Today started off fairly lazily, despite the undeniably pleasurable experience of waking up at around 6:45 to the smell of freshly baked bread. We eventually made it down to breakfast around two hours later and had another hearty breakfast. On the agenda today was one thing - the Palatine Hill. Referred to on local signage simply as 'The Archaeological site,' this is a huge, partially restored area which was once home to the leaders of Rome.

Although our destination was close to the sights we had seen on the previous two days, we decided to take a slightly different route, first ascending a tall, slowly narrowing set of stairs and emerging onto a series of streets which gave a better view of the various sites below, including the Colosseum. Past the arch of Constantine was the entrance to the Palatine hill, which opened out onto a beautiful wooded area, interspersed with ruins. This also provided a welcome relief from the street vendors. The first notable feature we came across was the stadium, which whilst it's actual purpose was to provide more than simply an arena for games, was still a good indication of the wealth of the inhabitants of this area.

A combination of ruins, partially restored sites, reconstructions and museum pieces gave a general taste of ancient Rome. Museum exhibits included statues, coins, earthenware and parts of the original walls turned into features in their own right. This gave a feel for what may have been found within the various buildings when they were in use.

I'm fairly sure there were plenty of important parts of the site that we completely missed, it would be virtually impossible to cover the entire site in a day, let alone the few hours we spent there. However, we did cover a lot of ground and came away with a sense of awe at the scale of some of the buildings, the time and money that must have gone into not only building, but maintaining the residences. Of course, these were the wealthiest people in ancient Rome, so the Palatine hill may give a distorted view of the way the ancient Romans lived. But it was still pretty interesting!

So, we exited the archaeological site and went in search of an ice cream. There is one particular Gelateria that we have walked past several times a day since we've been here, so we decided that today we would give it a try. I had a cone with coffee flavour and chilli chocolate flavour. Both separately and together the flavours were delicious. Aimee had Chocolate and Mint Chocolate chip, which were also delicious. On the way back to the hotel we also stopped off at a small unit which was a series of vending machines and I bought myself a beer, Aimee had a Mojito Soda (Which turned out to be non-alcoholic, but she enjoyed it nonetheless). A few more hours in the hotel room and we were finally ready to go out for dinner.

This time we went to a little restaurant down towards the forum that we had eyed up several times over the last few days. I started with a Bruschetta Mix again, I felt it only fair to give the Bruschetta in this restaurant a chance, having eaten it in two other restaurants over the past few days. It didn't disappoint, it turns out I'm becoming quite the expert at eating Bruschetta, we will no doubt have a go at cooking it when we get back home. Aimee had just Pate di Olive Bruschetta, which she seemed to enjoy too. For our mains, I had vegetable filled ravioli and Aimee had a mushroom, olive and tomato pizza. Both were the best meals we've had since we've been here, that's not to say the other meals have been in any way inedible. Finally, for dessert Aimee decided (After much deliberation) on the trio of chocolate mousse, but unfortunately they had sold out so she had to make do with profiteroles again. They were good, but still not a match for the Irish Cream profiteroles the Days Hotel back in Blighty provided for our wedding day dessert. I had my first Tiramisu of the trip, despite never having been a huge fan of it. Still, after that I'm definitely a step closer to being converted.

So, we finished up, I had a coffee, which I usually espresso, for a 'normal' coffee you need to ask for American Coffee/Caffe Americano and even then you can't always guarantee that you'll get it. We took a stroll back to the hotel, as we had an early morning ahead of us. Tomorrow we'd be leaving the hotel bright and early to embark on a day trip to Naples and Pompeii...