ROME!

Our first stop on our Italian vacation was in the Eternal City: Rome. Rome is amazing and I loved being there (even though it was in the middle of a heat wave and felt like we were on the surface of the sun the whole time). There are so many amazing things to see in Rome. My favorites were Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. One of my favorite things about Rome is its contradictions. One minute you're admiring ruins that are thousands of years old and were once the center of nearly the entire known world and the next you're nearly run over by a taxi. (Crossing the street in Rome is like a high-stakes game of dodgeball and driving is an extreme sport. Doing either entails risk to life and limb and is not for the faint of heart.) We spent 3 days in Rome and both agree that if you ever find yourself in Italy Rome is definitely somewhere that you must visit.
(A side note: The picture above is one Steve took of me at lunch one day. Behind me is Piazza Navona, one of the most beautiful in the city. It was certainly a wonderful setting for lunch. Just a week later we were back in Clayton and had lunch at Wendy's where I had a wonderful view of a gas station. Oh how things change!)