More Roman Adventures

Now for the last bits of our Roman holiday... The main reason for us traveling there was for Jaap to attend an epilepsy conference, which left me to entertain myself part of the time. 

One morning after breakfast I walked over to the Pantheon, enjoyed some gelato, and did a little bit of shopping on via del Corso. Yay for Italian shopping! I found a great Italian make-up store called Kiko. It's very similar to the American version of Sephora, but with better prices. I was in heaven. (Make-up in the Netherlands is ridiculously expensive.) So that was the shopping portion of my trip to Rome!

I love this picture below. The fountain with the water coming out of his teeth looks like my father. LOL. Perhaps we have some Roman roots somewhere. 

My stroll continued to Piazza del Popolo and Villa Borghese, the Central Park of Rome. I kept thinking, I gotta bring Jaap here tomorrow.

So we went back to enjoy Villa Borghese together. We visited Museo e Galleria Borghese and spent the afternoon biking and walking around the grounds and public park. The weather was perfect.

In the morning, we visited the galleries at the museum complete with works by Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, and many other Italian Renaissance painters.

The Villa used to be a private estate built in the 1600s for a religious head. Now it's open to the public, but be warned. They are EXTREMELY STRICT and vigilant about visiting hours. Our reservation told us to arrive between 9 and 11. We showed up at 10:30 and didn't realize we were only going to have 20 minutes to view all the galleries. They completely clear out the museum every two hours. It was strange and I was very frustrated, but afterwards we took a nice relaxing bike ride around the park and I chilled out. :) Not to mention, Jaap has a calming effect on me. (But, I think he was secretly happy that we only had 20 minutes in the museum.) :)

We rented this bike built for two and rode around Villa Borghese for an hour. It was fun and an interesting way to see the park.

An action shot of Jaap on the bike

We also made a quick stop at a Leonardo Da Vinci museum. Here is my cute scientist admiring the Renaissance Man's work. 

And of course...another relaxing lunch with Jaapie at an outdoor café. What an amazing holiday and a beautiful city. Rome is a special place and it was a great way to unwind before going back to work again for the new school year. Arrivederci Roma en tot volgende keer!

Sunset from our hotel room in Trastevere