Now it’s the morning mom and dad arrive. I put on a brand new Italian outfit I had just bought, go buy them croissants, and head to their hotel. Naturally, there had been a plumbing problem in their room so at last minute notice they were moved to the other location, which is apparently next to the Spanish steps. Mom and dad have no idea where they are, they are saying random streets on the phone, and this whole time I’m standing in front of the hotel where they are supposed to be thinking the other location is just a few buildings down. Finally we realize where they are and I head over there. After all this confusion it becomes a mad dash across Rome because that day was one of the few days we would be together at noon and could watch the 12 o’clock cannon be fired. So we sprint literally to the other side of Rome and make it just in time to get our eardrums blown up by the cannon, but it was still really cool. Then we headed to the Tempietto, which again, naturally, had closed 5 minutes prior to our arrival there! We then headed down into Trastevere, a small quainter section of Rome on the other side of the river from central city. There mom and dad tried their first authentic Italian pizza which I thought was delicious! The rest of that day we walked around and prepared ourselves for our private wine tour that night. Before the wine tour started we stopped in at the Penn State bar to watch the first half of the football game. Then we met our tour guide named Francesco and the fun began. Apparently the tour was also a walking tour of the famous sites in Rome and again, naturally, went everywhere I had taken mom and dad that day. But he did have new interesting things to tell us that I didn’t even know. We went to several bars and tried a bunch of wines. We were at a bar under the remains of the Theater of Pompeiio, which is where Caesar was killed. Then we drank a bottle while walking in the streets, that is legal here. Then we finished off at a bar in Trastevere again, which had food. I tried muscles for the firs time and fell in love! It ended up being a really awesome time and we all had a great time doing that. We ended the night with gelato and then went to bed!
The next day we woke up nice and early to be on time for a tour at the Villa Borghese Gallery. I thought I knew where we were going but made the mistake of checking myself against a tourist map which ended up taking us the extremely long way and making us almost late. Then, naturally, the machine didn’t want to take our confirmation to give us our tickets so we had to wait in a really long line. Surprisingly though the man at the counter helped us and it all went smoothly. The gallery was really cool and there were so many sculptures even after half of the originals had been moved to the Louvre! After that came the best part of the day… bicycle rentals around the park grounds of the villa. We felt so Italian with our baskets in front of us. It was a perfect fall day to ride around in the gardens and it was definitely a highlight of the visit! After that we headed to the pantheon area to have lunch, which was delicious again! (It was awesome not having to eat salami sandwiches and cook for myself when mom and dad were here!) After that we hung out in the hotel, which by this time had been fixed at its original location. Then we did the night walk to the Vatican and got pizza on the way home and called it a night.
Monday I met mom and dad for breakfast at a café near me and tried my first cappuccino, which was amazing! Mom thought she ordered American coffee but got an espresso so she and dad had to switch haha! Then I had class and mom and dad went on their way to tour the Vatican museum, see St. Peter’s, and climb the dome. I met them later for dinner at the best pizza in the world called Buffetta. It takes over an hour and an half to see food from the time you get on line to the time you are served but it is totally worth it!
Tuesday they left for Florence on a train and saw a bunch of stuff there. (I haven’t been there yet so I don’t know what there is to see) Apparently there hotel was beautiful and they enjoyed their time there but said that Rome was much nicer. Wednesday when they got back I had them over to my house and made them baked ziti, which was pretty good if I may say so! Then Thursday they took another train to Naples and Pompeii for the day. That night we had dinner in front of the Pantheon. Dad got to have his raviolis finally, I had pesto pasta, one of my favorites, and mom had gnocchi. We also had amazing bruschetta, which instead of having just tomatoes and cheese on it had tuna on one, mushrooms on another, and salami on the last one. Then we had gelato yet again to finish the night, complete with the walk home passing by the apartment from Eat, Pray, Love.
After staying up to 4am, Friday began at my architecture studio where I had to give a presentation of my project. The review went surprisingly well so I was glad mom and dad were there to witness a good one. After that we made our way to the Coloseum, which, naturally, was closed due to a strike. However we got there an hour before it was supposed to re-open and decided to wait it out online. It was a great choice because we ended up being the first ones in and got to see it without crowds of people in the way! After that I lead them on walking tour some churches I had been to in class. The churches do not even look like churches from the outside, most of them, but then you walk in and it is this gorgeous, huge church inside. Then I finally found the bone chapel I had been wanting to go to. Conveniently it was located on Via Veneto which is the street mom stayed on when she came to Rome 30 years again. The bone chapel is a series of rooms that are decorated in skeletons. But when I say decorated I don’t mean they are hung up on the wall, I mean they made hearts out of rib bones and chandeliers out of hips, etc. it was creepy yet cool seeing how it was a few days before Halloween. Then we headed back to the hotel which a 7th storey roof terrace. We enjoyed some cheese and Castellano brand wine while watching the sunset. That was also one of the best moments of the visit! Then we headed we headed to the infamous Tre Scalini in Piazza Navona for dinner. I again wanted to try something new so I got clams and spaghetti. Dad had lasagna and tortellini and mom had lasagna then we tried the famous tartuffo for dessert along with tiramisu, and two other cakes that I cant remember the name of.
On Saturday the three of us along with some of my friends took the train out to Tivoli to go to Villa D’Este. After walking along a major highway from the train station and trying to speak to a local Italian we finally found the Villa. It was definitely the coolest place I have been thus far on the entire trip. The garden was just so amazingly beautiful, we had a perfect day, and it was just so nice. The only bad part, naturally, the waterfall under which mom walked 30 years ago that I couldn’t wait to get a picture under too was closed for construction! After getting back to Rome we headed back to Buffetta for dinner and then finished that with the best gelato in Rome, Fridgidarium. Even dad tried two flavors and got it dipped in chocolate. We went all out! Then we went back to the hotel and had some amaretto and dad and I fell asleep, naturally, and then I had to go home to my apartment L. I truly had such an amazing week with them though and I am so thankful they were able to come visit me. It was awesome getting to share my new and unusual life with them! And since we threw coins into the Trevi I know someday we will all come back together!
