When in Rome,

eat at every gelato place you can find. Or at least that was our philosophy on our first day.

One gelato.

Two gelato.

Three gelato.

Floor.

We got a late start because somebody decided to take a nap... But seeing as we arrived at our hotel at 9am, it really didn't put us that far behind schedule. We strolled down the Via at about noon and within 5 minutes we had reached our first landmark--Triton Fountain in Piazza Barberini. Apparently (way) back in the day, if you had a crapload of money the hip thing to do was erect some kind of fountain, statue, or obelisk in a Square bearing your name. Pretty baller if you ask me. I think I'd put my obelisk by the Westwood Taco Bell.

Chillaxing with a merman.

Lunch consisted of gelato from a place around the corner. Bob then decided to disregard all the plans I had made in favor of aimlessly walking around Rome. Doing as the roam-mans do. Funny enough we stumbled upon these babies:

The Spanish Steps leading up to the Trinità dei Monti. Note the obelisk... I wasn't kidding.

I'd say luck found us here, but Bob's convinced it was a combination of intuition and the iPhone compass. Probably the most breathtaking sight I've seen in Italy thus far (not bad for the first day, eh?). We descended them first in awe, but enjoyed them a little bit less on the trek back up. Thousands of people were gathered in the Piazza di Spagna to witness the view from below; we spilled into the cobblestone square so much so that cars didn't even bother to use the surrounding streets because it would take forever to pass through the sea of tourists. At the bottom of the steps the road forked into three separate blocks of high-end shopping with stores like Louis Vitton, Gucci, Bulgari, and more. We chose to head down the shadiest Via, slipping in and out of shops to avoid the crowd and the heat. Then luck really did strike. We turned the corner onto another wide shopping block, look to my right and I see the... ORIGINAL BRANDY MELVILLE. 

From Italy with love. Ain't that the truth.

I died, went to heaven, and was reincarnated all in the same second. Notice the big SALDI, which I've learned by experience means SALE. Hallelujah. For those who have never heard of the brand, it's an affordable and extremely comfortable line whose signature style is clothes that don't fit exactly right to the point that it becomes fashionable: cropped, off-shoulder, cutout, fringed... whatever gets you to show a little skin. There are only four stores in the U.S. (lucky for me two are in Los Angeles) and they're about the size of my garage. This Brandy store had three levels, five or six separate rooms on every floor, and better yet unique merchandise that I hadn't already perused in Santa Monica. I freaking love Rome and its epic Brandy Melvilles. That's right, there are multiple stores in this city and I am on a mission from God to find them. 

We walked back, had gelato for dinner. Took a three hour nap. I made it till 7pm without sleeping, but once I hit that pillow I was out like Greg Focker from Robert De Niro's circle of trust. Woke up at about 10pm and headed out again, for a dessert gelato. The cool thing about Rome is that dinner often isn't until about 9 o' clock for most people (since they eat lunch from like 1-3), so there was a cool nightlife ambiance to absorb as we ate at an outdoor cafe. Almost like being back at college...

I currently have 3am insomnia, as I think it's only about 7 or 8pm home time. But I'm gonna try to catch some zz's so I don't faceplant into my pizza by tomorrow night's dinner. Day 1 complete.