vacation: day six in Rome

Day six started early at the Catania airport. Our flight to Rome was scheduled for I think 9:30...? It was delayed by 3 hours. We didn't even get off the tarmac until a little after 1:00. Horrible!

putting on happy faces or the camera...our plane was finally boarding!

Once we finally arrived in Rome, we had to take the train into the city. Thankfully our hotel was right by the station so we didn't have to walk much! There was a little mix-up with our hotel room; so Lindz and I ended up in the Radisson hotel across the street for the first night...but we weren't complaining :-) 

at the station

off to Roma!

 After we got settled, we immediately started sight-seeing and headed for the Colosseum. It was amazing! 

after walking around a little, we stopped at this cute cafe for some drinks. It was hot!

first glimpse of the Colosseum

Pictures really don't do it justice. You have to see it in person!

an Aperol Spritz...a delicious drink that Lindsay and Gene introduced us to. A great drink on a hot day! We got these on our way back to the hotel.

 That evening we took a taxi to the Fontana Di Trevi...there was a huge crowd surrounding it, but we managed to squeeze through and get some pictures.

After we got enough photos taken, we started to search for a place to eat dinner, and we came across Ristorante Baccano. It was delicious! I ordered spaghetti...sounds simple, but it was the best spaghetti I have ever eaten!

oysters 

my amazing spaghetti

Clint's dish...delicious tuna

vacation: day five in Sicily

Our fifth day in Sicily brought us to Taormina. Lindsay and I tanned ourselves and the boys snorkeled at Isola Bella for a while, but then it got a little too cloudy (but still extremely hot), so we stopped at a cafe for some granite to cool off, then took the tram up to the town of Taormina to walk around and see the Greek theater.

my lemon granite, so refreshing!  

the view from the cable car

There was a film festival going on that weekend, so the screen  was covering up the view and the seats were covering up the original stone seats :(  Still a beautiful place though!

my store!!!

 That night we went to a brewery/restaurant to watch a soccer game. I'm pretty sure we didn't get a table with a good view of the screen, because they knew we were Americans and Italy was playing! The beer we got taste a little like bacon, but the food was good :) Unfortunately this is the only picture I have of the whole night :( 

vacation: day four in Sicily

I don't have many pictures of our fourth day in Sicily...this is because for the first half of the day, Lindsay, Nick, Clint and I left Gene at home so he could work on a paper for school. We didn't want to go see something cool without him, so Lindsay took us to the mall for some shopping! After the mall, we went to the grocery store...which was actually an interesting experience for us, getting a glimpse of everyday life.

That night, we went to an amazing restaurant called La Polena in Acireale. I don't know what time we actually got to the restaurant, but it was the longest meal of our lives...by the time we got into the car to leave, it was 1:30am!!! The place was packed, even at that hour, and it didn't seem like anyone else was planning on going home any time soon! On a Wednesday night! So different from the states.

Our meal was about 7 or 8 courses long...but well worth it. We were getting so full that we actually skipped the pasta course. Well worth your money though, if you're ever in Sicily :-)

me and Linz modeling our new skirts while waiting for our food :-)

first course of many

oysters

so much seafood!

Linz and Gene

us

the whole group and our whole fish :-)

the chef came out to serve us our main course of fish...sooooo delish!