A FRENCH LOVE STORY, IN THE HEART OF ROME

There is a love story between Rome and I. Even though I have travelled far and wide, Rome is one of the very few places that has completely stolen my heart, which is why I chose to go there this time around.
I stayed at the Sofitel Hotel at Villa Borghese, which is one of my favourite neighbourhoods to stay whenever I go to Rome. My boyfriend and I arrived late at night, since we took the last flight from Amsterdam to Rome on Friday evening. The moment we walked into the hotel, we were warmly greeted by the staff with a; “Bonsoir”, which I expected because of Sofitel’s French heritage.

Even though we were in Rome, I was excited to experience the best of both worlds; Being in my favourite city in Italy, while also being surrounded by that French touch, the Sofitel Hotels always offers. Woke up bright an early the morning after, since my boyfriend and I had a long list of things we wanted to do and the moment I got off the bed, I ran to the 3 windows our corner room had and opened every single curtain. The view was breathtaking as always and that is when the excitement really kicked in!; “I am back in Rome, and I am here with my love!”. I couldn’t believe my luck.

First things first. As soon as I wake up, I always try to get ready as fast as I can, so I can run up to the terrace restaurant and have my morning fuel, aka breakfast. There is something special about hotel breakfasts, something quite exciting that you don’t have when you are eating breakfast at home am I right?. I tried to score the best table in the restaurant, the one that gave us the best view of the Vatican, overlooking those beautiful Roman trees. I was sitting there and what I wanted the most, was a basket full of French pastries, a coffee and orange juice. The waitress greeted us in French again and even though I was excited to practice my Italian while in Rome, I was equally excited I got to dust off my French while I was at the hotel. “Deux croissants svp”, but that wasn’t necessary, because she brought back a whole basket full of pastries. Merci beaucoup!, that is exactly how I like to start my day.

What followed was 17 kilometres of walking around the city. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we checked our iPhone apps and realised we had walked that far. Even though I had collected a couple of blisters along the way, I was still so freaking happy to be there, experiencing all of this with him.
When night came, we walked back to the hotel to what promised to be a pretty amazing culinary experience at the hotel’s restaurant. It’s very hard to explain how things tasted, but I tried my best to capture images that would give you a hint if anything. Course after course of French inspired yumminess, paired with amazing wine (probably should have asked for the name!) and to finish with bang, we got a tasting plate with small desserts, from chocolates, to shuffles and pastries. Definitely a dinner to remember!

There is always something special about every trip I take, but the memories I made on this one will definitely stay will me forever. Thank you so much to the Sofitel Villa Borghese for such an incredible stay -and for the petit Hermes toiletries you kindly left in the room. I hope you don’t mind I took them home with me!-.

Check out for images from Sofitel HERE and get inspired for your next holiday!!!