giolitti gelato and four euro pasta

 Day 45 - Spanish Steps, Pastificio, Pantheon, Via del Corso

We're hit by the familiar yearning for hot eggs and fluffy pancakes. Continental breakfasts just don't do it for us. A bit of internet research and we jump onto the scooter to the Bakery House. We pass the old Olympic compound. The buildings are a lurid grapefruit pink. Our brunch spot is next to a non-descript parking building and at the corner of a narrow street crammed with scooters, cars, and old ladies hurrying up the road. The internet article said this was the best place to have an "American" breakfast but honestly, the Bakery House is Japanese to a tee. Pastel colours, super kawaii knick knacks, perfectly arranged meals that look exactly like the picture. Before my pancakes have even appeared at my table, I fall in love with the Italian at the table next door, with his hair rakishly falling all over his face. 

moped mafia in rome

Day 44 – Via Cavour, the Vatican, Piazza Navona, Vatican Museum

We’re wandering back and forth outside the Cavour metro station. We have a firm idea about the direction we don’t want to go in and that’s towards the Colosseum. The Monti district is up the hill, in the opposite direction. Apparently, it’s the new hip spot; a good place for thrift shops and local trattorias. We head east. Nope. We spot ruins at the end of the street. We head west. Nope, that’s a suspicious looking road. We stand, paralyzed, gazing at the map like we’re expecting our fortune to be told. Finally, we head in a direction, any direction, and hope for the best. Sometimes, it’s best to give up on maps and just get moving.

red wine, roman piazzas, and a trevi fountain fail

Day 43 - Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trastevere, Trevi Fountain 

We checked into Hotel Della Vittorie the night before and had a pizza picnic sitting on top of the bed. The next morning is sunny and hot. In front of the Lepanto Metro station, there's rows and rows of parked scooters. Rob tells me about scooter drive-bys and the mafia. The metro in Rome is dirty, covered in soot, and every inch of the train carriages are graffitied. I clutch my shoulder bag with maximum pickpocketing paranoia. 

Emerging in front of the Colosseum is thrilling. The experience is barely marred by paying 4 euros for two small bottles of water. Later, we spot the water spouts everywhere where water is free. Nine years ago, I didn't bother going into the Colosseum because of the line. This time, we've bought a Roma Pass and that means we get to skip the line like giddy kids. We're funnelled into the grandeur of this stately and imposing pile of bricks and marble. This building is so stirring even with scaffolding scarring the outside. I wonder why this archeological sight is still so exciting centuries after it stopped being used for the function it was built.