Roma & other places

When our good friends told us they will spend a week in Rome after Easter we made a super quick decision to join them. And so we did, we drove down with our car and stopped on the way at some places we have been before and really liked, such as Meran and some we haven’t been before such as Bologna or Perugia. The first time I have been to Rome was during our honeymoon, we went in August and it was really hot but I loved to see all those amazing places and couldn’t wait to go back in a different season.

I did some research before we left as I wanted to make sure that we will know some good spots for the girls and for us to chill from the all tourists and hectic of the city.

SuperMiniMaps is a great site which gives wonderful tips from locals. We were lucky as for Rome those tips are all around green spots such as parks or gardens. We spent some time in the Botanic gardens (Orto Botanico) which Matilda specifically loved, we played hide and seek there and she collected lots of flowers for a flower crown while Frida slept. We also visited the rose gardens, smelled all the different roses and went straight after to the orange gardens right next to it with wonderful views over the city. Just a stone-throw away from there is the Aventine keyhole through which you can get a wonderful view to St. Peters, both girls enjoyed that a lot too.

In general we have always made the experience how very welcome we are with small children in Italy. The girls embraced the city, they were astonished by the huge buildings, some even without a roof (Pantheon) and lots of broken buildings with broken walls (ruins), or just huge with stone horses (The Vittorio Emanuele II Monument) we would pass a public main square and all of a sudden there were hundreds of soap bubbles as someone was creating them all day with a selfbuild bubble maker, we stumbled into the villa borghese gardens and there was a community feast where the girls could ride pony’s and play games. We learnt to also relax when its necessary with small children but at the same time let the city surprise us and eat lots of gelato.

Well and what can we say, the food is just so good in Italy and also here we had done some research before we left to make sure where to go. Wills mum had heard about this new place called Marigold we were so glad she had told us about it. It was a bit out of the city centre but easy to get to by bus. We had the best lunch there, so we came back for another one! The dishes are freshly prepared and so tasty, also the pastries and the freshly baked bread are amazing. We loved it all and highly recommend going.

Antico Forno Roscioli is the place in my opinion to eat pizza in Rome. We went there during our honeymoon and had to go back this time. The line was long but the place is efficient so we didn’t have to wait long. My favourite is the zucchini pizza. The dough is super thin, crusty but not too much and fnished with amazing olive oil.

Enoteca Corsi was also a tip I received and we had a wonderful Roman lunch there. I wish I could prepare artichokes like them.

Rome is such a wonderful place and it can be a place for everyone. I love all the little corners, the food markets, the amazing well known sights, the colours of the houses, its gardens, its little baristas, the fact how you can tell how old the city is. I want to go back ….