Making Memories: A Mum & Son on Tour

Oh my goodness! Where to start?

I booked this tour (Tour Rome by Vespa with a local) months ago, thinking it would be a good kick-start to our visit. Hit the highlights and get a feel for where everything is. One if my more brilliant ideas, if I do say so myself.

What an amazing time. We were picked up by our drivers and whisked off to meet the other party we would be riding with. We met up with our tour leader, Angelo, and off we went. First stop, the Spanish Steps, with a gorgeous fountain at the bottom.

After a quick trip down the stairs, I did forget that they worked backwards too and we had to climb right back up them. I was breathing somewhat heavily by the time I got back to the top. I regained my breath by the time we got to the Trevi Fountain though so all good.

After this we were off to see the large wedding cake of Rome, also known as Altare della Patria (Alter if the Fatherland), which is a monument to commemorate the Unification of Italy on 20th September 1861. Which is rather nice because today happens to be 20th September and we were treated to a little bit of a military parade while we were there.

I was so interested in the military uniforms I forgot to take pictures of the actual building. Oops. Anyway, this building also features the oldest statue in Europe.

After this we were taken to the suburra of ancient Rome, and the Colosseum.

We are doing a bigger tour of the Colosseum in a few days time. This was just a taster. But it’s amazing just to see the outside.

And then, with impeccable timing, just as I asked about a quick stop for a drink, we turned a corner and “found” a water fountain.

These are dotted around Rome. The water in all fountains (including the Trevi) is clean and drinkable. Tasty too.

This was our last stop before a cold iced coffee and gelato, which I again forgot to photograph. But the iced coffee was literally a frozen espresso slushy with whipped cream and Jacob had a chocolate gelato. Both were enjoyed immensely.

We were then dropped off at the Villa Borghese for our drop off point. We didn’t visit the Villa because it was lunchtime and I am travelling with a bottomless pit who needed feeding. So off we went in search of our first Roman pizza, which was delicious

And that basically ended our first day. Jacob decided the siren song of a West Ham game at a reasonable hour AND the call of a pool at the hotel was too much to resist. So that’s what we have done. We pretended to be locals and braved the local buses to get back to the hotel (I am very proud of us) and we have had a very lazy afternoon. We will be dining at the local restaurant before another early night. Tomorrow Pompeii day!