Roaming around Roma.

The adventure to Rome began with a minor catastrophe that made me freak out for just a tiny, little second. We were on the train from Florence to Rome, when the announcer said, “Roma Termini”, and we were like, “Hey, that’s our stop.” It was about 10 minutes earlier than our planned arrival time, but for all we knew the train was going to arrive ahead of schedule. So we got all of our belongings together and got off the train. Yep, not the right stop. Great. As it turns out, we only got off one stop too early, so we were able to figure out the Metro system and take the tube to our intended destination. Like I said, I just had a small moment where I was like, “Oh my gosh, it’s dark, I’m in another country, I’m dragging around luggage, and I don’t know where I am.” But everything turned out okay, and we found our way to Roma Termini and eventually to our hostel.

This hostel was different from both the Venice and Florence hostels we stayed at earlier during this trip. I would describe this one as more of “real” hostel… if that makes sense. It wasn’t as sketchy as the Florence one, and the whole area just seemed much safer. It was me and one other girl from our group in a room with four other people we didn’t know. Then in a completely different area of the hostel were the three other girls from our group. There was a co-ed group bathroom, which actually turned out better than I thought it would because there was never a problem finding an available shower. The other people in our room seemed pretty safe – they were American girls studying in Copenhagen, Denmark. They had three weeks to travel all over Europe, which would be nice, but that’s a very long time to be living out of hostels. One night we had a homeless man in our room, but nothing bad happened. I guess he needed a place to sleep that night just like everyone else.

Our first real day in Rome started off with breakfast at this cute restaurant right down the street from our hostel. Out of all the lattes I had while I was in Italy, they definitely had the best one. Then we hopped on the Metro and went to Vatican City. The place is definitely amazing, just because of all the incredible architecture, and because of all the people who go there to visit. We went to St. Peter’s Basilica first. There were signs that said you weren’t allowed inside if you had a tank top or shorts on. So basically, if you dressed skanky, you weren’t getting in. Hahaha, I just thought it was really funny. So all of us cleared security and were within the limits of the dress code, so we were allowed inside. The inside of the Basilica was amazing. And I know I’ve seen a lot of churches and I say this every time, but the inside was seriously AMAZING. It was humongous! The ceilings were so high, the statues were so detailed, and the length of the Basilica just kept going and going. Two things that really stuck out in my mind: Number one, there was a pope who had died quite a while ago that was in a glass box on display. He hasn’t decayed at all… kind of stange… they don’t have an explanation for it… so yeah, that was interesting. Number two, the statue by Michelangelo of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus after he’s taken down from the cross was in there too – very cool.

After St. Peter’s Basilica, we went to the Vatican Museums. Luckily we did all of this in the morning, so nothing was too busy. The Vatican Museums stretched on forever and ever too because there was just so much stuff to look at - tapestries, statues, paintings, etc. Really all I wanted to see was the Sistine Chapel, along with everyone else there, but in order to get there you have to walk through all the other rooms. So it took a little while, but we eventually made it. It definitely did not disappoint – absolutely breathtaking. Everything was so detailed and precise – and the room is huge, so no wonder it took Michelangelo so long. I can only imagine what he thought the first time he walked into that room, “Really I have to paint all this? That’s not overwhelming or anything.”

After that, we had lunch at a pizzeria, went to a “supermercat” (grocery store) because that’s the only place they sell inexpensive water, did some souvenir shopping, and just walked around Rome. Along the way, I decided to I was thirsty, so I took a sip of the water I had just bought… Well, in Europe they have two types of water: sparking and still, gas or no gas, with fizz or without. Somehow I had gotten the sparking one, which means it’s carbonated, but there’s no flavoring. So it’s like flavorless Sprite. Eww. And when you aren’t expecting to have carbonation and you get it as a surprise, it’s just not a happy time in your mouth. So yeah, that was gross. We also saw people filming a movie with a very cute Italian actor. I’m assuming he was famous because all the girls were running over to him and screaming.

We were trying to walk towards Trevi Fountain, but along the way we found the Spanish Steps. Those were really fun, and busy, but I still climbed to the top just to say that I did. After that, we went on to Trevi Fountain, which guess what, was under construction. And I’m not even kidding, but the crane was all up in his business… I don’t know if it was maintenance work or what, but the man was definitely cleaning “the family jewels” of the main statue man. After that we tired, so we got some much needed gelato. Then we walked a little more towards the Pantheon, but we got distracted along the way by markets and other shops, so by the time we reached it, it was dark.

We had dinner back by our hostel and then went back to our rooms because it was getting late and we were all sleepy girls. There was a little drama amongst the roomies from Copenhagen that night. Apparently they all went out to a “pub crawl”, and along the way one of the girls decided she didn’t want to do it anymore. So she left BY HERSELF after she had been drinking for quite a while. When everyone else came back later, the girl who left was nowhere to be found. So everyone was freaking out and calling the embassy because they had no idea where she was. Apparently she showed up a few hours later, so everything turned out fine. But really, have we learned nothing from Aruba? Keep track of your people.

The next day in Rome was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. We went to the Colosseum! I had been waiting the entire Italy trip to do this, so I was definitely excited. It was just awesome. So big and well preserved… I loved it. It’s hard to believe that they were actually able to flood it at one point. It would have been awesome to see it during its prime with all the people in it. It was just extraordinary. That is something everyone should try to see at some point during their lives.

As we were leaving the Colosseum, these men dressed up as faux gladiators came up to us and told us to pose for a picture. So we did. And then they said they needed five euros from each of us for the picture. I was not a happy camper, so I told them I would just delete the picture because they should’ve told us that before the picture was ever taken. Then they said something about paying them for their time… what, like 30 seconds? So, I was about to argue some more, but then one of the girls just paid it for everyone, but if she hadn’t done that, the attitude was about to come out. It was just really rude because they thought they could take advantage of us because we’re young, American girls. Not cool at all.

After that fiasco, we went to the Roman Forum and walked around there for a bit. That stretched on forever and ever and after a while it got a little overwhelming. We didn’t really know the historical importance of everything we were looking at because we didn’t do a tour, and in retrospect, that probably would’ve been something informative to do.

Then we had lunch, went back to the Pantheon and actually went inside this time, ate gelato, and walked over to Piazza Navona. That place is famous for its three fountains, but during our little visit, the one in the middle was under construction. Surprised? That seems to be a reoccurring theme. We spent some time in that area looking at different paintings artists were selling and going into shops. It was a really cute and unique area. We ate dinner in that area and then had tartufu (basically chocolate ice cream covered in chocolate shavings with a cherry in the middle) for dessert. It was DELICIOUS! In Piazza Navona that night, there were masses of birds flying around – it was crazy! All you could see were waves of black that kept moving all over the place. Samantha got bird poop on her shoe and after that everyone ran away seeking shelter. I just stood out there and filmed it for a while and luckily didn’t get anything dropped on me. Then we walked by Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum, so that we could see them both at night, which of course was incredible.

The next day, Samantha and Tara left early because their flight was at 10:30 AM. Megan, Magdalena, and I weren’t flying out until that evening, so we just had a leisurely day shopping, eating, and talking. Everything went fine with getting to the airport, checking our luggage (I was afraid mine was going to weigh too much, but it was good!), and finding our gate. Our flight was delayed, which was not a surprise with EasyJet because they are ALWAYS running behind. But because it was delayed, we didn’t back to London in time to use the tubes, so we had to take buses back to our flat… all while dragging our luggage and lugging around my backpack. It took about an hour longer than it should have, but when we finally got off the bus near our flat, we were all just so happy to have made it back.

Italy was so beautiful and amazing. I learned so much about the people there, saw so many incredible things that I will remember forever, and made some really good friends. But when I got off the bus on my street and saw my flat, it definitely felt good to be back “home” in London. :)

Until next time,
Rachel