We flew into Rome on a Sunday. After a 1.5 hour wait to get through immigration and another 40 minute taxi ride to Testaccio, we finally arrived at our AirBNB.

The apartment was smaller than we expected, but plenty big enough for two couplse for two weeks. Two huge bedrooms with king-sized beds, but a tiny lounge area and bathroom. But that's ok, at least we have a kitchen where we can make our own meals. (Not that we've done much of that yet).

We wasted no time in calling Irene and Alan to tell them we were here. They arrived a couple of days before us. While we were waiting for them we explored the small park right in front of our apartment. Surrounding the park are two cafes, two supermarkets, a gelati shop, a pizzeria and more shops we haven't explored yet. Bonus! We were so excited to go straight to one of the cafes and order a café latte each and soak up the atmosphere.

We then went to the supermarket and bought a couple of bottles of the good stuff. A prosecco and a Barolo. We are in heaven.

Irene and Alan arrived shortly after. It was Irene's birthday. Happy birthday Irene! They had put together a bag full of goodies for Lidia's birthday which was very thoughtful. We cracked our first bottle of red and caught up on all of our combined adventures. We cracked a second bottle of red and did some more catching up. Then we went out for dinner, had two more bottles of red and a wonderful meal at Flavio Al Velavevodetto, which is a restaurant we loved last time we were in Rome and 5 minutes walking distance from our apartment. (It took a bit longer to walk back after 4 bottles of wine!) Lidia ordered her cacio e pepe, which we've been hanging out for since our last visit to Rome.

The next morning we got up and went straight to the local fresh food market. We were looking for fresh bread for toast, which we ended up finding in a stall that also had lots of cold meats and cheeses. Lidia noticed that they had a pistachio mortadella and so the old guy sliced us off a piece to put in our fresh roll. Now that's an Italian breakfast! On the way back to the apartment we stopped and got our morning coffee from the corner café.

Then we walked to Irene and Alan's apartment and spent the morning with them. They were staying in a place near the Pantheon and the 40 minute walk there was full of surprises. It seems every corner you turn in Rome has some ruins or a statue or a fountain or something else that blows your mind.

Our first stop after meeting up with Irene and Alan was the oldest bakery in Rome where we each enjoyed a pizza bianca, which is like a thin bread with pizza topping. It was delicious. It goes without saying that I dropped a spot of oil on my white T-shirt. I tried to spot clean it in the fountain we were sitting on with limited success.

We then went to Rosciolo's, a famous bakery where they make something called "Suppli", which is like an arancini ball. It was amazing.

It was now approaching the time that Dennis and Linda were due to land, so we took an Uber back to Testaccio and went shopping. We found the ancient deli that we had been to on a previous trip called Volpetti. This place is so cool, with fresh bread, a huge selection of meats, cheeses, wines and balsamic vinegars. We chose a beautiful cheese made from cow, goat and sheep cheese all mixed together. It was divine. We also picked up some bread, salami, olives and San Daniele prosciutto, just in case Dennis and Linda needed a snack after their flight.

At about 3pm, we were sitting on a park bench in the park across the road from our apartment waiting for Linda and Dennis. Their taxi driver cam to the wrong end of the one way street, so we were looking in the wrong direction for them. When we saw Dennis' flowing locks across the road looking for the street number, we ran across the road to meet them.

We thought they would be too tired after their long and turbulent flight to do anything much, but they insisted we go straight out for a coffee. We were happy to oblige, but couldn't find anything open. It must have been siesta time or something, because it was early. We did manage to find a café near the market open.

For dinner that night we ate the cold cuts we had bought, washing it down with a bottle of Barolo.

The next morning, we woke up and went to our corner café for a coffee. It's a great atmosphere in Roman cafes. There are generally very few seats. Most locals stand at the counter and drink their coffees on their way to work. It makes for fascinating people watching. Many of them bring their dogs in with them and all of the dogs we have seen so far have been very well behaved. There is one guy who seems to be at the corner table every morning reading his paper and enjoying his coffee with his dog sitting next to him. The dog does not move or make a sound the whole time.

We all had a small cake with our coffees. Dennis is partial already to a sandwich biscuit with sour cherry jam filling called occhio di bue. Lidia has the same filled with apricot jam. Linda and I had pain au chocolates.

After this we went for a wander down to the market again. It was in full swing with many fresh fruit and veg, deli's, fromageries, bakeries, etc. We bought some fresh fruit, bread, cold cuts, grilled eggplant, artichokes and cheese for lunch later on.

After dropping our goodies off at the apartment, we walked over to meet Alan and Irene. It was raining on the way and we hadn't brought our umbrellas, so we ducked into a café for a coffee while we waiting for it to abate. We then walked a little further, through cobble-stoned alleyways until we arrived at the Pantheon. This ancient church is incredible. Built 1,800 years ago, it still sports the largest unsupported dome in the world. By then it was raining again, so we sat inside and enjoyed the ambience for a while.

Having just been to Egypt, we really noticed for the first time in Rome just how many obelisks the Romans stole from Egypt. They are literally everywhere. They had the habit of adding a crucifix to the top to "Christianise" them. One of them had the statue of an elephant under it, which they had obviously stolen from India (maybe).

The rain abated then and stayed away for the rest of the day, which was great. While looking for Irene and Alan, we stumbled across Piazza Navona, the famous piazza with 3 Bernini fountains in it. There was a trio of strings playing Canon, and Dennis and Linda had a moment and started slow-dancing in the square amidst half a million tourists.

We caught up with Irene and Alan right around the corner at a small café they had discovered that makes great pork rolls, which we ate in the laneway for our lunch. We then wandered over to the Trevi fountain to take some pics. Just up the lane from the Trevi we found a restaurant so we popped in for some afternoon wine, paired with prosciutto, olives and buffalo mozzarella. I think we over-stayed our welcome, because after a couple of hours and bottles, we were the only ones left and the staff started to shut doors and have their own dinners. We took the hint eventually and moved on.

Because we had not eaten nearly enough food the day yet, we did the logical thing and decided to go for gelati. Irene and Alan took us to a famous gelataria called Giolitti. Dennis and I had banana and chocolate and the girls had a giant ricotta cannolo. It was up there with the best ice cream I've ever had.

After this we said goodbye to Irene and Alan and wandered back to our apartment. After showers, etc. it was time for dinner! There was a restaurant right outside our window called Antico Forno which was recommended to us by our host, so we thought we'd try it out. It's a typical small, old Italian restaurant. The waitress was really friendly and she started by giving us a free appetiser. It was buffalo ricotta, served with crunchy bread and honey. We thought it looked a bit weird but by jingo, it was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.

The rest of the meal was outstanding. Good, old-fashioned, rustic Italian food. Just perfect.