I am a ‘bit’ behind schedule with the blog, but as always, this only means that we have a busy life, or at least better things to do than writing things here. So let’s jump back a few months! We went on a late summer (based on the temperature, at least) holiday to Italy for 10 days (8-17 of September), starting with 3 full days in the capital. We had a really nice AirBnB apartment in the Trastevere region on the southwestern side of the city, with direct connection towards the centrum by tram, and in walking distance from a train station where the airport trains stop. We also got some great dinner recommendations from our host, so we had the opportunity to eat at really authentic places (where we were more or less the only non locals), and avoid the tourist traps. The pizzas and all the ice cream were always great. The weather was also perfect (maybe a bit too hot for me but not too bad), we had only one half day with rain during the full holidays, which we spent playing The Rivals for Catan (back then, Clio did not kick my ass every time yet, unlike nowadays).

The first day we visited the Vatican, where unlike all the lazy people who preferred standing in line for two hours instead of buying a ticket in advance on-line, we got into the Vatican Museum without one second of queuing. We spend quite some time staring at all the displayed artwork and the frescos of Sistine Chapel and beyond. After a quick lunch, we still went into Saint Peter’s Basilica before leaving the ‘country’. Afterwards we walked around the Castel Sant’Angelo before heading back to the hills of Trastevere. This was a much calmer area with small streets, nice parks, and great views towards both the city and the Vatican. We finished our first day after visiting the Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere, which is (one of) the oldest catholic churches in Rome. We spent the next two days on the other side of the Tiber, but that is for another post… See a selection of pictures below, and even more on Flickr!