Hi everyone! I am back to recap Day 3 in Rome, our last day in this historical and charming city. There weren't many tours available on Sunday (a lot of them close for that day), but we still found a lot to do! Brian took a Gladiator class and while he was doing that, I went and ran at the Park of the Caffarella, which was a short walk away from his Gladiator class in Rome. We also went to lunch at a cutting board place, did an Espresso, Gelato and Tiramisu tour in the evening and then a nice heavy Italian dinner before bed!
I also wanted to mention that you should stop by The Blended Blog today to see THIS post where I talk about ALL my Fall Favorites.
You can see my other Rome recaps below:
Rome, Day 1 recap HERE.
Rome, Day 2 recap HERE.
Park of the Caffarella
While Brian was in his Gladiator class, I decided I wanted to get a run in while in Rome, since I was training for a marathon and going an entire week without running wouldn't be the best idea. Brian researched parks and which ones would be safest for me to run in. He found this ancient park near his gladiator school, it is one of the largest parks in Rome and has all kinds of ruins, catacombs, farms (even sheep and shepards- which sadly I didn't see) and I even ran on part of the Appian way! You can read more about the ruins HERE. The photo above shows the most amazing place I found in the park, it is an ancient Roman fountain.
This is the Columbarium of Constantine. A columbarium is a building for housing the ashes of the deceased and this one dates back to the 2nd Century AD.
Brian took this photo of me before I went out on the run. There were bubbling fountains in some areas where I could fill my water bottle. The Italians were really kind, I had some Italian cyclists that let me go over a one way bridge first. There were a lot of Italian runners and what they wore running was different from what I was wearing... I am sure they knew I was an American. lol. :) I ran 10 miles, got lost for about 4 of them and then found my way back to the entrance again.
A view of the Apennine mountains on my run.
A map of the park
Farm that I ran by... and a rooster on top of the pole!
Such a beautiful park! I am so happy I took the time to run here while in Rome. I was a little nervous about running in such a large park in a foreign country, but it really was a great cultural experience!
Gladiator School (for Brian)
Brian found this Gladiator school online and really wanted to try it out. There were only a few others in his class, but it was a fairly early class on Sunday morning. Brian got to try on some armor, weapons, a shield and helmet from the owners collection. And, he had quite a collection!
They went outside to practice/learn how to fight and on the right you'll see a photo of the instructor/owner. Brian said he could do a standing flip and I believe it!
Lunch at a Cutting Board Place
We had lunch at a cutting board restaurant called Pane & Salame close to where our Espresso, Gelato and Tiramisu tour would be later. For an appetizer we ordered bruschetta and then for our meal we had one of their meat and veggie cutting boards. It was A LOT of food! They also gave us bread to go along with it. I was stuffed!
Here is the front of the restaurant and also a peak at the counter where they had the meats, sandwiches, etc. that you could order.
Espresso, Gelato and Tiramisu Tour
Can you tell we ate A LOT while in Italy? The food is so good, I would come back just for that alone! Our Espresso, Gelato and Tiramisu tour was really, really fun! We had two other couples in our group and our tour guide was very knowledgeable about desserts and coffee. I want her job! ;) The first stop was at Caffe Tazza D'Oro and they even had a coffee ATM outside!
See this espresso? This was my FAVORITE treat the entire trip!!!!! Oh my goodness, it was THAT good. It was homemade cream with a espresso granita (Starbucks, your granita puts this to shame!!!!) and a thicker whipped cream on top. Oh my goodness... if this wasn't SUPER caffeinated, I would eat 3 or 4 of these!!! Whenever I go back to Rome, I am having one of these first thing! Now I know why we saw ZERO Starbucks while in Rome.
Our tour guide took a photo of us while we were enjoying these treats! We were also right in front of the Pantheon!
We had another espresso treat at Sant'Eustachio II Caffe, a coffee shop famed for its home-roast beans, blended with water from an ancient aqueduct. How cool is that?
We then visited two separate gelato shops. Punto Gelato was set apart from the other gelato shops for me, because it had a lot of uncommon selections and the depth of the flavors was unreal.
There was even a pine flavor! It was quite good!
After sampling several flavors, I tried two in a cup! If I remember correctly I had a cream and lemon flavor together.
We tried samples at Gelateria del Teatro. I was getting a little full at this point, but it was still really good!
Our last stop was at Tiramisu Zum where they make up your tiramisu RIGHT in front of your very eyes. It was delicious!
After our dessert tour, we did a little souvenir shopping. I picked up a wooden trinket for Autumn in one of the many pinocchio shops in Rome. Even the bag is cute!
Dinner by the Hotel
There were a lot of great restaurants by our hotel, so we went to one of them for dinner. I need to figure out the name of this one so I can add it to the post. I will do that! This photo is grainy and we look a little weathered from all the walking we did that day, but we were enjoying some complimentary champagne from the restaurant! Cheers!
The hotel had autographed (not all) photos up on the walls of some famous people. We also got some chips before our meal.
For dinner we did one of their options where you could get a pasta, a meat and dessert. It also included wine. I got homemade pasta with red sauce and turkey with some vegetables.
For dessert I had a berry pie and a cappuccino! It was all delicious!
Next week I'll start in about our trip to Florence and our adventures in Tuscany (wine land!) on our first day there. Stay tuned!
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