The Last Night before the First Day

Hello all!  I am sorry I did not get this posted last night, but we were up late wandering Rome and then tinkering with the bikes and time sort of slipped away.   So I am sitting in the kitchen blogging again, while Ben gets a bit more sleep, and the coffe percolates.  Yesterday was a long and beautiful day, filled with a lot of sights and culture.  We did a lot of walking around Rome, probably about 10 miles, seeing the many sights (picture above from the top of the dome of the Vatican).  I should probably spend most of this post talking about the wonderful sites that we saw like the Vatican, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Colleseum, the Forum, and Castel Sant'Angelo... But the problem is we went to dinner last night to a restaurant in recommended by out friends at Collalti Bici (the bike shop) and it was absolutely amazing, so I think I would rather talk about that.  I will give you all one more picture of us around the sights before talking more about the meal.

We went to dinner tonight to Cantina Lucifero.  It was just a few doors down from Collalti, and the owner of Collalti was even nice enough to run down to the restaurant and make a reservation for us on his behalf... The people at Collalti really are the best, if you ever find yourself in Rome stop by the store.  Dinner began with a small aperitif, followed by wine and charcuterie, followed by carbonara for me and gnocchi for Ben and more wine, followed by espresso and creme brûlée for Ben and tiramisu for me, then concluded with Oban Scotch for Ben (meaning that this bike trip will essentially begin and end with Oban Scotch) and Lemonchello for me (I had it the last time I was in Rome and wanted to try it again... Lets just say, I must have had sweeter taste back then, because it was a lot sweeter than I remember and I have no desire to try it again).  This meal was one of the best of my life, definitely in the top five of meals I have eaten... just absolutely delicious and amazing.  Dinner yesterday continued the trend of our friends from Collalti recommending amazing places to eat and they being absolutely amazing, if only they had recommendations along the entire route.

Well that is all I have for right now, I need to go load up the panniers and get ready for our first ride.  Today really is the beginning... Here is to hoping it goes well and we didn't bite off more than we could chew.  All the best and until next time.