Roman Dinner, Pantheon, and the Colosseum

We decided to stick around here this weekend and wait to go to Cosenza. Thursday night, one of the lawyers from Baker & Mckenzie asked Michael if we'd like to join her and her husband for dinner at a restaurant called Felice. Apparently it takes a month to get a reservation at this restaurant, so of course he said yes.

We left with plenty of time to reach the restaurant but of course the metro broke down after one stop. It even started going the wrong way on the tracks. By the time we figured out that the metro would not be fixed any time soon, we were late and had to get a cab. Oh how I wish we could afford to ride in cabs all the time, it's so nice. Luckily we arrived only 10 minutes late.

Francesa told us this restaurant is known for their cacio e pepe pasta which is one of the 4 main Roman pastas (also included in that list are carbonara, amatriciana, and gricia). So that's what we both got for our primo. It was incredible. Sooooo cheesy and delicious. When the waiter brought us the dish, the fresh shredded cheese is all over the top, so they take your spoon and fork and mix the pasta up for about a minute, making the cheese all melty. For secondo Francesca ordered us some fried meat and potatoes. They were also very delicious. Then for dolce we both got tiramisu.

Luckily Francesca speaks english very well, so she spent the night talking to us. Her nice husband John Carlo doesn't speak Italian, but he brought a friend of his, Marco, who he talked to a lot. They were all very nice and we had a great time eating dinner with them. They even gave us a ride home in their BMW. Easily our most luxurious traveling method thus far in Europe (especially when you're comparing it to dirty metros, crowded buses, and cheap night trains).

Today we both slept in super late, then headed over to our FAVORITE lunch spot, Pastificio. Then we walked over to see the Pantheon. I had downloaded Rick Steve's audio guide ahead of time. I loved hearing about all the history behind the Pantheon.

Then we walked over to the Colosseum to finally tour the inside. Again, thank you Rick for your free audio tour. It's pretty crazy walking around an amphitheater that is almost 2,000 years old. During the grand opening they had 100 days of games and slaughtered around 5,000 animals (sad). Did you know the arena floor could also be flooded for mock sea battles? That is cool.

Arch of Constantine 

Today we'll use the same ticket to see the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill.