Italy: Rome Part 3

You can check out Parts 1 & 2 of my Italy Trip recap here & here.

Our last day in Rome consisted of the Roman Forums and the Spanish Steps. 

Wandering the Roman Forums can be really confusing and boring if you don't have some sort of guide. Everything literally looks like broken pillars and demolished buildings. We discovered Rick Steve's audio guides and they were perfect! Not only is he great at keeping you on track and looking at what you're supposed to be looking at, he's funny, too!

The Roman Forums

(there won't really be any captions because well... I can't really remember what everything is...)

 Cobblestone the Julian Caesar once walked on.

Pretty sure this was Caesar's house... 

The Spanish Steps

 The Spanish Steps are in a lot of famous movies (Roman Holiday), but they were constructed to connect a church to the Spanish Embassy, hence the name.

In the summer, the steps are great for sitting and people watching, but when we visited it was raining.

After we saw the Spanish Steps, we ate at a local restaurant. We used Yelp almost exclusively to find places to eat. I had duck ravioli and Roman-style meatballs. 

On the way back to our apartment, we stopped by the Piazza Navona. Very pretty at night!

Up next... Florence!

Training Tuesday

Next Race: April 13th - Half Marathon

This past week I didn't get in too much running. I went a few miles on Wednesday, but aside from that, I didn't get any running in. I did, however, start strength training consistently. Now that my husband is living in a different state, I spend most evenings alone watching TV. In an effort to make that time more productive, I created a simple workout I could easily do while still watching TV. I took the strength moves from Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred and added push ups and sit ups to the mix. I can get through it twice during one episode of TV and it's a pretty good workout. 

I haven't noticed the number on the scale going down, in fact, it's going up. :/ Not ideal, but I know I need to fixate less on pounds and more on how I feel/look. I tend to obsess over the number on the scale and I find it just discourages me more than encourage me, so I'm shoving the scale under my bed and not stepping on it until after my next half marathon in mid-April. I'm still debating if I even want a "before" weight to compare to.

How do you feel about the scale? Love? Hate? 

Italy: Rome Part 2

This is the second part of my recap of the trip to Italy I went on in January with my husband. You can find Part 1 here.

 I'd like to disclose right now that my husband and I make an excellent team. He couldn't remember the Italian, but his pronunciation was spot on. I'm the opposite. I'd whisper what to say in my totally American accent and he'd talk to the person, but make it sound authentic. It was to the point where people would automatically greet and speak to him in Italian, but speak to me in English. There was lots of nodding and smiling. :)

We started our first full day in Rome as the Italians would do- with a cappuccino and pastry! We stopped at the little cafe located conveniently at corner of the building we were staying in. 

The brown door was the entrance to our apartment, the cafe was just to the right.

"Due cappuccini" and two plain muffins. "Plain" was their way of describing vanilla.

I couldn't get over how cute this place was! The counter has display cases for pastries, but the windows are covered up at the moment.

As we made our way to the Collosuem, we stopped to see some other sights.

The Piazza Navona

Chariot races used to take place here and the historic piazza still has the oval shape from the races.

Apartments surrounding the piazza.

One of a few fountains in the piazza.

The Pantheon

It's one of the oldest and best preserved buildings in Rome.

 The inside of the circular building is illuminated by a round hole at the top of the building.

 Look! I found Nemo!

The fountain directly across from the Pantheon.

A random building that I think is a school.

The Trevi Fountain

There were lots of people throwing coins into the fountain.

Crazy how much detail there is, huh?!

The Colosseum

Luckily the sun came out and we enjoyed a beautiful day exploring the Colosseum!

View of the Roman Forums from the Colosseum.

After this, my husband really wanted to watch Gladiator. Apparently they used video of the ruins to help recreate the Colosseum for the movie.

Training Tuesday

Next race: April 13th- Half marathon

Weekly Recap
Tues: strength training
Wed: 2 miles
Thurs: strength training
Fri: 2 miles, strength training
Sat: rest
Sun: 10 miles, strength training
Mon: strength training


I went running with my friend that I'm running my next half with. She's definitely a lot faster than me, but I love running with her because it's a great workout! I added strength training back into the mix. It's helping my achy joints (getting old, much?). I also know summer is fast approaching and I really want to be bikini ready. :) 

Up Next
I finally got around to telling my husband that I registered us for Wine & Dine. 

Thankfully I didn't have to do either. :)

I'm starting to look into booking our WDW trip, but I'm not really sure where to start. I checked out the Disney website and I'll check out AAA's prices as well. 

Also up next... 
My running buddy asked me if I would be interested in doing a Ragnar Relay. After checking out the website, I really want to do it. In a nutshell, teams of 12 (or less if you're feeling brave) run 200 miles as a non-stop relay. I hear it's great fun and it would certainly be a different kind of challenge! We're still trying to find 12 people to join our team. 

Any suggestions for helping me plan my first WDW trip? :) 
Have you ever run a Ragnar Relay? Would you? 

Italy: Rome Part 1

I'm finally getting around to recap my trip to Italy.

My husband and I went as a last-minute/last-hurrah trip before he moved to Texas for work. I've been wanting to go to Italy together for years and being the amazing husband he is, he said we should go! We knew the weather wasn't on our side since we were going in January, but we also knew it wouldn't be as crowded with tourists. Anyway, on to the recap!

During the 14 hrs of flying time, my hubby tried to get in some last minute studying on the Italian language.

Complimentary alcoholic beverages on the plane!

We went with Air Bnb for our accommodations and we rented a small, but cute apartment in the heart of historic Rome. It was a tiny place, but perfect for the two of us. The living area had a small kitchenette, couch, and table for two.

The bed was on a loft above the living area.

After dropping off all our stuff, we went out exploring. Our apartment was right near the Castel Sant'Angelo. Originally built in 130-139 AD, it was intended to be a mausoleum. It's now a museum.

 There are tons of little streets, but this was one of the main ones near our apartment with we traveled frequently. There were little shops of all kinds, like shoe stores, grocery stores, restaurants, etc.

 We eventually stopped to have a late dinner (even by Italian standards) at a cute little wine bar. Italians are big on cheese/cold cut platters. The cheese is served with honey- so yummy!!! I enjoyed it with a delicious pinot grigio.

We meandered our way back to our apartment (so nice to not have to drive) and called it a night. Stay tuned for Day 2 when we visit the Colosseum!