Rome Day 2

We had such a big day planned for Monday, our 2nd day in Rome.  Two of my co-workers had been to Rome and used the same guy for a private tour of the city.  Best money we spent the whole trip, I promise.  It was REALLY expensive but very worth it.  

This is Fabio, the company owner and who my co-workers know!

We got to see SO much of the city in one day.  We never would have been able to see all of that if we hadn't been driven around, just Kevin and I all day.  We learned a lot and Kevin loved talking history with Nick, our guide.  We didn't have to worry about navigating our way through a foreign country, we didn't have to worry about lines, he told us the important facts about each place (things we never would have known otherwise), it was just unbelievable.

We went into this church which is right near the Pantheon.  Beautiful.

This is the open roof to the Pantheon.

And us inside.

Pantheon.

Colosseum.  We zipped in and out of here in 30 minutes.  Once you've seen it, you've seen it (in our opinion!).

Then he drove us right to the Trevi Fountain.

This was our hole in the wall lunch spot, our favorite type of place.

No one in there spoke a lick of English so it was even better.  Our tour guide knew the guys and set us up with the perfect table and told them to take care of us.  We thought our waiter was asking if we wanted a glass with our water when in fact he was asking us if we wanted gas in our water.  I said no and Kevin said yes without knowing what he was talking about.  Kevin took one swig and had to ask for a new bottle.  Haha.  They also don't have pepperoni pizza in Rome....pepperoni = sweet peppers.  So funny!

This is our tour guide and also owner of the company with Fabio.

The infamous key hole.

Then Nick took us to meet up with another guy that would be showing us the Vatican.  This guy was hilarious and full of knowledge.  He told us so many cool things about it.  This is his job - giving private tours of the Vatican.  Let's just say we didn't fool around in that place.....he showed us the important things and highlights and there was no waiting in line anywhere.  

It was sooooo hot this day and of course I had to have my knees covered.  Somehow Kevin got away with his long-ish shorts but I couldn't have.  It was fine but I look like a hot mess in the pictures.

Nick took us to some amazing sights on the way back to our hotel.

And most importantly took us to his favorite gelato place in town.  

He dropped us off at 5:30pm after picking us up at 9:00am.  We had officially seen Rome.  We showered and got ready for dinner and strolled down Via Veneto looking for the spot Nick told us to go.  

And it was wonderful.  Buffalo mozzerella and prosciutto appetizer.  Oh la la.

It was time to rest of up for the rest of the week!