We arrived on Sunday to intermittent, light rain. Transit through the airport, getting our luggage, and finding our driver were all reasonably efficient, as was checking into our hotel (Le Meridian Visconti Rome). Since we’d all slept to varying degrees on the flight but still landed in the wee hours of the morning at home, we made a point of heading out to explore the city and get lunch ASAP.
We hit the major “walking tour” highlights: Piazza de Popolo, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Pizza Navona, etc., as well as a handful of (mostly minor) churches along the way.
We grabbed lunch at a little place off a side street. It wasn’t “amazing” as Italian good goes, but it was reasonably priced and everyone liked it.
We returned to the hotel in the late afternoon and then ventured out again for dinner to a local place near our hotel.
Libby’s meal took first prize there: gnocchi in a sort of boar bolognese sauce. It was magnificent.
I tried a pasta dish with a vincisgrassi sauce, which is béchamel-like and comes from the Marche region (where it’s typically made into a sort of lasagna dish):
It was good but not spectacular — nonetheless worth the try (as I’d never even heard of it before!).
A couple of blocks away, we visited the local pastry shop to sample some of their sweet treats (all excellent) and get a couple of espresso (kind of “meh” for Italy).
All in all, a good first day…