Lightening Round - Portugal, Croatia & Italy

 

August 29th, 2021

Lightening Round -  Portugal, Croatia & Italy

 

This is meant to summarize some of our favorite experiences. To capture the first thing that comes to our mind and not over think it.  Something that really stands out for each person on the trip.

	Hudson	Saylor	Andy	Cindy
Favorite Country	Croatia	Italy	Croatia	Croatia
Favorite thing we did	Get a boat	Really tall cliff jumping in Croatia	Swimming to the cave	Boating in the islands
Favorite Thing we Ate	Carbonara	Gelato	Fresh Octopus Salad	Tartufo
Favorite Lodging	Apt. in Lisbon	Apt. in Lisbon	Apartment in Lisbon	Airbnb in Pula overlooking the Adriatic sea
Favorite Pizza	Rome pepperoni pizza near our apartment	First night place by our apartment	Anywhere in Rome	Anywhere in Rome
Best Unexpected Event	Tiramisu -  Best in Rome called Two Sizes	When we met a random stranger, Bobby, and he said his favorite ex-wife's name is Cindy	Wonderful host at Trogir Stars	Andy surprising us with a beautiful dinner location on Vis
Best Memory	Haircut	getting gelato	Family time	Swimming in the Adriatic sea as a family
Continue or Go Home	Go home	home to get ready for school	continue	Hard one...could travel for a couple of years, but with Covid I think I'm ready to go home.
Something we ate that you wish we didn't	Mousse		Mousse from mousse bar at 150 Flavors	Aperol Spritz
Something interesting you learned	A lot of people disrespecting the Pope	I am too tall to be a gladiator	The story of Cesar	They had women gladiators
Something you are Tired of	Getting up	Bread	broken phone charging cables	Mask

Pits, Peaks & Points - Rome Edition!

 

August 29, 2021

Pits, Peaks & Points - Rome Edition!

 

Cindy

Pit: The general food is still not amazing to me.

Peak:  Love the desserts. Tortufo Evening stroll with all the people watching

Points: Just wear tennis shoes with your evening dress.  May not be as cute as other shoes, but have a glass of wine and you will forget about it. House table wine is very good. Stay in a convenient location. 

 

Hudson

Pit: The mousse

Peak: Carbonara

Points: scooters, get a haircut there

 

Andy

Pit: wash machine flooding our apartment and having to clean it up

Peak: Low crowds due to Covid, Italian haircut with Hudson at an gentlemen's barbershop, location of our place and dining outside

Points: Spend a little time with a guide for the coliseum, try the four pastas, wine everyday

 

Saylor

Pit: Loosing Dad

Peak: Coliseum and food

Points: Be sure to cover knees and shoulders for the Vatican 

 

 

Rome, Italy - A Down Day

August 28th, 2021

Rome, Italy

Thought about renting a car and driving to Pompeii.  Just seemed like a big day after a long trip and a giant 22 hour day of traveling tomorrow so we stayed in Rome. It was a relaxing morning and then went to get Saylor her back to school cut - 90 minutes later. Looked beautiful though!

  Met the boys in Campo di Fioro for the outdoor market. Went to a cafe for a snack and more people watching.

Final dinner in Rome and most importantly final dessert. Oh, what to have??? Tiramisu? Gelato? Tartofo?  So many yummy choices! Tiramisu and gelato are the winners, but this time they asked if we wanted to gelato dipped in chocolate. Basically a chocolate dipped cone with amazing gelato....oh my!

Nice to have a down day to just absorb Rome and take it all in.

 

Tomorrow will be an early morning with leaving before 7:00 am with a flight at 9:45. Door to door and if all goes well we figure we are at 22 hours with almost 3.5 hour layover in Newark NJ. Unfortunately, we don't think it is enough time to get out to have a meal or probably not even remove our masks.

Cuts and Covid!

 

August 27, 2021

Rome,  Italy

84 degrees

Up and out. Stopped at a place where for sandwiches before a big day of sites. Andy and I are in full vacation mode with him having a beer and me having a coke. Given that it is 11:30 I'm not feeling like we  are all that wild and crazy.

Spotted the white tent that we see randomly on the streets, Covid testing site. 22 euros each and time for the test. The pharmacist seemed to be in a bad mood or not like us, either way not how you want this relationship to start out. She was not gentle and really went for it with each of us. 10 minutes later and we had the paperwork to allow us to go back home!

Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, lunch, stopped off at 150 gelato where they have 150 flavors and a mouse bar. So many flavors of mouse and a bit different so some of us tried it - mistake! A personal tour guide at the Roman Coliseum and Forum. We were able to go below the coliseum where they kept the animals and gladiators. Really interesting stuff.

Time for the boys to get their haircut at an old school, swanky barber shop in the Spanish Steps fashion district and Saylor and I did a little shopping. Hudson and Andy got great cuts - barber told Hudson it was an Italian style. Loved it!

Went to dinner a block or so from our place. It was perfect, lots of people to watch, but not too crazy and didn't feel like we were about to be hit by a car. Of course we ordered too much as usual, but so hard to say no to anything so two pastas, saltimbocca, eggplant parmesan, rice croquet, mixed salad, caprese, steak, pizza, wine and a tiramisu later we were on our way to get a tartufo! Just the best ever and more people watching and live music in the piazza!

Piazza vs. Pizza and One Missing Husband!

 

August 26, 2021

Rome, Italy

 

Started off the morning with Italian sandwiches near the Vatican. I was so excited to get a porkchetta sandwich! They are the best here. 

Saylor and I bought scarves so our knees would be covered and into St. Peter's Basilica we went. The detail and art is gorgeous.

Walking for awhile and it is hot out we realized an Uber may be the way to go for the next location. It arrived and we realized with Covid it can only hold three.  Kids and I jumped in, Andy had a quick conversation with the driver on where to drop us and he jumped on a scooter to meet us.

I'm not entirely sure that they understood each other, the driver dropped us  in a random piazza and off he went. The kids were sure we were supposed to get dropped off at a pizza place. Hoping this doesn't go terribly wrong.  We had no phone because Andy needed it for the scooter, a very small amount of money and no real idea where we where. We waited for awhile and then the conversation took the direction of explaining about an American Embassy, internet cafe (hopefully be able to contact our Airbnb host if we can find our place online. They would be able to let us in to our place), how a collect call to Grandma and Grandpa would work and staying in an inexpensive hostel if needed. Lucky for all of us Andy eventually found us. Evidentially the piazza was not on Google Maps so Andy didn't know where to go. Our reunion seemed like a good reason to get gelato. :-) While enjoying our treat an American guy started talking with us. He moved there and is a chef. Told us making the pizza dough is a four day process and use two parts liquid to one part flour. Also, he said I could ask him anything since his favorite ex-wife's name is Cindy. 

Lunch at a cute cafe with lots of pasta!

Explored the Jewish ghetto, the ruins in the middle of everyday life and the Jewish memorial museum, very sobering. Wonderful fruit juice offered at so many stands where they press it fresh, but the one in Piazza Nuevo is especially tasty. Hudson loved the mango, orange juice and pomegranate blend. Grabbed some salumi, cheese, bread etc. and had a little happy hour back at our room.

Boys took scooters to dinner and we met them in the Jewish ghetto.  Finally tried the Jewish style artichoke and the Roman style. 

Didn't care of either one. Overall was not impressed with the dinner at all, but always enjoy the relaxing time together.

On our stroll home we found a place that had the most amazing tartufo! The mix of gelato, chocolate and fresh whip cream was delicious!

The stroll back home allowed for just enough room to have our tiramisu. :-)  It was AMAZING! Trip advisor voted Two Sizes the best and we couldn't agree more.  OMG!