Our first meal was had at a restaurant near the Spanish Steps. I know! It’s not good to eat directly in front of a tourist destination, but when you’ve been up since 1:45 am and you don’t get to eat until 11, anything will do.

And it was fine! It’s Rome, and it was pizza, so it was as good as any pizza we get in England.

The pizza was further proof that everything mom does is perfect. I looked over at her pizza:

And then looked down at mine:

Aside from the first pizza place, everywhere we went immediately gave us a basket of bread and water.

I’m thinking I need to get a bottle like this to serve water to people when they come to my house!

I had marinated artichokes as a snack, because they seemed to be on every menu. Only crazy people don’t like artichokes.

It was in Rome that I discovered my new favorite drink. I’m an iced coffee lover through and through, but this may have changed my mind.

Meet Marocchino:

Marocchino is a little espresso drink with a teeny bit of milk and cocoa powder – but it’s not sweetened. It tastes like really, really dark chocolate with a bit of coffee. I added only a small amount of sugar, but for the most part drank it bitter and it was everything I could ever ask for from a cup of coffee. Even McDonald’s in Rome had my marocchino lover!

Another one of my favorite meals was a really cheap sandwich from a cafe on a side street. It was an omelet that was filled with spinach, topped with a thin slice of mozzarella and put on a sandwich with some kind of heavenly bread. You know how bread gets sharp and cuts your mouth? This managed to have a crisp without the cut. Good stuff.

Mom had a simple salami + mozzarella. Also good!

In big cities McDonald’s is usually the only place with a bathroom, so we popped into it and were drawn to the McCafe and its huge display of amazing looking desserts.

Here you’ll find the best dessert to ever come to you on a tray:

I can’t believe how good this tiramisu was! I’m not much of a dessert person, but I had a hard time saving half for mama bear.

For dinner the second night we went to a restaurant recommended by the very kind guy at our hotel, which he also said is officially the smallest (legal) hotel in Rome. I’ll post all about that soon!

Mom had sliced beef with balsamic, tomatoes and rocket, and I had onion soup. I could only get soup because my stomach was very shaky due to all the cheese pizzas, gelato and soda I had. Turns out the onion soup was creamy too, but it was still good!

One last thing. I am so glad I randomly starting liking tomatoes before my trip to Rome.

I don’t even remember where this was taken. Maybe somewhere near the Vatican?

Food in Rome = A!