I mean, I guess it was fine. But the area it was in.. super sketchy. And by "hostel" I mean someone's apartment. One bedroom was for the lady and her child, the other was for us. A few bunk beds and two other beds pushed together to form an awkward king sized bed. And one small bathroom/shower. For the cheap price, and the fact we were only there to sleep, it was fine. Questionable roommate though... Pablo, age ?, from Argentina, wears man thong (Alex saw it), and velcro sneakers. Need I say more?
But aside a more to be desired hostel, Rome was amazing! I couldn't believe how much stuff was there. There was a statue or memorial or church or something on every single corner. We probably only saw half of Rome in the time we were there. And so, so much history in that city. The Roman forum was amazing to me... it's all been there since around 7th century BC?! Crazy. And I thought London had some old things...
So we got into Rome on a Monday night, after another 3 hour train ride from Florence. After navigating out to the hostel (but first dealing with a bank crisis, thank you Bank of America for putting my account on hold while I'm in another country), we settled into our hostel, got some sleep and headed out for a full day of sightseeing.
In a matter of a few hours, we saw Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori, walked around the Roman forum, and went in the Colosseum. I would say me and the girls are pretty skilled sightseers by now. The Basilica was gorgeous (although we didn't go inside). The Trevi fountain.. a lot larger than I was expecting and super cool. Of course we had to do the touristy throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain thing. My feelings about the Trevi fountain were the same feelings I had about the Mona Lisa...
Even though the Mona Lisa and Trevi Fountain are really talked up and a lot of people get to these places and are underwhelmed, I personally think wow, this is the real deal.. the Trevi Fountain... the Mona Lisa. I've heard about both and seen pictures of both for so long, so it was awesome to see them in real life. How cool is it to say that I've been to the Trevi Fountain, I saw the Mona Lisa, etc. long list of other amazing things I've done and seen this semester.
I loved, loved, loved the Pantheon. The inside was just so pretty! With the light streaming in from the top...
We grabbed lunch at a little pizza shop and wow. I think we all had a pizza revelation. "This is what pizza should be like," Alex said. Yep. That along with a yummy Italian ice... we were happy as clams.
I think I forgot to mention in my last post, but the week we were in Italy was "culture week" meaning a lot of sights that usually cost $$, were now free. We saw David in Florence for free, and in Rome.. we got into the Colosseum for free. Thank you culture week.
I felt like Russell Crowe in the Gladiator when we went into the Colosseum. minus the wild animals and huge crowds of people. It was prettttyyy cool! And so in tact for being so old! We stayed there for a little bit, then moved on to the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, which I think ended up being one of my favorite parts of the city.
It's just so neat! We literally just ran into it.. not expecting to see such a huge memorial. But welcome to Rome, every corner has something this magnificent basically.
Then we made our way to Roma Sparita, a restaurant Alex had heard about via Anthony Bourdain's 'No Reservations' show. We knew we had some good food in store for us. *Also, it was Jen's birthday and she was leaving us for Barcelona the next day, so Roma Sparita was our last dinner.. so bittersweet!*
We ordered a nice bottle of wine, some bread and olive oil.. and for dinner... the cacio y pepe. Credits to Alex for this photo...
YUMMMMMM. that is homemade pasta with cheese and peper, in a parmigiana cheese bowl.
After a beyond satisfying dinner, we met up with my friend Ted from Marquette and he brought us to get some delicious gelato, and then on over to the Vatican. I was not aware that the Vatican was it's own country, but indeed it is. Where's my passport stamp?
St. Peter's is beautiful. It really did give off this aura of holiness... the Pope has a pretty cool neighborhood. It was closer to 11 p.m., so the area only had a few stragglers like us. Fast forward to Wednesday morning and me and the girls were back at the Vatican for the Pope's weekly appearance/speaking. I saw the pope I saw the pope!!! Although I admit to denying it was him.. I really thought he had darker features! But maybe it was because he wasn't wearing his pope hat :(
^The man himself
In 4 months I've seen the Pope, Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Marcus Mumford. Awesome.
The girls and I headed over to the Vatican Museums where we followed about 87 signs saying "Sistine Chapel, this way" because we really were just trying to see the Sistine Chapel and get over to St. Peter's before Jen had to head to the airport. But, the walk through the museums to the Chapel was pretty neat.
^this is one of my favorite pictures.. and one of my favorite rooms in the Museums. The ceiling was so elaborate and intricate.
After the museums we went to St. Peter's but ran into the world's longest line of people, waiting to get in. Unfortunately, we had to pass on St. Peter's :( Oh well... that's for next time, I guess!
Later in the afternoon we met up with my good friend Claire from back home.. we've been friends since 3rd grade if you can believe it! She's studying in Rome this semester so I had to see her. We grabbed some coffee at a cafe near her campus, and then she showed us girls where to get a delicious dinner. I had a yummy carbonara (although, to this day, the restaurant we ate at in Paris had the best carbonara ever). It was so good to see Claire, and while we had coffee, she surprised me by saying she and a friend would be coming into London the next night and staying for the weekend! Although my paper and exhaustion kept me from seeing much of her, we made plans to meet up back in good old Shrewsbury in a few weeks.
Thursday morning we say ciao to Rome and to a great week in Italy, and headed back to London. What an adventure... I loved traveling with Jen, Jackie and Alex.. it was a great trip to end our semester with and I think we all had a blast. And I'm so glad I traveled with girls who appreciate gelato as much as I do/good Italian food as much as I do.
And with the end of the Italy trip comes the end of all of my traveling. I'm back in London for two more weeks and then hello United States. I think I'm ready. Or I will be... after I do some last minute London things. :)
Ciaoooo!
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