Our lovely nieces Molly and Lydia grace the Trevi Fountain
From the Seychelles we caught a long flight through Istanbul to Rome to kick off our late summer in Europe. We’ll be seeing lots of family and friends in various parts of Europe over the next few months. After two days on our own in Rome we welcomed the first arrivals: my mom and dad. And then my brother Pat, his wife Jenny, and Pat’s twin daughters, Molly and Lydia.
The eight of us had two days together in Rome before heading up to a rented villa in Tuscany for the week, where we will be joined by my other two siblings, their spouses, and five more nieces and nephews. But first we got to have fun running around Rome showing the top sites to Molly and Lydia.
While we were still on our own we had dinner at a place with a wine cellar down below dating from 50 A.D. Very atmospheric!
Grappa in the ancient wine cellar
Jim managed to find a fairly artful steak tartare. It was supposed to be “French style” though it wasn’t quite as French as he likes them. But it was pretty.
We don’t always make time for sites as touristy as the Trevi Fountain, but we couldn’t NOT take the girls there. And it is beautiful, despite the tourist hordes.
July afternoons in Rome are ridiculously hot, but mornings along the Tiber are so lovely and pleasant.
I love the big shady plane trees that drape over the walkways along the Tiber
The beauty of Rome is walking into one of the gazillions of random churches and discovering The Redeemer by Michelangelo
Touring ancient Rome with Mumpy and Lidd
Once the hard core touring is done, we got to take people to our favorite spot in the Campo de Fiori for aperitivos. Here is Jenny and Mumpy.
The best part of drinks in Campo de Fiori is being watched over Giordano Bruno
Then on to dinner close to Campo de Fiori
The antipasto plate. Italians do cold cuts very, very well.
Who doesn’t love the Colisseum?
Just imagine how delicious that tartar could have been if you simply asked them to grill it and put a piece of cheese on it, and put the mustard on top rather than on the plate!
Yeah Ted, I’m not sure it would have been as good. Who’d have thought this guy from a dirt road in the rural Midwest would come to love steak tartare so much??