Spanish Steps

Max overlooking the Spanish Steps. At the top in the Piazza Trinita dei Monti.

The Spanish Steps were packed. We went in the evening and I just loved it. There was such a buzz yet everyone was so relaxed, eating, drinking, and chatting. There was a great vibe....except for the annoying men selling roses. So obnoxious. No means No and they just didn't get it...they made a lot of people angry.Once I would say no they would say "oh, Bella, for you, gift for you Bella!" Then a few minutes later they would wander back over and ask for money. I, along with several other people I witnessed, just gave the flower back. A rose is meant to bring good fortune from the statue of Mary in the plaza.

He was happiest in Rome at the fountains. Any fountain.

At the top of the steps...artists doing portraits.

Kevin and Max are up there somewhere...on the right hand side just to the left of the light post! Where's wally?!

Mary bringing good fortune....and very persistent rose sellers.

We then wandered around and looked for somewhere to have dinner....ultimately deciding that it's best to just go back for the Est! Est! Est!

Kevin went with a calzone...really changed things up. He made the right decision. To DIE for good.

Food coma. What we all felt like pretty much after every meal. It doesn't look like he even ate, but that bowl of spaghetti was MASSIVE.

I don't know if I have talked enough about the food. Our hotel had an amazing breakfast spread to start the day with. All kinds of fruit, bread, pastries, meats and cheeses, eggs, bacon, everything. They had yogurt. Coffee yogurt. I only tried it because I had never seen anything like it and figured in the land of amazing coffee I must try the coffee yogurt. It was amazing. So good. I don't know if anyone remembers the Moo-Lattes from Dairy Queen...but it reminded me of that. I was pleasantly surprised.

Also, a staple and lunch and dinner every day was two of my favorite things. Olive oil and bread. I would be happy eating that...breakfast, lunch and dinner. Set. We came home with 1.5 liters of the stuff.

Something else worth mentioning is the coffee. Fresh, dark and strong,  morning, noon and night. Moral of the story everything we ate and drank was delightful.

Vanilla.

I don't know what it was about the chocolate he had the first night, but it scarred him forever. Everytime we ordered gelato the rest of the trip he brought up about how that chocolate put a bad taste in his mouth, so he should just get vanilla or caramel. He still talks about it here...."remember I don't want to get chocolate like that chocolate in Italy with the bad taste." Chocolate and bad taste in the same sentence....whose kid is he?!