Birthday that Ends in a ZERO Roman style

My Birthday! YAY!

I got my wish to wake up in Rome and we ventured upstairs to the hotel restaurant for the start of our day.

Greeting us were our friends K and N along with the 1st of many cards and celebratory toasts 🙂

Now that we we were fully nourished we headed off to the Vatican museum so that we could get “ed-u-ma-cated”.

There was so much artistry and craftsmanship displayed throughout the museum.  It can certainly be overwhelming. You walk out with a crick in your neck because you’re constantly swiveling to take it all in!

We ended the tour with the Sistine Chapel and since it really is a religious institution, there are no cameras allowed so you’ll just have to see it for yourselves 🙂

I left the US with the directive from my momma that I had to bring back 2 specific charm icons, a picture of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus. So we began our excursion searching for this very specific image. After about 20 vendors, we finally found what we needed and along the way, we got ourselves to St. Peter’s Basilica.

To prove, I was really there I actually allowed someone to take a photo of me 🙂 I would be the radioactive “glow in the dark” person wearing the bright colors.

All that “ed-u-ma-ca-tion” demanded that we needed to replenish the brain cells so Claudia (from the aforementioned leather goods store) had recommended a restaurant not far from where we were staying so we asked the concierge from our hotel to make a reservation.

Little did we know that we were entering a Michelin star restaurant (so much for researching beforehand – that’s throwing caution to the wind!!)

Mirabelle is on the roof of the Hotel dell Splendide Royal and has gorgeous views of Rome as well.  One of the intriguing facts of dining in Rome, especially at an establishment of a certain reputation is that they have different menus for men and women! Men are given the menus with the prices while women are left to only the descriptions of the various items listed.

Since the lunch was so impromptu, I felt very sheepish for having us dine at such a fancy shmancy place when we were also going to a Michelin star restaurant for dinner later that evening. But we went down the rabbit hole and enjoyed every minute of it!

I had some of the BEST olive oil eating at this restaurant. It was so fragrant eating it with the breads. The item to the left is a risotto that was fried into a disk and the center was a veal encrusted into a batter.  The bottom portion was the Mister’s entree of salmon covered in a dark bread (it looks like nori) and the small desserts were complimentary because after consuming a bottle of wine and these entrees, we couldn’t possibly order anything else.

Since the view was so beautiful and the weather was starting to break, we ventured outside to the patio and were greeted with these spectacular views.

We had a few hours before going to dinner so we decided to take a break and catch some zzzzz’s. When we got back to our room, the hotel sent up a bottle of wine to wish me Happy Birthday.

After resting up, the Mister and I went upstairs to the hotel restaurant, la Terraza dell’ Eden for dinner.  Didn’t we just eat?!!

Remember the clouds that were from earlier? Well they decided to disappear and give me a breathtaking sunset.

Yes, my menu didn’t have the prices in them either!!

Mr. Oscar Wilde has a few things on me….

This was DELICIOUS – the little shot glass was carrot juice with gin – So. Good.

Doing my part to conserve water 🙂

I think I gained a bajillion pounds and I’m sure the cost of lunch and dinner would have been equal to a mortgage payment but it was such a worthwhile experience.  I’m so glad that K and N were game to go with us and for sharing this experience with you!!

Cheers!

MXM

Mirabelle
Via di Porta Pinciana, 14
Rome, Italy

The Hotel Eden
Via Ludovisi, 49
Rome, Italy
(39) (06) 478 121