Italian Babymoon 2016: Rome

Babymoon: 

like a honeymoon, but more of the calm before the storm instead of the relaxation after.  

Porter and I were trying to decided where to go for our summer holiday.  Originally we had planned to go a Scandinavian Cruise.  However, before booking, Porter called the cruise line to make sure we would have a king bed instead of 2 singles.  In passing he mentioned that I was pregnant.  It's so good he did.  As it turns out, you can't go on a cruise if you are more that 26 weeks preggo.  Right?!  Who would have guessed?  So if we had just booked it, we would have shown up and not been able to get on the boat.  

So this put a kink into our plans.  We talked about a lot of destinations and in the end landed on Italy.  We had never been and everyone would rave about it.  So we got to planning:

Rome

Tuscany

Florence

Venice

We are very ambitious travelers when we put our mind to it.  But I told Porter we would have to take it easy as I was 7 months pregnant.  Our strategy was to get out in the cool morning, see a bunch of stuff then relax in the afternoons.

Let the Babymoon commence!!!  Tropical drinks and lots of Italian pizza.

Our first day we visited Vatican City.  St. Peter's Basilica was amazing!  It was huge and very ornate.

The Sistine Chapel was gorgeous, however, a lot smaller than we had imagined.  We listened to a great audio guide that took us through the symbology of the ceiling.  There was so much more there than I even knew.  The down side of the chapel was it's size and how many people were crowded in it.  Being 7 months pregnant, I felt the heat a lot more which made it a bit uncomfortable.  

Vatican Gardens

 This shot was taken near our hotel.  We stayed in the north west part of Rome up near a University.  If you've been there, we were near the Bologna metro stop.  I really liked staying in that area.  It felt really nice.

Dinner at a delicious little Italian pasta joint. 

Day Two: Porter took us on Rick Steve's walking tour of Rome.  Our first stop was the Fountain of Four Rivers. "Collectively, they represent four major rivers the four continents through which papal authority had spread: the Nile representing Africa, the Danube representing Europe, the Ganges representing Asia, and the Rio de la Plata representing the Americas." - Wikipedia

I loved this fountain!  My favorite statue was the Nile.  It is of a man with his head veiled.  The reason for this is they didn't (at the time) know where the head waters for the Nile were located.

We sat down to enjoy the piazza with an Italian Cappuccino.

Next stop: The Parthenon 

We couldn't go in as there was a very fancy funeral happening in it.  But we enjoyed walking around.

And then....The Trevi Fountain! 

Of course we threw coins in, and smooched a little.  It is a gorgeous landmark.

We walked around a bit more, and finally meandered our way down to Trastevere, the Medieval Quarter.  It feels like the greener, more bohemian part of the city.

 And we found the world's best Tiramisu there!  

 P.S. Did you know you shouldn't eat Tirimisu when you're preggo?!  Ya, me neither.  But hey, I'm still alive and baby is great!

I think Trastevere was one of our favorite areas of Rome. 

Day Three:  It was a killer, so hot and dusty, but the Roman Ruins made it all worth it, even the blister on my little toe.

I can't believe I hauled little miss all over Rome with me! 

Porter is always a fantastic tour guide.  He reads everything and then gives me a condensed version, usually with a dramatic flair.

This little pink fan was a life saver for me.  I paid 3 Euro for it and I definitely got my money's worth.

Behold, the Colosseum!  I was so hot and uncomfortable I almost didn't want to go inside it.  We went to France a few years ago and saw the second largest Roman arena and it was actually in better shape, so I didn't feel the need.  However, Porter really wanted to go in and I'm glad we did.  We got to skip the huge line, thanks to Little Miss.  I didn't realize that they would let preggo ladies through a secret way.  Also, we could use the elevator and not walk as much!  This made the heat and trekking around a little more bearable. 

I really hope that Aria thinks it's cool that I took her all over Italy.

 Inside the Colosseum. 

After this epically long day we headed back to the hotel where I soaked my feet.  This was the beginning of the swollen preggo feet phase.  We had to get ready to leave in the morning for Tuscany.