So we arrived in Rome on the early evening of December 28. I had been stressing out quite a bit about our hotel situation because our hotel kept getting changed by our travel agency due to overbooking with our hotel changing the day before Christmas Eve for the 4th time! When we arrived to our hotel and checked in and then went up to our room. Upon opening the door I was not pleased with the fact that we had been given 2 twin sized beds. So I went and told them that we needed our room changed and although he said there were no more rooms available I was given a new set of keys. Our new room was a bit more acceptable, but not perfect due to the paper thin walls! But we had plans to do so much that it didn't even matter. So off we went to begin our Rome exploration!
Having lived outside of D.C. for a few years has made us very comfortable using public transportation, trains especially. So we headed to the main station that was a 5 minute walk from our hotel and headed towards the Colosseum! I thought the metro stops in D.C. were close together but in Rome you can pretty much walk 2 stops in 10 minutes, which is sometimes quicker than waiting for the train. When we walked out of the train station the Colosseum was literally right in front of us. It was neat to get to see it at night because it is all lit up on the inside.
We walked around and took in the incredible sites, trying to find the perfect picture spot to get the whole Colosseum in the picture.
You can't go in at night so we continued our night tour and went to see the Arch of Constantine and then proceeded down towards the ruins of the Forum.
It was so incredible to see everything at night because it was all lit up so beautifully. 
The next day we decided to go to Vatican City to see everything there. That was something that I personally was very excited to be able to see. When we got off the train and started walking toward Vatican City there were a lot of tour guides telling us the lines were an hour and a half long and they could get us to cut the line if we took their tour.
We decided to go and check it out for ourselves and upon first look the line was ridiculously long. I was a bit discouraged at first, but we decided to get in the line for St. Peter's Basilica. Although the line was wrapped all the way around the main square it only took us 30 minutes to get in through security and into the basilica. The breathtaking views inside were just so incredible that pictures can barely do it any justice. It was amazing to just be able to walk around and take it all in.
We were even able to get some holy water from there to take home. After we left there we went to find tickets for the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel. We were able to buy tickets to skip the line for this, but since our tickets weren't for another hour we decided to go grab something to eat. We went to a little deli type restaurant right across the street from the entrance to the museum. Now everyone knows that when there are no prices on something its usually expensive, but this was a deli! We asked for a menu but the waiter told us it was buffet style so we went up and looked at what we wanted in the cases, told him, and he brought it to us. Since we weren't very hungry we decided to share a prosciutto panini (my husband's favorite!) and we each got an ice tea. It was pretty good, not the best we had tried since being in Italy, but it served its purpose. Since it's pretty much a sin not to get dessert with every meal in Italy I picked a canoli and we shared that as well. So for 2 drinks, a panini, and a canolli we were not expecting a 30-something euro bill! To help with that conversion 30 euro is about 40 US dollars! Needless to say we learned our lesson to check for prices and not to eat in touristy areas. We then proceeded into the museum.
We started by walking through the Vatican gardens and then went back inside to see the museum.
The museum is very well set up and it flows very easily from one section to the next. There was a lot of ancient Greek and Roman statues, which were a lot like what we had seen in Naples, but the artwork and tapestries were just incredible. About 3/4 of the way through the museum we realized that our camera was about to die :( and unfortunately the Sistine Chapel was at the very end. So by the time we made it there the camera was dead so we have no pictures of the Sistine Chapel. It technically says no pictures are to be taken in the chapel, but everyone was doing it. Everything in the Sistine Chapel was gorgeous, but it wasn't anything overly surprising because I had seen pictures before. After we left Vatican City we headed back to our hotel to plan for the night!We decided to go to the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon for the night. So we started walking and first passed this fountain. Luckily Shayne has a great camera on his iPhone so we were able to use that for the rest of our trip since someone (oops! me!) forgot to pack the charger for the camera! We continued walking and could soon hear the sounds of the fountain. It was pretty packed with people but we were able to find a good spot to take pictures. We had just turned around to do our own picture of the two of us when a guy offered to do it for us. After he began to tell us poses to do I realized that he wasn't just some nice guy offering to take our picture! He gave Shayne the phone back and then wanted to take a picture of us with his Polaroid for a few euro. After repeatedly telling him we were all set, we were finally able to go and throw our pennies into the fountain! Being there was so magical!
It was such a romantic location and we enjoyed just sitting there for a few minutes taking it all in. After we spent some time there we went to a place for dinner that we had found in tripadvisor.com. I really wanted some good Italian pasta so I was excited about going there! We started out by having some bruschetta and prosciutto with melted cheese. Both were delicious! For dinner Shayne got pasta carbonara
and I had fruti del mar.
Both were incredible. I was having a craving for gelato so we skipped dessert at the restaurant and headed towards the Pantheon.
Both were incredible. I was having a craving for gelato so we skipped dessert at the restaurant and headed towards the Pantheon. 
It was in a really nice square area with another fountain, and a gelato shop! I had heard there was an incredible gelato shop somewhere near the Pantheon but forgot the name so I just went to the one closest to the Pantheon! I walked in and looked at the flavors and said "OOOOOH" when I saw the flavor I wanted. The woman working there looked at me and said "nutella?" and I said "yes!". For those of you that don't know I have recently become obsessed with nutella since arriving in Europe.
It is EVERYWHERE and oh so delicious!! We hung out for a bit in the square while I enjoyed my gelato and then we continued walking. We found a little festival going on a little bit further and we walked around there or a while before heading back to the hotel for the night!
The next day we took a food tour in Testaccio. Whenever we travel we always try to take either a food tour or a beer/wine tour, whatever is best for the area we are visiting. Unfortunately it was not really in season for us to go to a vineyard but we did find this food tour on tripadvisor.com and it was incredible! We started in the small neighborhood of Testaccio which is part of Rome but pretty far removed from all of the touristy areas. It was a small tour with 7 people plus the tour guide who was American but now lives in Italy. We started by going to one of the oldest open air markets in Italy. It was so cool to see all the locals going to pick up their groceries for the weekend. Our guide explained to us that when you start shopping there you need to pick who will be your cheese guy and your fish guy and your meat guy because if you flip flop back and forth they will get mad! There were about 2 families who were vendors for each area. We got to try buffalo mozzarella 
(which I can say I am now an expert in distinguishing between the real stuff and the fake stuff! Let me know if you want the inside scoop!) We also got to try some tomatoes from the tomato vendor. The way he works is that you don't tell him what kind of tomatoes you want (he has over 40 varieties!) but you tell him what you are making and he picks out the perfect tomatoes to go with it! When we left there we headed to a gourmet cheese shop.
We got to try some truffle cheese and some spicy sausage. It was delicious and we decided we definitely needed to head back there after the tour. After that we ventured to a small bakery where we were able to try these amazing tiramisu cups!
I could have stayed there all day! Our next stop was a non food related spot, but it was really neat. It was a cemetery where some famous writers were buried. From there we went to a restaurant to try some pasta! The restaurant was really neat. It was built into a hillside, but the hillside had been made when the Romans would import their goods from the port and it would all come in ceramic pots. They would reuse most of the pots, except for the ones that held olive oil. Those had to be disposed over because they couldn't get rid of all of the reside to reuse them. So they would break it up and pile it on top of each other, which eventually created the hillside!
The restaurant was carved into the hillside so it was like being underground. We got to try 3 different types of pasta. The first was a really simple pasta but you would have never guessed it by tasting it. All it had in it was pecorino romano cheese, salt, pepper, and pasta water with some linguini. It was awesome!
The next one had a ziti type pasta. It had a spicy tomato sauce and pork cheek with some cheese. This was both of our favorites.
I even tried to make recently and although it didn't taste the same it still came out pretty good. The final one was a carbonara which was the best one I've ever had.
Needless to say we were stuffed at the end of the meal, but we still had 2 more stops on the food tour! Before we went to our next food stop we went by the old slaughter house. It was neat to see some of the things that were still there, although no longer in operation. When we left there we kept walking and went to a small shop where we had suppli. They were fried rice balls with sausage in them.
They were really good. The shop we went to had lots of different varieties of suppli but unfortunately we only were able to try one. From there we headed a gelato shop, my personal favorite! 
It was the oldest gelato shop in Rome and we learned about the difference between real gelato and the fake stuff that comes from a powder. I had 2 scoops, 1 hazelnut and 1 dark chocolate (like nutella!) 
with homemade whipped cream. It was incredible!! The whole tour was absolutely incredible and I would definitely recommend Eating Italy Food Tours Rome to anyone going there.
We got to try some truffle cheese and some spicy sausage. It was delicious and we decided we definitely needed to head back there after the tour. After that we ventured to a small bakery where we were able to try these amazing tiramisu cups!
I could have stayed there all day! Our next stop was a non food related spot, but it was really neat. It was a cemetery where some famous writers were buried. From there we went to a restaurant to try some pasta! The restaurant was really neat. It was built into a hillside, but the hillside had been made when the Romans would import their goods from the port and it would all come in ceramic pots. They would reuse most of the pots, except for the ones that held olive oil. Those had to be disposed over because they couldn't get rid of all of the reside to reuse them. So they would break it up and pile it on top of each other, which eventually created the hillside!
The restaurant was carved into the hillside so it was like being underground. We got to try 3 different types of pasta. The first was a really simple pasta but you would have never guessed it by tasting it. All it had in it was pecorino romano cheese, salt, pepper, and pasta water with some linguini. It was awesome!
The next one had a ziti type pasta. It had a spicy tomato sauce and pork cheek with some cheese. This was both of our favorites.
I even tried to make recently and although it didn't taste the same it still came out pretty good. The final one was a carbonara which was the best one I've ever had.
Needless to say we were stuffed at the end of the meal, but we still had 2 more stops on the food tour! Before we went to our next food stop we went by the old slaughter house. It was neat to see some of the things that were still there, although no longer in operation. When we left there we kept walking and went to a small shop where we had suppli. They were fried rice balls with sausage in them. 
They were really good. The shop we went to had lots of different varieties of suppli but unfortunately we only were able to try one. From there we headed a gelato shop, my personal favorite! 
It was the oldest gelato shop in Rome and we learned about the difference between real gelato and the fake stuff that comes from a powder. I had 2 scoops, 1 hazelnut and 1 dark chocolate (like nutella!) 
with homemade whipped cream. It was incredible!! The whole tour was absolutely incredible and I would definitely recommend Eating Italy Food Tours Rome to anyone going there.
It was up on a huge hill which made it look even more impressive. We then tried to go into the Colosseum, but unfortunately it was already closed for the day so we decided to come back another day. We went back to the hotel to rest for a bit and then headed out for dinner. The tour guide for the food tour had given us some recommended restaurants so we decided to check one out for dinner. The one we wanted to go to was all booked and since we didn't had a reservation we headed to another one. We ended up going to Spirito de Vino, which was once a 10th century synagogue. It also had a wince cellar which was older than the Colosseum!
Dinner was delicious as was dessert.Our last full day in Rome was New Years Eve. We started off the day by going into the Colosseum. It was so incredible to be inside there and see the seats and imagine what it would have been like actually being there during the fights.
There was such a complex system underneath the main floor that was the staging area. After we left there we walked up to Constintine Hill and explored that area.
From there we were able to go down into the Forum Ruins to actually walk among the ruins. It was pretty neat to get so close to everything. We even got to see where Caesar was murdered. We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the New Years Eve festivities! 
We found a small restaurant by the hotel that we hoped we could get into without reservations. When we got there we were the only people there (and it stayed that way for most of our dinner!). There was a prix fixed menu. I had a pasta dish and Shayne had steak. We also were finally able to try carchofi alla romana (artichokes roman style).
They were incredible! They were so well cooked that you could eat every part of the artichoke! We had a great bottle of wine to go with dinner and ended the night was a delicious dessert.
After we left the restaurant we made our way to the Piazza del Popolo, which we head read was a great place to ring in the New Year! We got there around 9pm and there was only a few people there. We went up on a balcony and positioned ourselves for the night. We had brought a nice bottle of champagne with us to ring in the New Year as well.
but none of the people working there did anything except watch it burn out. Once midnight hit a lot more fireworks went off, but it wasn't anything spectacular. Its also apparently tradition to throw your champagne bottle into the piazza but luckily it wasn't too bad. Within 15 minutes of the beginning of 2012 the piazza was pretty much empty again so we headed back to our hotel.The next morning we had hoped to do a little more sightseeing but unfortunately I felt pretty sick when we woke up so we just relaxed until it was time to head to the airport. By the time we got to the airport I had a fever and was so grateful that I didn't get sick during our trip. Our entire Italian Honeymoon was absolutely incredible. I cannot wait to travel more in Italy and eat my way through another trip!
