Trastavere, Rome

Saturday night, we made plans to explore Trastavere, a cute neighborhood on the outskirts of town.  Originally, there was a group of us going, but by the next morning, the only ones who remained were Mike and I. We did end up getting a late start though, which was fine because it gave me some time to snap some pictures of the villa and the property where we were staying.  I mean, this place was freaking gorgeous.  If we hadn't been outside of ROME, I would have never left and spent the entire weekend hanging around the villa (which some people did and I was kind of jealous....).

Mike and I headed into the city with another one of the families who had three boys.  We once again were faced with the struggles of having a stroller on the metro/bus.  Mike and their youngest became best buddies on the bus ride.  In reality, I don't think either one knew what to do with the other, but they both survived (and thrived!) the trip into the city.  

Oh look, it's Saint Peter's! #catholicpaparazzi We had to pass this on the way to Trastavere. It was Sunday and the Pope had just returned, so the number of people in Vatican City was out of control, so we stayed far away, but it was still pretty from afar.

Once we were into the city, though, we had to part ways and wish them luck while we headed out to the outskirts.  Trastavere was high on the list of not-so-well-known things to do in Rome, which was perfect for Mike and I.   The neighborhood was as cute and quaint as it was built up to be. 

We found a great place to get lunch and a drink and Claire, another scholar, came and met us.

Mushrooms, goat cheese and focaccia?  I'll take it!

I spy a DC brewery!! Go Mad Fox!

After lunch, we wandered around the neighborhood for a while.  It was Sunday, so people were out with their families and it was such a warm feeling in a small neighborhood.

I found Turkish!

After a few hours of wandering and window shopping, we returned to the villa right in time for a few group shots.

Scholars, spouses and children

Scholars (minus a few)

And just the lucky spouses (aka Ryan and his girls)!

That evening, we ordered 30 pizzas (yup, you read that right) and spent the rest of the evening hanging around the villa savoring these last moments with great friends.  We played endless games of Heads Up.  If you don't know what that is, stop reading, go to your app store and download this fun game.  You get a word and you have to describe/act it out to your team. During one particular game, a certain Hogan got the movie Sixteen Candles and before they could think, they blurted out "MY FAVORITE 80'S MOVIE!"   Now we all know that Top Gun has been replaced with Sixteen Candles and Heads Up is when the truth come out.  Anyways, the rest of the night was a lot of fun.  We stayed up way too late hanging out and enjoying these last few moments with friends (oh, and singing a lot of karaoke.  I'll spare everyone the videos).

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