Rome Part 2

Las Vegas 2010

For our second day in Rome we got to hang out with my good friends Kenny and Laura Stainback. Kenny and Laura are climber friends that I previously traveled to France with to climb the famous boulders around Fontainebleau.  Nick and I attended their wedding and Laura was our witness when we eloped in Las Vegas (Kenny was out of town).  Kenny and Laura have been traveling the world for the last 18 months for their professional hiatus and just happened to be in Rome the same days we were before they headed back to the United States.

Colosseum

We explored the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill together.  Nick really did not want to go see the Colosseum (and Kenny didn't really care either) but I really wanted to see it.  Luckily Nick and Kenny spent the entire time we were in line to get in talking camera stuff, so it worked out nicely that Laura and I didn't have to hear them complain at all!  They did spend a little time arguing over who got to be the lion and who got to be the gladiator.




View of Colosseum from Palatine Hill



Roman Forum

Next we headed over to the Forum and Palatine Hill.  Parts of the forum were closed off so we weren't able to see it.  Palatine Hill is prettly sprawling and we weren't being very good tourist, so most of the time we had not idea what we were looking at.  I did see one large, old looking building in the distance and asked what it was.  Kenny said it was a prototype for the Colosseum, but for some reason I don't believe him.  We did get a pretty sweet photo of Kenny and I in action in front of the Colosseum.

I can't really explain what is going on here



Altare della Patria

 After finishing up at Palatine Hill we headed got espresso (of course) and some paninis.  We continued walking and saw the Forum of Augustus, Julius Ceasar Statue, Altare della Patria, and Piazza Venezia.  We concluded our sightseeing at Piazza Venezia with the plans of meeting up for dinner later that night.  Since we are now eating on European time, Malvina had made reservations for all of us at 10 pm to eat at Trattoria da Teo.  Despite our 10 pm reservation we were not seated until 10:45, but they made up for it by giving us free proseco and a bottle of red wine.  The food was good, but it would be pretty hard to match the meal we had at Le Mani in Pasta.  However, the company was great!  It was wonderful to hear about Kenny and Laura's adventures and see Nick and Malvina bond after not seeing each other for almost 20 years.  We finally wrapped up our meal around 2 am and I was exhausted!  Laura and Kenny had to head back to their B & B near the Termini train station, but Kenny assured us that no one would mess with him because he know Kung Fu (and Laura would protect him)!




Fried artichokes and zucchini flowers

Burrata, chicory and crispy flat bread

We took it easy on Saturday and Sunday, mainly just eating, drinking cappuccinos, and exploring Trastevere, the neighborhood we were staying in.  Saturday night we ate at Le Mani in Pasta again.  We had taken a photo of the specials so that Malvina could help us with the translations.  Again, we had another amazing meal.  More sea bass carpaccio, red shrimp, the best broccoli I have ever had (didn't realize this could be a thing), sea bass for two, creme brulee, and more tiramisu!

Can't forget the pizza!



Le Mani in Pasta specials

Red shrimps