2018 - Italy - Day 7 - Driving to and an Evening in Rome

February 17, 2018

(Eleanor's 15th Birthday)

 We left for Rome about 11:45 am. We stopped for lunch (and a coffee - for everyone but me) at a "kwik trip" type place. Fast food means only about 1 hour for a meal :D This is literaly the food served, it was really amazing, all on glass plates! 

 We had seafood on a salad... octopus! No joke!  And it was really fresh and really good.  We also split some sandwiches. A sub with proscuitto (ham, not to be confused with cooked ham). People do look at me rather oddly for taking pictures in these places.

 The caffe is always served in a tea party size cup :D

 Fuel station.  Fuel is very expensive and sold by the liter.  It ended up somewhere between $8 and $10 per gallon. No joke.  Seriously. I do not know how people function, I'd totally not be driving, ever!

 Driving through a tunnel. The road to Rome was literally cut through the mountains/hills, it was really a neat ride!

 Here you can see the road cut through the hill.

 First real view of Rom was of Santa Maria Maggiore just down the road from our hotel...

 ... and St. Alphonsus which houses Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Since Mass was going on I did not get a picture this time (I do have some from our last trip but can't seem to find them on my computer... I'm so lame) so here is a picture of the image:

Next we ventured to Santa Maria Maggiore.

 Relic of the Manger - Crib of Christ

 We went to dinner at the restaurant right around the corner from our Hotel Amalfi. We went there 3 times last time and were eager to go there again as the food was so good. It was jam packed (and they didn't have "Riso con frutta di mare" *snap* as it was so good, however, this time they had it with spaghetti and a red sauce. Sill yummy.  Anyway, it was packed and no room for us. However, some nice crazy-funny Germans invited us to sit with them. 

 I do not enjoy drinking and just don't. So I became known as the "nipper" because I took about 3 sips and I left most of the drink behind.  Seriously, I'm not sure I buy that this stuff is good for digestion.

 Here are our new "friends" from German. The 2 young ones on the next table over also joined in the fun. Albert was 21 and could drink like Legolas and perhaps just feel tingly (however, if you have not seen LOTR movies then you won't know what I am talking about). The girl whose name I have forgotten was 18.

 Not sure if you can see at the top of the food case that there was a picture of the owner and family with the Pope and a picture of the pope on the mirror over on the right.

 Afterwards these funny people wanted to go to the Irish Pub across the street. 

 The Germans

 The Denmark boys.

 The funniest part of the evening was when they asked how many children we have.  You cannot even begin to fathom the level of shock. It was so comical we could not stop laughing. There was an odd silence as they tried to get the idea of 12 children in their heads. They could not figure it out. But then, because they were a lively, fun-loving group and very, very friendly, they started to make jokes and continue to enjoy life. 

God bless these souls!

Videos of the drive down to Rome:

View of the Monastery at Orvieto, Italy