I’ve been very M.I.A. recently as I am once again with my long-distance one and only :). I flew to England and the next day we flew to Italy for a 4-day vacation together. This was the first time we actually got to fly together! It was nice being able to sleep on the person beside me.
We stayed at Hotel Traiano which was perfectly located in the heart of Rome and in the very middle of all the sights. We were within walking distance to everything (I can’t believe how small Rome actually is!).
Our hotel was a 30 second walk from my favourite Rome monument: The Monumento Nazionale.
Our first evening we ate at La Proscuitteria (I heard about it on tripadvisor). It was a very teeny little place, but a great first experience in Rome. Afterwards we strolled down the majestic, lit-up streets and found another little place I’d looked up on tripadvisor: San Crispino Gelateria. Their gelato is incredibly authentic: you’d think you were biting into the very fruit on the label. Also their lemon sherbet tastes just like homemade lemonade.
The next day we met up at the Campo Dei Fiori with my Italian uncle who happened to be visiting Rome at the same time and his nephew. They took us by all the most beautiful piazzas, the Pantheon, and then into Trastevere (just across the river) for some of the best food I’ve ever eaten at a place called Grazia & Graziella. Below is us at Piazza Navona.
The food and service at Grazia & Graziella was amazing. From the wine to the scrumptious caprese salad to the fries which were impeccably spiced and paired with feta cheese; probably the best fries I’ve ever tasted. They gave poutine a run for it’s money. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Rome, napping, then wandering again.
Gelateria Valentino had mango gelato to die for. So yummy! Then as we wandered we happened upon the colloseum (we thought it was much farther away!). It was another magical night in the romantic city.
That night we stayed up late watching “Who Do You Think You Are” on Josh’s phone as all the television is in Italian (even Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons… it was weird!). The next day we wandered through the monumento nazionale before heading to the colloseum where it poured rain and we got utterly soaked. Although I’ve always wanted to see the inside of the famous Colloseum, I found myself feeling very upset knowing some of the disturbing history of the building; all I could think about were the victims of the horrible atrocities that took place there so we didn’t stay long.
The remains of the Roman Forum as viewed from the National Monument; Colloseum in the background.
After the Colloseum we stopped at site of the Circus Maximus. A seemingly insignificant dirt track is all that is left of the largest stadium ever built. At one time it held 30,000 people and was used for charriot racing. And after this we ducked into a little Irish pub for some tea to warm up.
That evening we dined at “That’s Amore!” and though a little pricey I thought the food was quite good. Although I was a little confused about my bruschetta… some assembly required!
The next morning I tried (and failed) to talk Josh into having a lazy day as they were calling for rain all day. Luckily the rain held off and we walked first to Pizzarium (a little off the beaten path but worth it. It was chock full of real, live Italians and the pizza was delicious) and then to the Vatican. It was a long walk as we accidentally took the scenic route but it was one of those things we can at least, if nothing else, say we saw in Italy. Plus it’s the smallest country in the world so that’s kinda cool. On a couple occasions we also tried “suppli” (breaded rice and cheese or rice and various things).
Our last meal in Rome ended up being at Burger King as my feet and legs were so sore from all the walking we had to dine near the hotel. Also after finding out a cab was our only option to the airport at 3am we were kinda broke! It was a lovely trip with a boy that makes me incredibly happy everyday. I honestly think I am the luckiest girl in the world, and I’m honoured to have someone so special to share my adventures with.
Been to Italy? Where have you had the best Italian food (in or out of Italy)?
ldr13 
I LOVED Italy! I’m not a city girl by any stretch of the imagination, but I fell head-over-heels in love with Rome! The group I sang with at university led Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, sang at the Pantheon and all across Rome and other parts of the country.
Not sure if you noticed this or not, but in the Colosseum, there is a cross erected right in front of where the emperor would have sat signifying that, in the end, he didn’t win. Christ won! Yes, what happened to the martyrs is atrocious, but the emperors could kill their souls; only their bodies. Actually, far more horrible acts occurred at the Circus than the Colosseum (little known tidbit of information for you).
I can’t even remember all the places we ate at (I was there a few years ago before Instagram and the iPhone were wildly popular and extremely commonplace, otherwise I would have far more documentation of everything), but where we ate – oh my! My friends and I intentionally “got lost” in Venice just to discover the city from the nooks and crannies and hole-in-the-wall restaurants and shops. It was a wonderful time. While we were in Montecatini (GORGEOUS town), we ate at a random cafe and to this day, I have no idea what I ate. Everyone there was as Italian as Italian gets, and very few spoke English. Whatever I ate, though, was delicious.
Italy is such a neat place! I’m curious – how did you manage to afford the flights back and forth as well as all of the tourist attractions early in the relationship? I’m in a LDR, and I’m always up for savvy ideas!
Sounds like you had a lovely trip as well! I would go back to Rome in a heartbeat. Just this morning I woke up thinking, “I can’t believe me and my man went to Rome!” I am a seriously lucky girl to be able to do all the things that we’ve done together so far. And just yesterday I booked my one way ticket to England! So excited!!
Venice is definitely on my list of places to go as well. Just thinking about the food is making my mouth water.
As far as affording trips my man has a pretty good job so he’s able to afford it fairly easily for himself. I make just above minimum wage but I live with my dad who lets me off pretty easily on the rent ;). Also I work for my dad and we are both travel bugs so when he goes away I work long hours (60-70 a week). I also don’t do much between trips and am pretty frugal. I’m literally the most boring person between trips lol.
I also book my flights to England about 6 months in advance (the cheapest flight was 800$ return) so that cuts the cost a lot. Plus we keep an eye out for great deals. Ryannair is SO cheap for flying around Europe. I believe our flight to Italy was 130$ return. I once flew to Florida for 50$ return. Also for Christmas presents instead of gifts some people will give us tickets to go to tourist attractions which is great :). Now that we are seeing each-other more frequently we can’t afford to do as much, but it suits us fine. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, just being in each-other’s company is the best thing ever :).
How long have you been in your LDR? Do you know when you might close the distance? 🙂
I’ve been to Rome a couple of times. Food wise I’ve had the beast meals in Tuscany:)
Tuscany is definitely on my list of places to go ever since I watched Under the Tuscan Sun 🙂
I meant best meals not beast 🙂 I love that movie and even have its DVD :)) and a book which has nothing to do with the movie!
Thank you for all the stories you’ve shared!!!!
I’m from Costa Rica and I’m in a LDR for over a year. We started using Tinder last year and just with a simple swipe our whole lives turned upside down. Juan (my bf) lives in Nicaragua, just next to CR, but you have no idea how difficult it becomes when you live in a third world country (jajaja, I never thought I’d say this).
We started our LDR casual, we didn’t call each other any affectionate name and none of our families knew anything. It took me like 8 months to realize we were in a serious relationship and it was a big hit, since I started talking to Juan like a month after I broke up with my bf for 10 years.
Juan is nothing but the sweetest, funniest and handsome man I’ve ever met. He’s so thoughtful, smart and has this lame sense of humor that matches mine and I just love him soooo much.
We have managed to see each other every 2-3 months and now er are looking for a job in the other’s country so the first one who finds something will move.
I have a couple of questions and you can probably help me with those. When did you tell your families you were in a LDR? How did they take it? How did you manage jealousy? (And here I have to take a minute to explain myself. Juan hasn’t given me any reason to doubt of him. He’s respectful, he’s chatty and he likes to tell me everything he’s doing and going without me asking. But my ex bf was a cheater and we had lots of problems related to that. I know I can’t blame Juan for the ex’s problems but sometimes a fear of suffering the same crosses my mind and starts a battle in my head).
Thank you for sharing this amazing story and best wishes!!!!!!
You’re welcome. I’m glad you’ve found someone special. I know how hard it’s been just travelling and now moving to the UK from Canada so I can only imagine how much harder that would be if we lived in third world countries.
My family knew from the first day we started talking online and mum and dad met him over Skype within a couple weeks. We have been together since the first time we chatted. My mum didn’t take it very seriously at first but soon came around and dad was happy I finally found a “nice chap.”
We’ve never had any real issues with jealousy. I trust him and he trusts me. I found out about a year into our relationship that my ex had cheated on me and it did make me feel a bit paranoid for a short time, but I knew that it was my issue and not his. I just talked to him about it and after a little while I realized I was being silly. It’s not something that has crossed my mind in a long time.
Best wishes to you both x