindt gelato and eaten it next to the giant Lindt bunny that appears as though it might gobble me up whole. 

Our favorite church so far is the church if St. John Laterno. No pics, but we may have to go back. Absolutely fantastic interior sculptures. Harmon's new favorite apostle is Philip because he was depicted crushing the head of a giant serpent. Boys...

We also made it to church in Rome! 

Yes, this is now what I look like when I get "dressed up" for church.

We were surprised by the number of couples here from America working on the Rome temple. We were able to meet some fantastic people, including the Luschins. (Just look up Elder Uchdorf's "Lift Where You Stand" talk) The Luschins took us to the Rome temple site as well as fed us our first home cooked meal in quite some time!! 

Current state of the Rome, Italy temple as of 6/22/14.

After our wonderful Sabbath we ventured off to see more of the sites and get even more lost!

Trevi fountain...under construction of course.

Spanish steps

We have recently discovered that Rome wakes up after 8. The small shops along the Tiber River were crawling with people!!! You can see how far down the shops go.

We had a legitimately awesome Italian dinner last night on the bank of the Tiber :)

Stay tuned!