Haggerty In The Hague

Lindsey and I decided to take a long weekend in London during the winter.  We got in late on Thursday night and started the tourism early on Friday morning.  First stop was the Tower of London, which was introduced to us by an excellent Beefeater tour.  The Beefeaters, also known as Yeomans, used to be the people looking after prisoners and watching the crown jewels, but nowadays mostly serve as tour guides.

Traitor's Gate in the London Tower

Beefeater giving a tour in the Tower of London

The Beefeater gave us a tour of the grounds, showed us the Inner Ward, the famous ravens, and an old church.  After this, we went into see the crown jewels, which was impressive, especially with no other tourists around to share them with.  We also viewed an exhibition, “Dressed to Kill”, on the history of armor which was very interesting.

Inner Ward of the Tower of London - Anne Boleyn stayed here

Tower Bridge - much more appealing than London Bridge!

After the Tower of London, we walked around the town to see some of the major sights.  We walked on the London Bridge and checked out St Paul’s Cathedral.

London Bridge is falling down! (Lindsey made me take this picture)

St Paul's Cathedral - remind you of a building in the USA?

We ultimately made our way over to the Government section of town to see the PM’s house at 10 Downing Street (not too impressive, the Parliament building and Big Ben (very impressive), and Westminster Abbey (excellent).

Lindsey in the phone booth - mandatory tourist shot

Lindsey in front of Big Ben and the Parliament

Westminster Abbey - just getting out of the tube

We spent the better part of the afternoon in Westminster Abbey.  We started off with getting a tour by one of the Abbey vergers.  The Abbey has a number of vergers that are non-religious positions used to support the church and its operations.  The verger took us around the entire church, showing all of the great people that are buried there, including Darwin, Dickens, and William & Mary.  The verger recommended we stay for that night’s evensong and saved us a seat in the pews nearby the young boys who sing there - the service was exceptional. We topped off our night with a visit to a Cornish pub recommended by our friend Rob, which did not disappoint - offering a good selection of tasty cask ales.

The next day we started off with a walk through Hyde Park.  This large park was quite nice and was just nextdoor to Harrod’s Department store, which we went to after the walk.  The department store was amazing - unlike any other department store we’ve been to before.  They had a huge Wizard of Oz display in the display windows and outside the store.

Birds in Hyde Park

Harrod's Christmas display of the Wizard of Oz

After Harrod’s we went over to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.  The place was packed with tourists, but we stll managed to get a decent spot nearby a statue in front of the palace.  The show itself was interesting, but probably something we don’t need to do again.

Statue in front of Buckingham Palace

Guards at Buckingham Palace

Next we went to check out some of the shopping areas in the middle of town, including Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus.  There was a lot going on around these areas, as there was a shopping festival being held to get people out shopping for Christmas.

Green Man on Piccadilly Circus

Lindsey in front of the trademark sight in Piccadilly Circus

That night we went to dinner and a show at one of the theaters around Leicester Square.  We saw 39 Steps - a comedy play adapted from the Hitchcock film.  It was in a quaint, old theater, so we felt like we got a good experience.

Lindsey with our theater tickets - 39 Steps

On the last day we went to the British Museum before we left town.  The highlights of this were the Assyrian, Eqyptian, and Greek exhibits.  On really cool part was the special exhibit on the pieces from the Parthenon.  In the early 1800s, Lord Elgin legally obtained the pieces from the Greek government, because they were unable to care for them.  The whole exhibit is a controversy now, as Greece maintains it’s able to care for the marbles now, but the British do not want to give them back.

Cool atrium in the British Museum

A pretty important stone - the Rosetta Stone

No trip to London would be complete without seeing some Harry Potter fanfare.  We saw the Platform 9 3/4 from the Harry Potter novels, which is the start of the track for Hogwart’s Express.

The 9 3/4 track from Harry Potter

We ended our trip with a nice Sunday meal, taking advantage of the many Sunday roasts available.  The food in this country was perfect for cold weather food that will warm you up!

Loved the food in London - finishing off the weekend with a Sunday Roast

Click here for a link to all of our pictures from London!

Travel, United Kingdown, Winter

Ad for Altenahr Wine Festival

In October, as the leaves started turning from green to brown in the Netherlands, we decided to leave the country to find some good old fashion fall colors.  We took the train from Den Haag to Cologne, and from there took the regional train down to the Ahr Valley.  The Ahr Valley’s main attraction is the wonderful “Rotweinwanderweg”, or the Red Wine Hiking Trail.  This 35 kilometer (21 mile) long path winds through the vineyard terraces and connects the winegrower’s villages in the “Valley of the Red Grape”.  The plan was to start in Altenahr, at the westernmost point of the trail, then hike our way eastward until we reached the town of Ahrweiler.

Lindsey looking at the trail map for the Red Wine Hiking Trail

We found a hotel in the town of Mayschoss, which happened to be having a wine festival that weekend.  This small town, with a population of 1000, must have tripled in size that weekend for the numerous tourists coming to taste the wine.  They had plenty of wine caves and tasting rooms to accommodate the wine purchasers.

One of the many wine cellars around the region

Upon arriving late Friday night we headed out to grab dinner at a local restaurant, but forgot to bring our German dictionary.  The menu was entirely in German and the waiter didn’t speak any English, which made the experience that much more interesting.  The next morning we got an early start in the town of Altenahr, then began hiking eastward.

A typical view in one of the many small villages we explored. This one is Altenahr.

The trail took us high up on the ridge lines, down to the local towns, right through the middle of the vineyards, and through wooded forests.  Every turn surprised us with another fantastic view of a little town.

Many of the villages we passed through were small, picturesque villages. This one is Mayschoss.

We stopped plenty of times to take scenic pictures.  Working on my modeling career here.

Posing, amongst the vines

There were plenty of stops along the trail, with the local wineries offering tastings for cheap prices.  We often stopped to try out the Spatburgunder and Fruhburgunder wines.  They always asked if you wanted the trocken, halbtrocken, or suss wein - translation: dry, half dry, or sweet wines.

They had wine tastings set up along the trail, and let you buy the bottles directly from them.

We found the quality of wines in the region to be fantastic, especially the slightly older and more expensive wines.  We ended up buying (and hiking with) 6 bottles, most of them Spatburgunder trocken wines.

This wine is called "Spatburgunder", which basically means a late harvested burgundy grape. Delicious!

The colors throughout the hikes were gorgeous.  The red grape leaves had started turning color to red, while the white grape leaves had started turning color to yellow.

The colorful changing leaves and delicious grapes

We ended our trip by hiking into the beautiful walled city, Ahrweiler.  This town had plenty of areas to explore with numerous restaurants and shops.

We ended our trip by hiking into the town of Ahrweiler, an old walled city.

This was a fantastic trip, there might need to be a repeat next fall!  Click here to see the entire album of pictures!

Fall, Germany, Travel, Wine

Update: See the whole album here!

After a great time seeing Buffett in Paris, it was time for our first Oktoberfest experience.  A friend at work, Matt, is German and graciously set us (and a group of about 30 others) up with tickets to the tents and hotel reservations.  We left Paris by taking a flight from Charles De Gaulle airport to Munich.  Upon arrival in Munich, we decided to go check out the city before heading down to our hotel.  After figuring out the metro system, we went to the center and walked around town.

A nice park in Munich

We got close to the Englisch Gardens, but never quite made it there.  A friend was there the day before, and got some pictures of people surfing the river that flows through it - pretty cool!

Surfing in the Englisch Gardens, Munich

After our tour around the city, it was time for some beer and German food, so we headed to the famous landmark - the Hofbräuhaus.  This restaurant / beer hall had a great atmosphere, with a full 6-7 person traditional band, picnic table style seating, and delicious food and drink.  We got our first liters beers and pretzels of the trip.

Beer and pretzels at the Hofbrauhaus

Liters of beer

The next day a small group of us took a trek to the Kloster Andechs, an abbey on the western edge of Munich that brews fantastic beer.  After an hour metro ride, we had to hike for about an hour in the woods uphill to reach this place.  Fortunately, it was a beautiful day, so the hike uphill was a welcomed excuse to be outside.  The abbey itself was beautiful from the outside, and although we never thought to go inside, we found out later that it’s even better from the inside.

Andechs Abbey from the outside

The abbey also had a large deck area for hikers - a perfect place for a few beers and some food.  We purchased some excellent haxen (pig’s feet), potato salad, and beers and sat down to enjoy the view.

View from the Andechs Abbey

After spending a few hours relaxing, it was time to head back and buy some Lederhosen and a dirndl before heading out to the tents that night.

Bill's lederhosen

The first night, we went to the Hacker tent, and met up with our British friend Rob and a bunch of his British friends.  They had been at tables outside the tent for about 5 hours by the time we met up with them (and it showed), but they were nice enough to share their limited seating with us.  We hung out with these guys for a while, until we decided to venture into the tent.  Great night overall.

Prost! (Cheers!) A toast with the Brits

Inside of the Hacker tent

This chicken was a bit salty, but delicious

The next day we had to get an early start for the next tent reservation at noon.  Unlike the previous night, this time we were able to fit all 30 of us together at adjacent tables in the Hippodrome tent.  The group made it there on time and started the fun all over again.

The tent on day #2 - Hippodrome

We started off with some traditional Bavarian appetizers placed at the table.  This food was delicious, although I was a little startled when I learned that one of the “spreads” was lard…

The Bavarian spread awaiting our tables

The live band was right in front of us, and each member chugged a full liter of beer before they played a note.  Never seen that before, but it definitely set the mood for the rest of the day.

Simmisamma band, die Oktoberfestband!

It was great day all around, and we all enjoyed each others company and the music/entertainment that the band provided.  I’ll definitely be coming back next year…

The waitresses can carry lots of beers!

See below for a video of the song “Ein Schoner Tag”, which means “A beautiful day”.  This song was a fantastic sing-a-long song and by the end of the day, the entire audience was doing the hand motions that go with the chorus.

Fall, Germany, Travel

We decided to start off our Oktoberfest holiday with a Jimmy Buffett concert in Paris.  We took the train down to Paris on Saturday morning which got us in by 12.  After grabbing a bite we toured around one of our favorite areas - Montmartre.  Next we went around to gather materials for our tailgate - French wine, bread, sausage, and cheese.  Then we met up with Bill, Maura, and Sara to start the tailgate.  We first started at the Chat Noir with Jeff and Sara.

Pre-gaming at the Chat Noir

Next we met up with Bill and Maura.

Bill and Maura!

All of us together at the show.  We were 30 feet away from stage and the venue only had 1000 people in it.

The group at La Cigale

The concert was great.  Of course “Fins” was played.

Fins up!

We were really close up!

Signing autographs

We saw this guy throughout the show, so I had to talk with him afterwards.

The ultimate Buffett fan

Walking from the show.

Moulin Rouge

Next up - Oktoberfest.  The next post is coming soon!

Fall, France, Paris, Travel

The town of Hvar

Back in August right before I started work, we ventured to the beautiful country of Croatia for 3 nights in Hvar and 1 night in Zagreb to see U2 in conert.  We arrived in Zagreb by plane and had to get down to Split in order to catch a ferry to the island of Hvar.  We decided the easiest way would be to take a bus - although we were VERY pressed for time as the last ferry to the island of Hvar left at 8:30pm.  We left Zagreb by bus around 3pm (first one we could get).  The bus ride was very nice and we got to see the beautiful countryside along the way.  I really didn’t know what to expect about Croatia, but I certainly did not expect it to be as gorgeous as it was.  Everyone on the bus was very helpful too, as they knew we would be cutting it extremely close to make the ferry.

We arrived in Zagreb at 8:25-  Matt ran to get ferry tickets and I got our bags and made our ferry with 1 minute to go- PHEW!  The ferry took about 2 hours and we arrived in Hvar exhausted from a long day of travelling.

View from our apartment

In Hvar we stayed in an apartment with our friends Chris, Katie, and Eric.  We had great views of the beach and spent the next couple of days relaxing and enjoying the Hvar sights.  The beaches were very rocky so it was different from what I was used to but still great.  The second day we were there we rented a small motorboat and went to some of the surrounding islands.  This was fantastic and we found some really neat bars on some of the islands.

Matt on the beach

Lindsey on the beach

We were very sad to leave Hvar as it was such a nice change from our other vacations- instead of running around sightseeing, we actually got to kick back and do nothing!  But we had a U2 concert to get to so off we went to Zagreb after our 3rd day in Croatia.  We took the ferry back from the town of Hvar to Split around 8am, and then caught a train to Zagreb (so we travelled by air, ferry, boat, train, bus, and car while we were there!).  The train was sketchy to say the least  The trains all shared one track and there was a man with a flag telling the train conductor whether or not he could go-  what if the flag guy wasn’t there??!!  We tried not to think about that!

Sketch flag guy directing our train

We arrived in Zagreb around 5pm and got ready to go to the U2 concert.  We saw lots of people tailgating although we arrived to late to do that.  The Croatians know how to tailgate well-  there were people grilling and selling ears of corn everywhere - something you cannot get in the Hague very easily!  We got into the concert just as Snow Patrol was finishing up (who were really good as well) and then the show started.  The U2 concert was absolutely amazing-  the money spent on the set was sinful but it really made the concert spectacular.  If you ever get a chance to go to a U2 show I would highly recommend it.  They played lots of songs from their new album but played plenty of their old songs as well.  So glad we went!

U2 concert!

The day after the concert we were flying back to the Hague, but Matt and I were able to do a bit of sightseeing in Zagreb as well.  We saw a bunch of very nice parks, churches, and even came across a market where we bought a lunch of bread, fresh olives, fresh goat cheese, and meat.

A church in Zagreb

This is how they weighed the olives we bought

We were sad to have to leave this country (and I was sad to have to start work!), but we had a great time!  If you want to see more pictures from our trip be sure to check out our Picasa album!

Croatia, Summer, Travel

A little over a month ago, Lindsey and I went on a weekend road trip to two regions in Northwest France - Normandy & Brittany.  Our first stop was the city of Caen, the port city just over an hour from our hotel.  This place had a nice little harbor and a really cool looking church (as we would eventually find out would be commonplace).

A church in Caen

Next, we headed to check into our hotel in the litte town of Ducey, which served as the perfect jumping off point for driving around the area.  The hotel was situated over a river:

The view from our hotel room in Ducey

The next day was our day for Mont Saint-Michel and the DDay beaches.  Mont Saint-Michel is an old monastery first built in the 10th century that is placed on an island one kilometer off the coast.

The view of Mont Saint-Michel from the parking lot

This place was beautiful when viewed from afar and just as interesting up close.  When visiting, one walks up the steep, narrow, winding streets through the village part until you get to the abbey at the top.  The abbey was very impressive and offered great views of the surrounding tidal area.

View from the top - up to 50 foot tidal variation around here

Next, we spent the greater part of a day seeing the WWII beaches of Normandy: Omaha Beach, the American War Cemetary at Omaha Beach, and Pointe du Hoc.  We saw the memorial on Omaha Beach before heading off the cemetary.  The American War Cemetary at Omaha Beach was very well kept with a museum and over 9,000 American soldiers buried there.

American Cemetary in Omaha Beach

Pointe du Hoc was one of the few places not “cleaned up” after the war.  This is where American Rangers scaled the 100 foot cliffs on DDay to attack a group of casemates that were set up as part of the German Atlantic Wall.  This place was littered with bombing craters 15 feet deep and the same distance wide.  Most of the casemates that were occupied by the Germans were still intact and we were able to walk around in them.

Pointe du Hoc - notice the craters scattered everywhere

View from inside one of the casemates

After the DDay stuff, we decided to stop off for some cider tasting.  While this area is not a wine region, it is littered with apple orchards and many people making and selling their own apple products.  At one of the places we stopped, a little French boy named Louie served us cider:

Louie was going to serve us cider before his Mom arrived

This stuff was delicious and we ended up tasting the apple cider, pommeau (mix of cider and calvados), and Calvados (apple brandy from the Calvados area within Normandy).  Throughout the weekend, we also had lots of crepes, as this area is famous for its galettes, or buckwheat flour pancakes used to make crepes for dinner.  A typical galette was filled with local apples, locally famous camembert cheese, and andouille sausage.

The next day was our city visiting tour.  We visited a number old towns: St Malo, Dinan, Vitre, and Fougeres.  While every town was unique, most had the same things in common: a beautiful church with scary looking gargoyles, old houses with the timber-framing from the Tudor style, and an old chateau that was more of a medieval castle.

Timber framed houses

Saint Malo is an old walled island city.  A lot was shut down when we arrived, but looks like a nice port of all if you were sailing around the area.  Rumor has it that the nurses at St Malo used the seawater as a substitute for blood plasma during the war.

On the wall of St Malo

Next we headed to Dinan, a beautiful little town that we all thought we could’ve spent a whole day at.  This place consisted of a large walled city that sat about 200 feet above the river below.  After walking through the walled town we headed down towards the lively port area filled with restaurants and shops.

The river by Dinan

Next we moved on to Vitre, an older and much smaller town with a really cool looking chateau and some of the oldest timber framed houses we saw.  There was even a band of young kids playing some American rock music right outside of the chateau.

Restaurant in Vitre. We ate here, but were scared the buildings were going to fall down the whole time

Vitre

Last on our list for the day was Fougeres.  This placed boasted the best chateau that allowed visitors to take a tour inside the various parts of the old structure.  We ended up getting the audio guide with our tour and learned a lot about the history of this castle and the central role it played during the 100 Years War.

Fougeres - with a proper moat and all

Don't be too impressed. Apparently this castle was successfully captured and recaptured over five times...

On the way home, we stopped by Rouen to check out the famous church that Monet painted over 30 times.  Unforunately the church was closed, but we were cetainly impressed with the exterior!  This was also the city where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and we saw the monument to commemorate her life.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen

A gargoyle

Overall this was a fantastic trip!

France, Summer, Travel

Lindsey and Matt in front of the famous water lilies

Lindsey and I rented a car to drive from the Netherlands to the Loire Valley for a long weekend.  Along the way, we stopped off in Giverny for the night.  After a nice stay at a quaint little hotel, we headed over to check out the Claude Monet home and gardens.  The water garden was definitely the highlight with beautiful water lilies and the japanese bridge.

Another shot of the pond and gardens

Monet's Japanese Bridge

The front of Monet's House in Giverny

Next we drove through Paris and onto the Loire Valley.  Along the way to our hotel, we stopped by Chambord, the largest of all chateaus in the Loire Valley.  This place was originally built by Francois I and was meant to serve as his hunting lodge.

The majestic Chambord Chateau

We stayed in the town of Chenonceaux near the chateau Chenonceau.  This was a great location in the heart of the Loire Valley, in the region called “Touraine”.

The view of chateau Chenonceau from its gardens

We walked the gardens of Chenonceau at night while classical music was playing in the background.  This chateau was built directly over the river Cher.  The next day we went to Villandry, which is mostly known for its magnificent gardens.

Lindsey in front of the Love Gardens, meant to symbolize four types of love.

A view of the Villandry chateau and vegetable gardens

Driving around the French countryside was beautiful - we saw lots of sunflower fields.

One of the many sunflower fields in the Loire Valley

Chateau l’Azay de Rideau was the final chateau of our trip.  This one was a nicely fortified chateau that was beautiful from the outside.

The view of Chateau d'Azay le Rideau

We stopped by a few towns during our adventure, one of which was Chinon.  We went into the caves for a degustation (wine tasting).  The temperature dropped 10 degrees just after walking a few feet into the cave.  After the tasting, we walked back into the cave and observed the huge crates of wine being kept there for storage.  We also saw a few prized old bottles being kept for a special occasion.

Lindsey outside of the wine tasting cave

France, Summer, Travel

Sorry it took so long to write Part 3 of my Ireland travels.  Better late than never, I guess…

On Friday morning we drove from Galway back East towards Dublin.  We arrived to find Daimler had already arrived at our rented apartment, as he flew in just for the weekend.  I tried to handle my passport situation, but was informed that the earliest they could help me would be on Monday - not good for a Sunday flight.

After everyone got into town we settled into our apartment and enjoyed the view of the city.  That night we went to Temple Bar, a district in the center of Dublin that’s known for its bars and lively night scene.  We went around to a few places bar hopping and reviewing our week of fun.  As we walked along the streets we found a band on the street playing Oasis songs, so we all stopped to sing along.

Saturday morning we all went out for a great Irish breakfast at the restaurant named Gruel.  That afternoon did a little touring around before we headed to the Guinness Brew Factory.

The Guinness Storehouse tour was great.  It was a 7 level self-guided tour that told you everything from the history of Guinness to the brewing process and advertising schemes.  The best part was the Gravity Bar at the end - where everyone gets a pint of Guinness in a bar with the best view of the city.  We timed our visit right, as we had views of the city both in the daytime and at nighttime.

After the Guinness tour we headed into the middle of the city, where the guys had rented a sweet room right on Dame Street for us to play poker in.  We had a few beers, some good food, and hung out for a few hours playing poker.  Later that night we headed out to a super pub to continue the fun.

The last day was spent trying to handle my passport and changing flights.  We did manage to get out of Dublin to the seaside town of Howth - about 25 minutes outside of town.  We got this idea after watching Anthony Bourdain eat a seafood shmorgishborg in Howth on his show “No Reservations”.  We found a great restaurant and had a fabulous meal.  We also found an interesting little construction company while making our way through the Dublin train station…

Ireland was great - I’ll certainly be back!

Ireland, Travel, Winter

On our second day in Rome, we woke up early to head to the Borghese Gallery.  This museum in the North of the city houses a large collection of Bernini sculptures, amongst other art.  We saw such greats as Apollo and Daphne and the Rape of Proserpina.

Apollo & Daphne by Bernini

Closeup of the Rape of Proserpina, by Bernini

From the Gallery we walked over to the Spanish Steps - the large set of 138 steps climbing between Piazza di Spagna at the bottom and the church Trinità dei Monti at the top.  We spent some time people watching and relaxing here, and enjoying the nice day.  Next, we made our way towards the Pantheon and strolled along the fancy shops in the nice shopping area.

The Spanish Steps

The Pantheon was incredible.  This two millennium old structure was amazing, but tough to capture its immense scale in a photograph.  We walked around the inside of the structure and marveled at the how the top of the dome is open to the elements - which was evident because we saw the floor was wet from the rain earlier that morning!

View of the Pantheon dome

Next, we headed over to Piazza Navona, which was a larger scale of the Campo Di Fiora square we had visited the day before.  We made our loop around the area, checking out the several beautiful Bernini sculptures in the square.  All in all, we thought this area was a little too commercial for us, so we decided to head back to Campo De Fiori before dinner.

Bernini Fountain in Piazza Navona

Instead of going to a restaurant for happy hour, we decided to grab some Chianti, Pecorino Stagianato, and Salami Picante to enjoy while sitting in the square. Great relaxing time!

Lindsey in the center of Campo Di Fiore

Traditional Italian snacks in the square!

After a few hours watching the Italian kids try to soak each other with water balloons, we headed over to a pizza place for dinner.  The pizza was a great way to wrap up our fantastic Roman holiday!  We’ll certainly be back!

Italy, Summer, Travel

At the beginning of June Matt and I both ventured to Rome for a weekend getaway. We stayed right by the Coliseum so it was a perfect place for touring around the city. We had a great view of the Coliseum from our window!

We arrived at night and made our way to the Trevi Fountain. This was really cool as it was lit up at night and much less crowded than during the day! We got some good pictures, enjoyed the incredible architecture, and had some delicious gelato. All in all a good first night.

Trevi Fountain

The next day we woke up and went straight to the Roman Forum. The history and architecture of this area was amazing. We saw many of the old temples, remnants of old churches and government buildings including some great views of Rome from Palentine Hill. We also saw the Coliseum - a must do for a first trip to Rome. It was really humbling to be in a place that was such an integral part of Roman history.

Flexing at the Roman Forum :)

Looking over the Roman Forum

Lindsey and Matt at the Coliseum

After the Roman Forum we went and got one of the best panini’s I’ve ever had as we made our way to Vatican City. The cheese and meat tasted really fresh and the bread was to die for! This gave us energy to make the trek to St. Peter’s Square which is the entrance to Vatican City.

Lunch!

Since we arrived mid-afternoon, we had no problems getting through the security check point. We had to wait about 30 minutes to climb the steep flights of stairs to reach the Cupola (or dome) of St. Peter’s Basillica, but it was well worth it. There were some awesome views of both the inside of the dome and of Rome itself!

St. Peter's Square

On the way to the top of the dome!

Inside the dome of St. Peter's Basilica

The view from the top :)

After we descended from the dome (all 500 + steps!) we took in the beauty of the Basilica itself. We also visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel while in Vatican City. Although neither Matt nor I are practicing Catholics, it was still very cool to be in such a monumental place.

After a long day of touring we walked to Campo de Fiore to do some people watching and drink some wine. This was a really neat area as you could get a better appreciation of the Roman/Italian culture while sitting in this square. More on this place to come

Campo de Fiore

Our final adventure for the day was dinner at this incredibly good restaurant that was recommended to us by some Italians at Matt’s work. It was called La Spaghetteria L’Archetto and was situated on this little side street near the Trevi Fountain. We had pasta with mussels and clams and some delicious wine. I would recommend it to anyone!

Delicious dinner

After this exhausting day we decided to go back to our hotel and catch some zzz’s before another day of tourism!

Italy, Summer, Travel