We had gotten the Roma Pass to cover the Borghese Gallery, but did not know that in addition we had to make a reservation. Well, it was too late by the time we realized it, so we opted to visit the Villa Borghese Gardens.
After eating breakfast at the hotel, we set off. It was a long walk to metro, because three of us were working on directions and that ended up being bad because we were looking at different ways and didn't realize it. So after a frustrating 30-min-should-have-been-5-min walk, we got on the metro.
We had a little trouble getting through the gate, because one of us didn't walk through when the gate opened. We learned the hard way. Luckily the guards let us through after we told them what happened.
What happened next was rough. We also learned the hard way that public restrooms are sparse. There were two mobile ones that were trashed and because no one spoke English, we just followed where they were pointing, which did not help because we never really understood if we were supposed to turn somewhere else. It was a nightmare, and no one would wait on me to see if I could find anything.
T's parents were able to feed the birds by hand at the restaurant where we finally found a restroom. After walking aimlessly and at high speeds for an hour in the heat, we abandoned the park. I only got one picture—the tree with the pink flowers below. I would love to come back here one day with T and have a different experience of the park. Everyone was so lively; there were rollerbladers, children, carts. If our circumstances had been different, I think we would have really enjoyed it. But it was kind of like what would happen to us at Palace of Versailles later on—that we just went through so much, that we were just over it and couldn't enjoy it.
From there, we walked to the Spanish Steps. It was crowded, but what a sight to see. There was a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts and when T's mom asked a woman who bought some what they were, she offered a few for us to taste. She was so sweet! She said it was something that reminded her of Portugal.
From there we ate lunch, which was probably my least favorite food experience, and then ate some gelati.
To use our Roma Pass, we went to Museo di Roma, which was close to us. I loved being able to experience that with T. We walked through that whole museum together, which looked like it was once a home because I noticed fireplaces in it.
After the museum, got an espresso (the most expensive the whole trip) at Navona Square and watched the street vendors. There was a silver cowboy who stood completely still. We watch curious children walk up and touch him. We also saw the art and listened to the music. After we had our moment to chill, we visited the Pantheon which was another favorite experience. We didn't get to go inside since we didn't make it in time, maybe we will go back one day. The outside was stunning. Something I started doing in pictures was placing my hand on the marble of wherever we were, so I could remember that I actually touched these things.
From there we made it back to the hotel and relaxed for a little bit before stepping out for dinner. This was probably my most favorite meal for the whole trip. It was probably my favorite restaurant, too. The waitstaff was amazing, even with only having two servers for the whole restaurant. The food was amazing. It was just awesome.
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| a cat just watching people pass by |
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| the only picture i took at the park |
