It has been a week since our return from Rome, and now that life is back to normal, it is high time I share this lovely experience with all of you!  It all started with a flight to NYC.

The flights were long, but I’m very good at sleeping on planes.  After about 15 hours of travel we arrived in Rome!  Ephraim kept saying “I can’t believe I’m in Rome!”  I know, pretty surreal. 🙂 One of the first places we went to was the Colosseum.  It is rather large.

We got Italian pizza right away.  This one had four flavors on it.  It was all pretty normal except for the anchovy slices.  They’re pretty salty.

We explored and climbed to the top of Castel St. Angelo.  The best part was the view from the top.

The city is so alive at night!  We went down by the Tiber river the first night.  They had tables and booths for wares and cafe’s all set up along the way.  There was a live band from Vegas playing Elvis, Beach Boys and Beetles cover songs, some were sung in English and some in Italian.  The people there loved it!  Nutella is a big thing there as you can see from one of the cafés we passed.  I made sure to have a Nutella crêpe for dinner.

The next day we went to see the Trevi Fountain, this is the fountain that if you throw a coin in you will one day return to the Eternal City.  But, alas, it was under construction!  The pool was emptied but they did have a little makeshift 4’x4′ tub set-up to throw coins into.  Keep throwing in those coins, they need a lot of money to fix the fountain.

This is my sad face.  I did throw two coins in the bathtub, so my return trip is secured!

The Spanish Steps, on the other hand, were fully functional.

They were built in the 1720s so they’re pretty old, and very lovely.  This is just a portion pictured here.  There are 131 steps from top to bottom, not counting the duplicate split stairs.  We got some Italian lasagna, it’s definitely better than U.S. lasagna, and is especially delicious after a day of walking everywhere.

And of course we got gelatti!  Three times in the two days we were in Rome 🙂

After touring around we decided to go check out the Latter-day Saint Rome temple which is in the middle of construction.  The taxi driver probably thought we were crazy to do an hour round trip just for a photo of a building.  This was one of my favorite parts, though.  It felt peaceful being there.  I was amazed that we got any sort of photo since it was 9:00 at night with no lights on the building and I didn’t use my tripod, but with the help of a concrete ledge and a 30 second exposure, I got this photo. The construction is coming along nicely!

Since, it was our last night in Rome and I had crazy jet lag anyway, we stayed out late walking around the city.  I found some even bigger Nutella jars.  Mmm boy!

Rome is beautiful at night!

We went and saw the Pantheon which is a Greek temple dedicated to all of the gods.  I have to say, seeing the Pantheon at 1:30 am is pretty sweet, there are much fewer tourists. 🙂

Upon discovering Ephraim’s demi-god lineage, Zeus selects Ephraim for a quest.

Ephraim was so laid back and flexible about the whole trip.  He was cool with all the places we went to and he was good with just wandering around, too.  He definitely made for an excellent traveling companion 🙂  Here he is with the ancient ancestors of Voldemort.

Due to the jet lag, and a soda I had at about midnight, I ended up staying up all night.  24 hours straight.  I then decided to go on a 4:00 am sunrise run through Rome.  Rome is completely empty at 4:00 am, strangely.  There was no one out for the first part of my run, then eventually some shop keepers started to come out.

I even ran the Spanish steps.  That’s how I know there’s 131 of them 🙂  It was really cool to see how familiar I had become with Rome in just 2 short days.  I knew the paths I was running and I loved seeing the contrast between the daytime hours and the early morning hours.  I got down to the river as the sun was beginning to rise.  It was a beautiful sight.

After 2 short days I fell in love with Rome.  Would I come back? Absolutely, and I wouldn’t even mind living here if the opportunity arose.  Such an enchanting city! 🙂

This was one of the most unique and inspiring experiences that I’ve ever had.  Being in the Eternal city was such a treat, and Ephraim was wonderful to travel with!  Some travel tips I picked up on for Rome.  I recommend having some Euros with you.  Cash is common there, and the least expensive way to get cash I found was from the ATM’s, they have about a $5 surcharge fee, and if you go to an money exchange that has a small rate of just $.02 more than the exchange rate, you’ll pay more than $5 extra if you get anything over about $300.  Most exchange places charge over $.10 extra per euro.  Also, I discovered that you can download your google maps to use for navigation even when you are our of range of cellular service or wi-fi, the GPS still works and it will track you with a little blue dot as you walk around! (I’ve also been told that tripadvisor has maps that include significant locations to visit, but I haven’t tried that one).  Leather sandals tend to cause blisters in this humid environment #desertproblems. See the city at night, I especially recommend 4-5 am. 😉  I also recommend exploring, there is a lot to see in Rome, and so much of it is in close proximity; there are many things that aren’t famous but worth taking a look at anyway. And of course, eat lots of gelatti! 🙂

Thanks for being a fun adventurer and a great date, Ephraim!  And thanks to all of you for reading, voting and supporting this blog adventure!  This has been a really fun experience! 🙂

It’s about to get real.  We’re both packed and ready to head out tomorrow!  I’ll be posting bits of our adventures as we go along, so stay tuned!!

So I figured out how to reopen the polls but now I’m struggling to close them so I took a screen shot of the results, which is pretty official, right? 🙂

Thank you to all who voted!  More details to come as we begin to make plans for Rome so stay tuned!

So a funny thing happened while I was out hiking, the polls closed early!  So sorry, I have reopened them so you have 10 minutes (ish).  So if you haven’t had a chance to vote yet, vote!  If you have already voted, you’re done!  Happy voting!

It’s time to vote!  Here’s how it works.  You vote for who you think should go to Rome with me, one vote per person.  Not all of the dates are available for the date to Rome, so I have only listed the ones who responded “yes” or “possibly”.  When the results come in, whoever wins 1st place has the first opportunity to accept, if they are not available then the person who wins 2nd place will get the next opportunity and so forth.  The polls will remain open until July 5 at 10:00 pm.

Because I love to dance, I have also put together a dance video with all of the dates.  I feel like dancing is a great way to express your personality.  I hope you enjoy this video as much as I enjoyed making it!

I have completed all 29 dates!  Woo hoo!  Now for the fun part… voting!  I will be putting together a polling system as well as a fun little treat over the next couple of days, I will get it up as soon as possible!  Check back to see when it is ready or like my Facebook page to get a notification when I have the polling system up!  Thanks so much!

https://www.facebook.com/29datesin29days?ref_type=bookmark

Aaron is so great!  He stepped in last minute to be my date for tonight, and was actually set-up with the help of one of my previous dates, Josh C!  Aaron was a good sport and went with it, he’s such a good natured, laid back kind of a guy. 🙂

We went over to his house and played Rummikub.  I’ve played in the past and have had long theological debates on the strategy of the game, but it’s been a while and I obviously need more practice.  We doubled with his mom and step dad, and everyone won a round but me.  Sad face.  I think I need to revisit my Rummikub strategy before I take on this game again. 😉

After playing games, Aaron shared his awesome musical talent.  He is a fabulous musician!  He plays in a band called The Perks, and has recorded a solo album and posted many of his songs on youtube.  Check him out here: https://www.youtube.com/user/AaronGormanMusic.  I discovered his channel this morning and had it playing on repeat, he’s really good. 🙂

He treated us all to some music tonight!  Here’s an excerpt from him playing Amazing Grace.  There was a jam session going on upstairs so you may hear some stray instruments in the background. 🙂

Some great things to know about Aaron.  He is incredibly talented with many musical instruments and styles.  He’s humble and giving with his musical gifts.  He is laid back and willing to roll with whatever comes.  He’s kind and good hearted.  Thanks for the lovely date, Aaron!

Available for the date to Rome: No

James put together a fabulous date!  It took a lot of coordinating and scheduling and it all came together really nicely.  He put together a group date to go boating at Lake Mead!  I have never been boating before, though I have been on larger and smaller boats, so this was an awesome first time experience.

We went with a way fun group, the guys that owned the boat had some great water toys.  James and the other guys were really skilled with the surf type board.  I was not, but I will have to try something like that again because I refuse to be beaten! 😉 

James is an avid surfer.

They also had a fun inflatable water pad that we piled on.  When there were three of us on it, the driver’s goal was to see if he could get us all to fly off.  When there was just James and I on it, our goal was to see if we could ride it standing up.

Check.

It was a lot of fun boating and swimming at the lake, and it was also the best arm workout I’ve had in forever. The health benefits of dating. 🙂

After the lake we had a short intermission, then we headed to a campground by the lake to have some roasted hotdogs and s’mores.  I love campfires, I love being outside on a lovely summers night.  There were a ton of stars out, no moon in sight.  Such a great night!

What a fun day at the lake!  I guess it’s a good thing James was one of the last dates because this is a hard one to top. 😉

Some great things to know about James.  He’s great at planning and putting together a fun date.  He’s fun to talk to and has a great sense of humor.  He’s a gentleman and conscientious of his date and others.  He’s an adept outdoorsman.  He’s happy and kind.  Thanks for the awesome date, James!

Available for the date to Rome: Possibly

So Chris and I wanted to be a little adventurous and try a new cuisine that neither of us had had before.  We decided on Cuban food and went to Havana Grill in Henderson.  We asked the waitress about what would be pretty classic Cuban dishes; she recommended a few things and we decided on Arroz con Pollo with plantains and Ropa Vieja de Pollo. It was some good eating!  I think Cuban food is on the revisit list. 🙂

We also tried Yerba Mate soda which was pretty good and we tried a mamey milkshake for desert that is made with a fruit called mamey which has sort of a fruity and chocolatey flavor.  I must find this fruit and eat it every day.

After dinner one thing led to another and we were at the local park swing dancing.  I’ll bet you didn’t know Chris liked swing dancing, but he does and he especially likes throwing and flips.  We learned a couple tonight through youtube.  Technology at its finest.

Some great things to know about Chris.  He’s up for trying new and interesting foods.  He likes to do sweet dance moves.  He is moving forward with his life.  He is good with making up new plans and going with the flow.  He’s a funny guy and good to be around.  Thanks for the delicious date, Chris!

Available for the date to Rome: Possibly