When in Rome... {Wedding Wednesday}

We spent the final days of our honeymoon soaking up the romance in Rome. After heading out from our villa in Tuscany, we drove south to Rome, returned our rental car, and then began our last days of Italian adventures...

In front of the Museo Borghese!

Our hotel at the edge of the Borghese Gardens - the Grand Hotel Parco dei Principi

Perusing the guide book at our truffled filled first lunch in Roma

Husbands don't get much cuter than this...

But then this happens <3

The Trevi Fountain was under construction. We didn't wait in this line, which wrapped around the block.

Delicious dinner at the hotel, enjoying a quiet Roman sunset

Our view from our balcony! That's St. Peter's in the distance!

Here we are at Vatican City! Skipping the lines with our tour guide!

Cute Vatican Seagull

Inside of the Vatican

Posing in St. Peter's Square

Dinnertime selfies!

Day 3 in Rome! The Pantheon!

Taking a drink from one of the (clean and safe and delicious) public fountains

Italian Wedding Cake Selfies

Roman Forum

The Colosseum!

Pictures of Pictures #artsy

Delicious lunch steps away from the Colosseum

Tiber River selfie!!!

In the Piazza Navona on our last night in Rome

Menu at Tre Scalini

Studying the menu at our final Roman dinner

My last Italian honeymoon cappuccino

Blurry, but reflective of how we feel - exhausted as we wait to board our flight from Rome!

We headed out of Cortona mid-morning on Thursday with Josh driving the last leg of our rental car adventure. The original plan was for me to drive, but after seeing my apprehension, Josh stepped in and said he'd drive the 2 hours to Rome. After almost running out of gas on the A1 (lesson learned: don't assume the rest area gas stations are open in the middle of the day), we made it to Rome! We dropped luggage off at the hotel, then dropped off the rental car, and then headed downtown for some exploring. We took the long way and got a little lost, and stuck in a rain shower, but were able to see a few key sites - notably the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain - before heading back to the hotel for a quiet dinner. 
On Friday morning we slept in and then got picked up by our tour guide for our private tour of the Vatican. While the tour guide was not my favorite person and I was not overly impressed with the tour, the tour did allow us to skip the line at the Vatican (major bonus!!!). She gave us an overall history of the Vatican and then took us through part of the museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's (but not the dome). I had seen it before, but Josh was impressed with the size and beauty of so much of the city. After our tour, we were left to wander on our own and found a restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. We eventually found our way back to a taxi stand and made our way back to the hotel.
Saturday was spent exploring everything else we hadn't seen already! We took a cab to the Pantheon early in the morning and then wandered from there throughout most of the city. We walked through the Piazza Navona, saw the Curia of Pompey (where Caesar was murdered!), went up the steps and inside the Vittoriano, walked through the Forum and up the Palantine Hill, skipped the line at the Colosseum and toured the inside, stumbled upon the Circus Maximus, took a selfie with the Tiber River, and enjoyed the quiet streets of the Jewish quarter. And of course we had a delicious lunch - pizza for Josh and caprese salad for me - and our daily gelato! On Saturday night we headed to a quiet dinner - where we learned that beef carpaccio is not the same everywhere - and then walked back through the Borghese Gardens underneath the supermoon.
Our last day in Rome was spent shopping and enjoying one last meal - at Tre Scalini in the Piazza Navona. It wasn't the most romantic restaurant we ate at, but we enjoyed our final dinner, watched some of the World Cup in the Piazza and then enjoyed our last gelato at Grom. Then we took one last crazy Roman cab ride back to the hotel to pack and wake up early for our long day of flights (Rome to Dublin to Boston) to get back home.
Rome wasn't our absolute favorite part of the honeymoon, but it was beautiful and relaxing and an awesome way to end our incredible adventure through Paris and the Italian countryside. We cannot believe that just three months ago we were arriving in Paris, just barely ready for the adventure to begin. We are already planning our return trip one day and daydreaming about lazy honeymoon days.