Tom and I spent one day heading back to a place near and dear to our hearts.....Rome! It was so wonderful to revisit our old stomping grounds where Tom and I first met and fell in love. We started our trip a bit outside of the city and headed to the Loyola University Rome Center campus. Tom and I studied there together in the fall of 2001. It was so much fun to be back there and to see all of the changes that have been made to the campus. Now the campus is super techy with wireless internet throughout and even computer labs devoted to skype. The staff at the Rome Center were very warm and welcoming. We spent some time with them catching up and they were eager to hear about our current situation living abroad. Tom and I are going to help them with a Loyola student trip to Warsaw this fall. We are very excited to give back to such a great place!
After reminiscing at the Rome Center we headed downtown. We had forgotten how bad parking is in Rome. After a good 40 minutes we finally found a parking spot and we were off! We spent the day walking around the entire city and maanged to get to all of our favorite places. We went to the Castle San Angelo, Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori, The Pantheon, Trevi Fountain,and the Vatican and St. Peter's (where we got engaged). Of course we also made a stop off at our favorite gelato shop just outside Campo di Fiori. It was funny how quickly everything came back to us and we were navigating the city with ease. After a long day of sightseeing we went to our favorite restaurant, Spirito di Vino, for a wonderful dinner. As always, the food was amazing and it was so much fun reminiscing about our day and all of our special times in Rome! We are so glad we decided to go back for the day. Over dinner we realized that we wind up in Rome about every five years...studying abroad 10 years ago in 2001, getting engaged in 2005, and now visiting in 2011. I guess we'll have to plan our next trip in 2016! : )
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| The outside of Loyola University Rome Center |
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| Basement of the Rome Center |
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| The expanded Rinaldo's Cafe at the Rome Center |
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| Rome Center Courtyard |
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| Castle San Angelo |
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| Views from the Castle |
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| St. Peter's |
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| The spot in St. Peter's Square where Tom and I got engaged! |
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| Pantheon |
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| More Pantheon |
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| Pantheon |
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| Campo de Fiori |
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| Piazza Navona |
