Rome: Spring 2013: Days 9-12

As we have mentioned before, it is hard to find a variety of foods in Roma. We decided to make a trip to the Hard Rock Cafe to get ourselves a real American burger. Our table even split a massive plate of nachos before our entrees arrived. Even though the food was a little bit pricey, it was well worth it.

Michelle and I

The burger Stefan and I both ordered...BBQ bacon burger with caramelized onions

Full ketchup bottle when we began, empty when we finished

From the left...Mike, John, Avi, Stefan

Cafe Miani is where we go to get the cornetto/pastry and cappuccino for 1 Euro. We have gone there multiple times this week and we are starting to become regulars. We have been trying different pastries every time. So far we have had the plain cornetto, black and white cornetto (filled with nutella and sweetened creme), milk ( sweetened creme) and chocolate pastry, lemon creme filled cornetto, and a strawberry and creme pastry. The cappuccinos are always the same and always delicious. We do our best to get there around 10:15 when the pastries are fresh out of the oven.

Strawberry and Creme pastry

Pastry and Cappuccino

The next morning we decided to make a trip to Trevi Fountain. We were expecting it to be in an open plaza, but it was actually on a side street, tucked in a little area that was surrounded by buildings. It was a beautiful fountain, but we weren't as impressed as we thought we would be. Since we went on a Saturday afternoon, it was packed with tourists. It was really hard to enjoy, especially with people walking around trying to take pictures of you and then sell them to you. They don't quite know how to take a "no" for an answer.

After leaving the fountain, Stefan, Michelle, and I decided to go to the Colosseum and the Roman Forums, since it was relatively close to the Trevi Fountain. It was a gorgeous day, which made it fun to walk around and see more of the city. We didn't tour the Colosseum or the Forum because St. Johns will take us for free in a few weeks.

Arch of Constantine

The Arch again

Roman Forums ruins

Ruins

One of the temple ruins

Statue at Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain

We decided to explore some of Trastevere (another district of Roma) this weekend. It took us about 30 minutes to walk there from our dorm. Unfortunately, we went in the late afternoon when many businesses close, before reopening in the evening. Trastevere is known for having good food, but since most businesses were closed, we were only able to try food at two places. We tried a couple different types a pizza, a calzone, and a pastry, all of which was delicious. We will definitely have to make a trip back to Trastevere on another day. Hopefully at a better time when we can explore when businesses are open.