When in Rome...

Last weekend, my friend Carly and I ventured to Roma! We had been looking forward to it for weeks (every time we mentioned it our mouths watered in anticipation)! We left Thursday afternoon, arriving in Rome in the evening. We were able to quickly find a cheap bus into the city and successfully located our hostel without too much trouble. Once we got settled we headed to have our first Italian meal! We didn't venture far- literally turned right out of our door and there was the restaurant. But it was soooooo good! I got the traditional- fettuccini bolognese! Delish! And Carly tried the gargonzola pizza which was also very good! Overall it was a successful meal! We headed back to the hostel and planned out our days and hit the hay.

 

 yummmmm

 Before I continue- here are some pictures of our hostel. We stayed at Papaya Hostel, an all-female hostel. It was great as far as hostels go. Clean and we had lots of room. Plus we had lockers so I actually felt like my stuff was safe when we were out all day.

 

Views from our room!

 Left: main door to the hostel, Right: antique elevator!

 Our room! I got the top right bunk!

 Left: kitchen, Right: computer area

 Left: entry hall, Right: one of the bathrooms

 

So moving on to our first full day in Rome. We decided to go to the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. It was a quick 20-minute walk from our hostel and the weather was absolutely beautiful! We thought maybe we were lost but I told Carly that I had a feeling that we'd turn the corner and there would be the Coliseum. I was right! Unfortunately, this is the only time my feeling was correct. We had received a tip from someone studying in Rome to go to the Roman Forum first to get a combined ticket so we wouldn't have to wait in line at the Coliseum (boy am I glad we did that!) so we headed there first. But not before I got spammed by a gladiator.... Carly had warned me of what NOT to do in Rome- among other things she said not to take anything from people handing out things on the street because they'd make me pay. I figured this was common sense and didn't think much about it. Little did I know this applied to pictures with gladiators as well. When he asked if I wanted a picture, me loving pictures, couldn't refuse. I had Carly get one with him as well and only after the pictures were taken did he start asking for money. He said 5 euros and we were like fine, handed it over but then he said each! I was a tad upset but we paid him and ran away. I bought Carly some gelato to (try to) make up for my stupidity. Oh well... lesson learned. We headed to check out the Forum.

 

 Left: me in the clutches of the gladiator, Right: Carly with the evil gladiator

 The Roman Forum

After seeing enough of what was left of ancient Roman buildings, we headed over to the Coliseum. It is a million times grander and more spectacular in person. Its huge and so amazing that they were able to build that so long ago.

 

 

 

 After wandering around the Forum and Coliseum in the hot sun we were ravenous so we found a cute little restaurant overlooking the Coliseum and ate lunch outside. Lunch obviously included wine and a caprese sandwich and was obviously followed by gelato!

Since it was still so early in the day we decided to go to the Pantheon. Again- an amazing building. Literally awestruck! Seeing this building in particular started bringing back memories of learning about the Romans in Ms. Olsen's 6th grade class.

Next we ventured over to Trevi Fountain. It was a little bit mobbed here so we took some pictures, tossed our three coins in, made a wish, and kept on moving.

 

We meandered back to the hostel and took an Italian siesta before walking around our area and grabbing dinner. This time I decided on pizza and because its so famous in Italy I got the prosciutto pizza. Fabulous. So fabulous I finished the entire thing!

Saturday we decided to trek the three miles (each way) to the Vatican. It was definitely worth it! As we approached, you could see the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. Coming across the river we saw Castel Sant'Angelo which unfortunately we didn't go into but it brought back visions from Angels and Demons. So we made our way to Vatican City. We took some pictures and got ready for waiting in the longgggggg line to get into St. Peter's. Fortunately it moved slow and we only roasted in the sun for 15 minutes or so. I will forever be impressed by the Romans. Not only is each and every ancient building humongous but the detail is phenomenal! You could spend days in there and still not appreciate every single piece of artwork and sculpture!

  Left: Castel Sant'Angelo, Right: the Vatican in the distance

  Left: drive into Vatican City, Right: the line to get into St. Peter's

 Me!

San Pietro

 After grabbing lunch and people-watching, our next stop was the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel. It wasn't as enjoyable as I'd have liked. They basically set it up so you have to go through a labrynth to get to the chapel and thats all everyone wants to get to so its like being herded. Too many people. By the time we reached the Sistine Chapel I was a tad disappointed (don't worry I illegally took a pic so you can see- when in Rome do as the Romans do...). Apart from that, I saw some great art. Just wish I'd had more time and space to enjoy it.

 Left: exit to Vatican Museum, Right: the Belvedere Torso

Sistine Chapel

After getting away from all the people, we ventured through a cute little market of Italian merchants and got some gelato! Then we trekked back to the hostel, napped, and got dinner (and maybe some more gelato...).

 Left: merchant market, Right: my favorite gelato of the trip (strawberry and blackberry)

 Left: focaccia bread with cloves of garlic yummm, Right: gnocchi with shrimp yummm

Sunday we went to Piazza Navona, the Spanish Steps, and Villa Borghese. All of which was wonderful and it was another glorious day so perfect for walking around. Then we headed back, napped, got dinner (starting to see the pattern?).

 Piazza Navona

  Spanish Steps

 Gelato and Villa Borghese

 Left: rice croquettes (had to seek them out after a friend's recommendation), Right: Canelloni

 Monday was our last day and so we got up, checked out of the hostel, dropped our bags off at the train station, got breakfast, and went to explore a lot of churches. Originally we had planned on going to a couple of museums before heading to the airport but we realized a little too late that museums were closed on Mondays and the only thing open was churches. But we saw some beautiful ones before we became too "churched-out" and got one last Italian meal and gelato before heading to the airport.

 Left: Italian breakfast- freshly squeezed orange juice, bread, and caprese omelets! Right: Santa Maria Maggiore (largest catholic church devoted to Mary in Rome)

 

Piazza della Reppublica

 

Left: outside of Basilica S. Maria, Right: Meridian

 Last supper = penne al salmone yummmm

Carly as a true Italian!

Well that concluded our trip to Rome. It was absolutely amazing and I'd do it all over in a heartbeat. Though I should probably give my feet a bit of time to recover. This weekend I'm hanging around Dublin and definitely looking forward to it. I have a lot of school work coming due with only 3 more weeks of classes so I need to get ahead of it before Paris next weekend!

Caio!