Rome
On our first trip to Rome we had fallen in love with this beautiful romantic city. The architecture, the atmosphere, history and the fantastic food make it a wonderful destination for a short city break or a longer holiday. It is also a good place for a few nights before a cruise with a lot of ships sailing out of the nearby port.
We stayed in The River Palace Hotel which was an ideal spot. Across from the Borghese gardens and at the top of the Visa Del Corso, we were able to walk everywhere including The Colosseum, Trevi fountain and The Vatican. The hotel was perfect, quite romantic with lovely decor and friendly staff. The rooms were well appointed with a great breakfast and a four hour happy hour every evening where all drinks were half price. We certainly took advantage of this! There were also computers in the reading room with free internet access.
Having already been in Rome we took the opportunity to simply soak up the atmosphere and enjoy strolling around this wonderfully walkable city. We also took a cycling tour, not something you associate with Rome but a very interesting and fun experience. I had booked this before we arrived and it took us to places we would never have seen by ourselves, we cycled along the ancient apian way and to the catacombs. A wonderful day and great exercise too!
As we were looking for a nice restaurant for a wedding meal, we tried out some great restaurants and can recommend Ah Hoc, Life and Al Duello. We eventually settled on Life Restaurant, there was a huge selection on the menu, and everything we tried was delicious and very reasonably priced by Roman standards. There was indoor and outdoor dining and even a private room for special occasions which we reserved for our own wedding.
December was a magical time to visit Rome with lots of the streets lit up with beautiful lights for Christmas and gorgeously decorated trees and displays in the shops.