Buona Sera di Roma

Good evening from Rome!

I know it's been a couple of days. We had a couple of challenges pop up the last two days (hello, gastro) and we've been taking it easy. Split was absolutely beautiful - between gastro patients, we were able to enjoy a beautiful day at the beach in Masjun park. Both kids had a great time bobbing in the waves, and I will tell you that the novelty of being ultra buoyant in warm salt water has not yet worn off for these inland, freshwater Canadian kids. The water is such a beautiful clear turquoise too.

Our Split AirBnb was adorable, and super conveniently located across from a very yummy kebab restaurant - which we hit up like 4 times over the three days for simple foods that appealed to our sickies (pretty sure I have spent almost $50 on fries), as well as burgers and wraps. Brad and I enjoyed a couple quiet (and quick) meals out while the patients convalesced/maxed out on netflix.

Armed with bags, wipes and alllllll the pharmaceuticals, we got up at the crack of dawn this morning to catch an uber to the airport (4am split is full of wandering drunk people, including a gaggle of French girls who were extremely grateful to find someone who spoke French and REALLY needed a tissue.....which my overstuffed mom purse was happy to provide.

Thankfully, we made it to the airport with no incidents in the Uber, and aboard our plane with WizzAir (delayed a bit on the ground due to Rome airport traffic). We landed in Rome about an hour late, and after waiting forreeeeeeeeeever to claim our bags, we were whisked off by the driver Brad had booked to our AirBnb in the Testaccio neighbourhood of Rome. 

The reigning queen of the airport nap. Rosie can sleep anywhere. 

 

I immediately set out to find some pizza (when in Rome, naturalemente) and we had a quick lunch of Roman-style pizza before all of us crashing hard for an afternoon nap (the 4am airport wakeup meant I didn't sleep at all, Brad barely slept, and the kids are pretty zonked from whatever bug hit them).

One of everything, per favore

I haven't had a huge chance to explore our neighbourhood, but from first impressions, it's a bit off the typical tourist track, peppered with pizzerias and trattorias and full of actual Italians (rather than tourists). Our apartment itself is on a quiet courtyard off a busy main street. 

Tonight, I snagged dinner reservations at Felice's, which is a Testaccio institution dating from the 1930s - it's a mix of authentic classic Roman cuisine and a little bit of a tourist trap, but we were all pretty stoked about our table-side cacio e pepe pasta, and both Brad and I LOVED the eggplant involtine.

Discovered the secret to cacio e pepe - molto formaggio!!

As is tradition, imbibing in local tipples

We are keeping it pretty easy today because we have an early start tomorrow with Colosseo tickets (and really want our sickies to have a good night of restful sleep and hopefully a decent meal in them).

Espresso per due - I love espresso but it keeps me up at night. Apparently not for these two.

Rome is hot, but thankfully our AirBnb has some airconditioning and I also want to give a shoutout to one of the MVPs of this trip - the USB powered fan that Brad insisted on bringing. Not gonna lie, I thought it was bulky and unnecessary, but it's been absolutely clutch with all this heat. We are SUPER spoiled at home with our geothermal air conditioning (and living in a bungalow) so the heat has been a real adjustment/struggle for some of us (okay...mostly me :D).

Stoked to show the kids a little more of Rome tomorrow!