Rome Honeymoon – Day 5

Today was another early start and jam packed day of sightseeing with a 45 minute journey to today’s first activity. I had booked us tickets for the Colosseum for 10:30, again somewhere I was recommended to book skip the line tickets for. Rome really wasn't as busy this time of year as some of the photos I have seen so it wasn't really necessary as there was barely a queue anyway.

We got in and had a look around and walked around the whole Colosseum. In hindsight, I wish I had paid for a tour here as it gives you access to extra areas and we would have had a better idea of what we were looking at but it was still great to see all the same. I remember when I went to see the Statue of Liberty and was very underwhelmed, it looked tiny compared to what I expected. The Colosseum was not like that, it was huge and was exactly what I had hoped it would be.

Our ticket also included access to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill so afterwards we headed across the road here. There was quite a big queue for this and it was really warm and there wasn't any shade. An attendant came up to us and said we could skip the queue as I was pregnant, so she let me in a side gate and then James got to go to a shorter queue. It was a bit pointless really as I still had to then wait about 15 minutes in the blazing sun for James to get through. It would have been better if we had gone in together but it saved us a bit of time anyway. In here, it was really nice looking around at various ruins and climbing up high to get a great view over the city. By this point through we hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for hours so we were getting a bit tired.

We left the area and went to find food and found a place called Pizza Forum. I had risotto and James tried Gnocci for the first time. I think this place was a chain restaurant but it did the trick and we could finally have a drink and a sit down. 

I really wanted to visit the ‘mouth of truth’ or Bocca della Veritá so looking on the map this wasn’t too far from where we were. We hopped on a bus and found the church. There was a queue for a photo but we must have only waited about 15 minutes in total and it was shaded. You could pop a donation in the pot if you wanted, but essentially this attraction was free and it was fun to get a photo.

We still had some time to kill in the afternoon so we headed to the Baths of Caracalla. We only had about an hour here as they closed but it was quite cheap to get in and was good to see a proper Roman Bath set up.

This put us at about an hour from our apartment, so we made the journey back and got freshened up for dinner. James found a place on Tripadvisor called Tommi's Burger Joint so we thought we would give it a try. It was really good. Similar to Five Guys I would say. Service was fast and there was loads of different sauces and toppings you could add to your burger free of charge, Probably one of the best burgers I have had in a while and a great atmosphere too.

Rome Honeymoon – Day 4

We woke up early again today to head to Vatican City. Luckily we were only 5 minutes from here so we didn’t have to get up quite as early as the day before. It was recommended to me that we get skip the line tickets as queues can be as long as 4 hours! So I pre-booked these online before we went for 9:30am, just after opening time. Turns out being pregnant means you can pretty much skip any line anyway - but it was good to have a backup plan. 

The Vatican museum was vast and had different areas. I think we managed to explore it all. It was great to end up at the Sistene Chapel to see the famous Michaelangelo ceiling. You weren't allowed to take photos in there however. We ended up walking absolutely miles this day, mainly around the museum.

After our morning of exploring, we decided to grab some lunch. I once had a friend tell me he bought 2 gelatos and 2 drinks in Vatican City and it was something ridiculous like €60, so we left the area and went and found somewhere local to our apartment in Borgo. We found a place that had been recommended by many other bloggers and vloggers called Pizzeria Bonci. When we got there we could see it was very popular as the queue was huge. We took a ticket and awaited our turn in line. The counter was stacked with many different types of pizza with all different toppings including broccoli, potato and then your standard pizzas too. You choose what pizzas you want, and how big and then you pay for them according to weight. It's a great idea. We had 3 fairly large pieces each and it was just over €20. They box it up for you and you can then take it away and eat it as there isn't much seating outside.

We then went and got our first Gelato of the trip from Old Bridge Geletaria, which was absolutely delicious and a huge 3 scoop cone was only €4!

For the afternoon, I had plans for us to head back to the area of Piazza del Popolo, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Piazza Navona so we could wander in our own time but I think the previous day had caught up with us so instead we just chilled out at the apartment for a few hours before dinner.

We both had a bit of an upset stomach (we think it was the pizza, as it is sat out and then re-heated when you order) so we stayed in for dinner and cooked bolognaise jacket potatoes.

Rome Honeymoon – Day 3

After a busy first full day in Rome, today was about to get busier! I have always wanted to go to Pompeii but thought it was miles from Rome. When I found out you can do a day trip there, I had to get us some tickets. I am very thankful to everyone that donated to our honeymoon fund at the wedding, the generosity of our friends and family meant that we had a bit of extra money to book excursions and things that we could only dream of doing. Due to the time of year, this actually included a visit to Naples instead of Mt. Vesuvius, which suited me just fine as I don’t think I fancied a long climb/walk up a volcano!

A 7:30am start meant getting up early for us as the meeting point was about half an hour from our apartment on public transport. Luckily the buses and metro start really early so we didn’t have any problems planning out routes and I wrote down the names of all the stops we needed to take before we went. We left in plenty of time just in case there was cancellations or no bus came and we had to walk but we still managed to be late as the metro station was closed. We couldn't actually find the meeting point. We literally ran from the metro and still didn't know where we were going. Google maps was rubbish. James called the tour operator and the lady on the phone directed us to the office. We got in and showed our ticket. At this point we were 20 minutes late. They spoke in Italian to each other and looked at their watches concerned. Thankfully the bus was still waiting as another family was running late. We got dropped off at the coach and got on (it was packed as everyone was waiting for us) but I am so thankful we got on or I would have been devastated!

The tour began with a coach journey to Naples. We got to stop off at Naples Bay and it was beautiful. I would love to come back to Italy and stay this side one day. We then made our way to Pompeii, it took just over 3 hours. When we arrived in Pompeii we were treated to a pizza lunch before starting our tour. We then made our way to the ruins and another tour guide took over from there.

Pompeii was absolutely massive, you would need a whole day to properly look around the ruins here and I'd love to come back. It's very eerie seeing the ruins and then seeing Mt. Vesuvius leering over you in the background thinking it could technically erupt at any given moment. We had around 2 hours in Pompeii to explore with our guide. He really brought Pompeii to life, if we were here alone we wouldn't have really known what we were looking at but it was great to see what used to be shops, homes and even a brothel.

I found it fascinating that you could even see marks in the road where the chariots used to drive, over many years they have left lines in the road. It was great to see all this preserved history.

After a long day we headed back to our apartment, we grabbed a takeaway from a local place called Mama Eats and took it back to the apartment to eat. We then went to bed ready for another day.

Rome Honeymoon – Days 1 & 2

It’s been a while since I’ve done any form of travel post (or post at all for that matter -oops!) so I thought I would share some of the highlights from our recent Honeymoon to Rome. Neither of us had been to Italy before and we were both excited to explore. We got married in December and originally I wanted our honeymoon to be a ‘lay on a beach and do nothing’ kind of holiday, however my husband is better suited to having things to do. Looking at anywhere warm in December was proving difficult, most places across the equator were lovely and hot but either cost an absolute fortune or there was a risk of the Zika virus, no good for travelling when pregnant.

Photo by Dan Sunderland

Eventually we decided to go a few months later, to give ourselves something to look forward to. We chose Rome as we knew there would be plenty to do, on what is probably our last ever child free holiday together for a long time! I anticipated it would be cold, but it’s not the type of sunbathing holiday anyway so none of that mattered. As it happens, the weather was pretty good most days, lovely and sunny in the afternoons.

Our flight was on a Monday, so to save us time and stress I booked us in to a hotel at Gatwick for the Sunday night where we had a picnic in the room and got a nice early night. Breakfast was included the next day and after that we headed to our Purple Parking carpark and got a shuttle bus to the airport.

Our flight was lunch time, so we got some snacks/drinks for the flight and off we went! We arrived in Rome around 4pm. I hadn’t booked any transport to the hotel so hoped we would find a reputable taxi rank but being flustered when we got there with no clue where to go, we got in a taxi with a company that ended up costing nearly 3x the price it should have done. Lesson learned, we arrived safely at the apartment and to be fair to the taxi driver he did give us a tour and explain what we were seeing for the 45 minute journey.

Our apartment was one that I found on Airbnb and very reasonably priced. The location was near to Vatican City and also close to Metro and bus routes. When we arrived we got settled in before deciding to head to a nearby supermarket to get a few bits for the room. The good thing about having an Airbnb was that we had a kitchen area so we knew we could prepare some food at home which was a bonus, and a money saver. We stocked up on snacks and breakfast foods and then came back to the apartment to rest ahead of our first full day.

Day 2 we woke up early and got ourselves ready. I booked us in for a free tour at 9:20am and it was about a half an hour journey to the start point. I am pleased I booked this as it gave us a chance to familiarise ourselves with the location and we also got to learn a bit about the history of Rome. The tour was really good and lasted a good 2-3 hours. There was no obligation to tip at the end however we did because we thought it was fantastic and really well organised. We visited Spanish Square and Spanish Steps, Immaculate Conception Column, The house of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Saint Andrew Church, Bernini’s Angels, The famous “Galleria”, Column of Marcus Aurelius, Prime Ministers House, Temple of Hadrian, Pantheon, The Tomb of the Kings, Tomb of Raphael, Saint Ignatius Church, Andrea Pozzo’s Tromp l’oeil and finally the Trevi Fountain.

After the tour we decided to find somewhere for lunch. We ended up at McDonalds as the area we finished the tour in was a little bit busy and it was harder than we thought just to find somewhere for lunch. It's all very well finding a nice place for a slice of pizza but these places don't have any seating so it was sometimes easier to pop into a McDonalds just for a sit down.

After lunch we headed towards Castel Sant'Angelo. I had planned both bus routes and walking routes so we could play it by ear and see how I felt. Castel Sant'Angelo was right near to our apartment, so luckily for us afterwards it was easy to stagger back home and freshen up.

For dinner, we tried to find somewhere nearby on Tripadvisor. The 3 places we picked out we couldn't actually find - we found this a lot, the names had changed on some of them. We walked around and finally found a little pizza restaurant and sat outside under giant patio heaters. I really felt like I was on holiday and the pizza was great - first full day was a success.

New York Day 5 - Philadelphia & The Rocky Steps

Day 5 in New York isn’t technically about New York as you may have guessed from the title. Today we decided that we would extend our trip a bit further afield and head to Philadelphia. I am sure there are loads of things to do here and we probably missed a huge chunk but mainly we wanted to run up the ‘Rocky’ steps and eat Philly Cheesesteaks. I also wanted to casually bump into my long term favourite band, CKY however this did not happen sadly. We looked into various modes of transport but the cheapest option coming in at just $20 each was to get a Greyhound bus which would take around 2 hours to get us there. We booked our tickets online the day before and were able to collect them from the bus station the next day.

We left nice and early and made our way via subway to the bus station. We printed our tickets, went to the correct gate and got in the queue which then led us straight onto the bus. The Greyhound bus was clean, warm and even had plug sockets and wifi to make the journey all the more enjoyable. The 2 hours went very fast, mainly because I fell asleep but we were in Philadelphia before we knew it. We got off the bus and started to walk towards the information centre. We passed a food market on the way which looked amazing from the outside, but I will go back to that. After roughly finding out where the Rocky steps were, we first decided to get tickets for a free tour near to the building that houses the Liberty Bell. The next available ticket was not until later on in the day so we took them and decided we would come back later for the tour.

It was time for lunch at this point so we made our way back to the food market called The Reading Terminal Market. There was so much available here from meats to cheeses to seafood all fresh and also baked goods from the oven. I could have easily eaten my way around if I was here for longer. We spotted a little place called By George! Which specialised in Pizza, Pasta and Cheesesteaks. The person in front of me ordered the most delicious looking lasagne and the portion sizes were immense. I am glad I do not live near here as I could see my diet getting out of hand very quickly. Me and James ordered a Cheesesteak meal which came with fries and then we had a drink too. We didn’t have long to wait and we then made our way to the seating area. I unwrapped my cheesesteak and it was absolutely filled to the brim with steak, cheese and onions. It smelled and looked amazing. I ate the whole thing and felt pretty stuffed afterwards but it was 100% well and truly worth it.

We then decided to head for Rocky but being full we did not want to move very quickly. We were on a bit of a time schedule so decided to get a taxi there and split the costs. This only took 10 minutes or so to get us there in the end. We could see the Rocky statue as we pulled up so we went and had a photo with that first. There weren’t too many people about.

We then went for the run up the steps. I did this whilst wearing grey joggers and playing the theme tune. I must admit I did get some strange looks but at the end of the day I thought who on earth is going to see me again, I may as well go all out! I’m not even a huge fan of the Rocky films but it was all about getting into character.

Once we had ran up the steps, there wasn’t a lot else to do. We walked back to where we originally got the bus and headed for our free tour. It was a quick tour and there were some facts to be learned and we found out about the declaration of independence. After the tour it was a quick dash back to our Greyhound bus and on we went back to New York. Once again, my vlog of the day can be seen below.

New York Day 4 - China Town, Pizza & Brooklyn Bridge

Day 4 in New York, what can I say about day 4! I was getting pretty lethargic by now so a lay in was needed – especially after a late night the previous day. We hopped on the subway just after 10am and headed for China Town. When we got off the subway, I could actually smell Chinese food! It was great! It was really busy here and bizarrely I actually felt pretty safe. You can get so much fake merchandise here from watches to handbags – but be prepared to haggle! I didn’t buy anything whilst I was here but I was very tempted. 

Little Italy was just next door so we went and had a wander around there too. If you’re after some Italian food then this is the place for you! Our aim of the day was to walk over the Brooklyn bridge so we walked through the town to make our way towards it. We stopped for a hot chocolate in Starbucks first and I bought one of the famous mugs, I feel like I now need to collect them from all of the locations I visit now! Anyway, on we wandered, on the way we came across a little shopping area which looked pretty cute so we decided to do a bit of retail therapy. We all bought some clothes from Abercrombie and some sweets from the nearby candy shop. We then decided it was a good idea to get some lunch.



In the distance we spotted a McDonalds so headed that way for a quick lunch. Whilst walking past I saw the most amazing looking pizza’s in a window and instantly decided I needed a slice of that instead. This was by far my best meal of the holiday. I always wanted to go into a shop and just buy a piece of pizza by the slice, it was my New York fantasy. These slices weren’t your average slice, they were literally bigger than my head and cost less than $3. I went for 2 of course, one was smothered in garlic sauce and was an absolute dream, the other a cheese one. If I could go back to New York I would be in this place again in a second. I think if you watch my vlog you can genuinely see how happy I am, I was beaming from ear to ear. Next door was a restaurant that Sandra Bullock and Rihanna ate in whilst filming for Oceans Eight so there’s a bit of celeb spitting to be done here too.

After lunch we carried on towards Brooklyn bridge. It was easy to find by following the signs and the crowds of people. There were also food and merchandise stalls along the way if you wanted a quick energy boost before the walk. The bridge spans over the East River and connects Manhattan with Brooklyn. The views from here are great and the bridge is actually pretty fascinating too. There are separate lanes for pedestrians and cyclists so be sure to stick to the right one or you’ll get knocked off, there are a lot of people on bikes I noticed! It’s easy to navigate however, just a simple straight line across the bridge you can’t really get lost and the path is pretty wide.

If you’re going to visit New York I definitely recommend a walk over this bridge. It’s just over a mile long so it’s not too taxing for most people. It was well worth it in my opinion and you can then explore Brooklyn at your own free will at the other end if you wish. We didn’t do this as we were staying in Brooklyn anyway. At the other end we popped in a few shops and hopped on the subway home.

For dinner on day 4 we didn’t want to go too far so we had a look at places to eat in Williamsburg. Williamsburg was a quirky little place with lots of nightlife. We found a restaurant called The Meatball Shop which specialises believe it or not, in meatballs. The menu was simple to follow, choose a meatball from the selection, choose a sauce then choose a side. I chose pork meatballs, classic tomato sauce and rigatoni pasta. It came served with four meatballs, Parmesan and a yummy slice of focaccia bread. The meal was nice but for me didn’t have that ‘wow’ factor. It was tasty but when you come to America you expect to be stuffed, but the portions here were smaller than what I would serve up at home. Maybe I am just being greedy! Dessert was cookie ice cream sandwiches which didn’t float my boat but on the way back to the subway there was the most amazing looking cake shop so I bought a slice of chocolate fudge cake as big as my face and had that when I got home! Another day done!

I am sorry the pictures haven’t really corresponded with the text today but hope you enjoyed reading. Check out the vlog below!