The Two Fools are back on the road. We will be here for one week before heading to Sicily to meet the family.

We rented a one bedroom apartment here that I saw on TripAdvisor – but came through a rental agency, Italy Perfect. I book most of our apartments through the owners themselves, and some are more organized than others. So it has been a pleasure to work with a professional company that sent us stacks of information beforehand and even arranged a driver to pick us up at the airport. Usually we are trying to locate our destination on GoogleMaps and frantically texting the owner to figure out a meeting spot. Having said that, these experiences have made us a little more street-savvy and have led to some of our most fun adventures – plus we have made friends with many of the owners, which adds a whole extra layer to our visit.

The Apartment

We love our apartment – especially the rooftop terrace (that is why we rented – I just kept coming back to that picture). We had a lovely Sunday morning breakfast on the terrace this morning, accompanied by the bells of St. Peter’s a few blocks away. The rest of the apartment is decorated very dramatically, with marble busts and antiques. We feel very Roman.

The Neighborhood

Our neighborhood is Prati, which is between Castel Sant’Angelo and the Vatican. It is on the “other” side of the river from the famous sights, like the Coliseum or Spanish Steps.  (Check out our gigantic front doors at left.)

Except around the Vatican, there are hardly any tourists, so the restaurants and markets are very local, which is what we like best. And St. Peter’s is only a few blocks away – we discovered it yesterday almost by accident as we were exploring – we were in awe!

Settling In

We have already hit the market for provisioning and were super proud of ourselves for knowing the ropes – brought our own bags, paid in Euros without blinking, bagged our own groceries, and knew exactly what we needed. Just like Italians.