For our hardcore followers (all three of you) I’m coming back to my comfort zone and posting bullet point style about random observations and thoughts. Enjoy!

• It’s hot here in Rome! We’ve actually had great weather most of the trip, pretty comfortable everywhere we’ve been. It was fairly hot and humid (~90) in Venice to start the trip but since then pretty comfortable everywhere. Until we got to Rome. It’s been between 95 and 100 every day we’re here. Thank God (or as my Nonna would have said with her accent “tens God”) for the nasones across Rome which provide cool water for everyone.

• It’s also super crowded here! The number of tourists pretty much everywhere we’ve been has been astounding. It feels much more crowded than it did five years ago. The day before we were in Barcelona, locals went to the main tourist street (Las Ramblas) and squirted tourists with water guns as a form of protest. Certainly there a lot of people in these cities that rely on the tourism for their living, but I understand the frustration of the locals who aren’t because there are just so many people visiting. We were at the Trevi fountain at 11 pm the other night and there were what felt like thousands of people there still and trash all over the place.

• We had our best meal at a place called Maccheroni Thursday night. The carbonara was fantastico! We had a Buffalo mozzarella appetizer there with pesto on top. It was the best cheese I think I’ve ever had. That’s not something I would have expected to say about mozzarella because it’s usually a fairly plain cheese but this one was excellent. We definitely don’t get mozzarella that good at home. Then last night we got pizza from a place down the street which was some of the best Merritt and I have ever had and a big part of the reason was the buffalo mozzarella – you can definitely taste the difference the cheese makes.

• I touched on this five years ago, but Italian drivers are nuts. As one our tour guides here said, their strategy is avoidance. The way they drive between pedestrians and get so close to people is very uncomfortable. They also frequently drive right in the middle of 2 different lanes, make up their own lanes, etc, but they’re all so used to it, it doesn’t seem to bother them. It definitely wouldn’t fly in the US though.

• Along those lines, we were crossing a busy street in Rome after our Colosseum tour on Thursday with my brother and his family. There was a break in the traffic and we were more than halfway across the street in a crosswalk when a taxi came zooming down the street and had to slam on the breaks to avoid hitting my nephew even though we’d clearly been crossing the street. The taxi driver stuck his head out the windows to yell at us but my brother beat him to it and yelled “PASTA FASUL!” at the guy. I think the driver was very confused but we got a good laugh about it.

• Our place in Rome is literally across the street from the Colosseum. It is an amazing structure but there is something even more magical about seeing it lit up at night. It’s truly amazing. And this time around I don’t need to go for a nighttime jog to see it, which is great because my knees aren’t what they were 5 years ago!

• We’ve definitely eaten our share of gelato on this trip! On Thursday when it was 100 degrees we even had a 3x gelato day. You know what they say, when in Rome (or Venice, Milan, Amalfi, Cinque Terre, etc.) eat lots of gelato! Or something like that.

• Speaking of gelato, my family makes fun of me because back home, any time I order a milkshake, I order vanilla. But contrary to what they say, I never order vanilla at an ice cream shop. However, I’ve had many different flavors of gelato on this trip. Here are the ones I remember having: stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate chips), dark chocolate, mango, hazelnut, peach, rum chocolate, strawberry, mint, and my two favorites, crema della Nonna (a creamy lemon flavor) and vanilla bourbon. Deliciouso! Gus on the other hand has ordered only one flavor at every place: stracciatella! Boring!!!

• Throughout our various excursions we’ve had 7-8 different tour guides, and I’m happy to say they were all excellent! All very knowledgeable, friendly and passionate about the subject they were showing us. Tessa asked one what she had to do to be one a tour guide and she went into detail about her studies and how the government requires them to pass a very detailed test before they can be an official guide. Our guide at the coliseum the other day had a degree in archaeology and had studied Latin as well. Very impressive!

• Tonight is our last night here as we fly home Sunday. Unfortunately we’re ending the trip on a sour note. Gus has been sick since Friday morning (stomach virus) and we’ve kept him quarantined in his room alone the last 2 days because we don’t want anyone else to get sick before we get on the plane. Flying with stomach issues would be miserable. It definitely didn’t feel right walking around Rome the last two days without Gus, we felt incomplete. He’s been slowly eating a little and drinking Powerade today. Fingers crossed and prayers said that he’ll fly tomorrow without anymore sickness (or anyone else for that matter. On top of that my dad had his wallet stolen in the metro yesterday and then somehow today had his backpack stolen while they sat in the lobby of their hotel! Insert Italian cuss words here.

I think I’ve rambled long enough. Here are some pics