Hi, so a lot has happened since I last blogged a year ago with myself and the world as we currently sit in lockdown. I don't know about anyone else, but I myself am finding being stuck in the house so difficult. So today I am going to blog about something pre lockdown, to remind myself and others of more positive times. For Christmas I bought my Boyfriend (also a new factor in my life since I blogged last) a trip to Rome, I have never done anything like this before but I felt that we both deserved a treat so thought what the hell.. This Post is going to be a bit of an advice blog and also something I can look back on myself in years to come. If you like this type of blog post I have done a few other posts on LA, Las Vegas, San Fransisco, New York and Florida.
So our flight was from Manchester Airport 7am on the 12th of January, I much prefer an earlier flight as I find that the airport is a lot quieter in the early hours. Security and bag check was an absolute breeze, the first time in my life I think I haven't had to queue, straight in and out. We grabbed some snacks for the flight from duty free and before we knew it we were boarding the plane. Its been a while since I have done a short haul flight, and for someone who HATES being on a plane the thought of a 1hr 45min was bliss to the mind. We landed at Rome Ciampino around 10am/11am and our transfer was there waiting for us. I had booked with Shuttle Direct they were fab arrived on time with a sign to pick us up and we shared a mini bus with 3 other couples, the ride to the Hotel was like something out of Grand theft auto, surprised we arrived in one piece (Italian Drivers MAD).
We stayed at Class House Residenza, which little did we know is actually two hotels and the address on the website is not where the main desk it. 1 hour later and 4 phone calls with broken english we finally found check in and left our bags in the hotel and went exploring. For someone who has never booked a hotel (for a holiday) before I was so impressed with myself on picking the location, we were located just a 5 minute walk from the Spanish Steps (if you know Rome you'll know this is very central. At this point it was gone 1pm we were starving and I was dying to tuck into some Italian food. We Headed down to Piazza del Popolo and found a little pizzeria.
After our first little wonder we headed back to the hotel and unpacked and freshened up, which I desperately needed after being on a plane and then wondering round a surprisingly warm Rome, we also had a very long 2 hour nap and felt like death. We decided to get up and get some dinner.
We wondered up towards the Spanish steps and found a very cute restaurant called Alla Rampa tucked in the corner of a street with fairy lights all over it of course it was a selling point. I wish I would of taken photos inside this restaurant it was the cutest and the food was just amazing. After we had finished our food we went for a wonder round, and found the Trevi Fountain, now I have never been blown away by it in photos/movies, but wow it was gorgeous. I feel like the fact it was our first night in Rome and the lighting around made it look 10 times better.
After wondering round getting countless strangers to take pictures of us, we headed back to our hotel and got some rest, as I had booked an excursion for 10am the next morning...
We woke up around 8am and got ready and jumped in an Uber to the Colosseum, I have never really been that interested in Roman history as we didn't really touch on it in school. So i'll be honest I wasn't expecting much at all, because I had bought "skip the queue" passes we luckily didn't have to queue for hours. We checked in with the group and got led into the Colosseum, there was a small exhibition about all the history of the Colosseum so we had a mooch around then headed into the main part. I was honestly a little blown away, I don't really know what I was expecting but I was expecting anything on the scale it was. Its HUGE! So we had a wonder around for about an hour grabbed a few photos learnt some interesting facts which led to us googling all sorts about gladiators. We then left and met up with our group again and they led us up to the Roman Forum and The Palatine Hill.
I was blown away by the Roman Forum and Palatine and could not believe how long some of the ruins had been there for and how they had been kept so well. There was so many interesting facts that we learnt along the way too. This took us about 2 hours to have a good wonder around, we took our time and chilled our a little bit as it was pretty hot!
We had no plans after leaving here so we got on google maps and headed towards our hotel stopping off for some food on the way... Which led to Corey accidentally paying 40 euros for a steak oops, complete and utter tourist fail. We strolled back to our hotel and stubbled upon Altar Of the Father Land, which is an absolutely insane monument which was completely guarded by the military. After that we visited the Pantheon Rome, which is an absolutely beautiful Church.
When we arrived back at the hotel we started getting ready to go out for dinner. One of the main reasons I booked the trip on these dates was because Corey's Birthday fell on the day we came home, so as an early surprise I booked a table at Hard Rock hotel and emailed them asking if they would sing Happy Birthday (I knew he would hate this ops). So we arrived at Hard Rock and tucked into our meals which were gorgeous, both when for burgers every time I visit a Hard Rock I get the pulled pork burger ITS TO DIE FOR! After our meals were finished we were just chatting, next thing they were screaming (singing) Happy Birthday to Corey. His face was an absolute picture wish I could upload the video for you to watch but I know he will kill me. After the 5 second silent treatment he gave me for embarrassing him was over, we headed to the gift shop and headed back.
Ok so that is all for Day 1 and 2 I hope you enjoyed reading this, I will upload days 3 and 4 soon. Thank you for reading.
