Today was our last full day in Roma. :( We leave tomorrow morning for Florence! A A A WHOOP. I can't believe our time in Rome is already coming to an end! I feel like we just got here! The past few days have been packed with a ton of touristy things and lots of great memories. I have already taken 214 pictures! Good gravy. We have seriously done so much... I have so many thoughts. I will try not to be too scattered. :D
Rome is amazing. I don't think I would want to live here though - lots of tourists (like me :D) and it is super crowded. The streets are CRAZY. I'm surprised that we haven't been hit by a tiny car yet. Yes, all of the cars are super small. And they honk all the time. And there are basically no rules for driving or parking. Seriously. And if you are caught in the middle of the road when the light turns green - run. But this place is absolutely wonderful. I love being able to walk out of a building from the 1600's, walk past ruins from BC, then walk into a brand new gelato shop in the span of a few blocks. We walk everywhere. I love that most things are within walking distance. It is so crazy how these amazing historical landmarks are right in the middle of a bustling city. I have been getting a whole lot of practice with my Italian. I know a lot more than I thought I did. Many locals speak English though, so it is not difficult to get around in Rome if you don't know any Italian. Also, some of the people here seem angry or rude or something? For example, they will bump into you pretty hard and not acknowledge it... That bothers me. And sometimes they just seem annoyed to be living. But most of the time, when I have talked to a local, they have been very nice and helpful. It's hit or miss I guess. There are people here from all over the world. When we walked through the Sistine Chapel today, I heard at least five different languages. I didn't recognize a few. OH! And I saw a kid (middle school maybe?) smoking outside of the Vatican Museo today... So weird. Black lung baby. And. It has been cold and rainy. It was sunny yesterday, but started raining again last night. A lot of us are not prepared for this kind of weather at all - we were told we would be sweating like crazy! Oh well. So there are some of my random thoughts... Here's what I've been up to:
The first night we were here, we went to a welcome dinner at a nice ristorante... don't remember what it was called... We had traditional Roman cuisine. It was interesting. I didn't dislike it, but I would rather have some good ole fashioned mac and cheese than gnocchi. The bruschetta was amazing. I like trying new things, but for some reason it hasn't been working out for me lately... hah. I'll get to that... After our dinner, we had some free time. Instead of walking back to the hotel with the group, some of us decided to go exploring and find some vino. I mean, it was our first night in Italy. Vino was going to happen. Well, vino did happen, but then we got lost. We wandered for about an hour or two trying to figure out where we were on the map (total tourist move). But none of us really cared because WE WERE IN ROME. :) We kept walking by the same square where these people were selling the weirdest light up toy things... these people are everywhere. They sell the most random stuff and they love to bother you. I got directions from a molta simpatica local and we finally made it back to the hotel.
A glass of vino on our first night in Italia! Cin cin!
The next day was our first full day in Roma. Christin and I woke up early to get breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast at the hotel was different, but I really liked it! I had caprese, boiled eggs, COFFEE, toast, and some other random stuff. Side note, the cereal tasted like cardboard. After our mini feast, we got ready for our big tour day of Ancient Rome. Before we left for the tour, we had some extra time. Sooo we went on a straightener hunt! Great success. We then decided to get a little snack before our tour because we figured we would get hungry before our late lunch... well. We went to the Subway next door. It was close and fast and we knew we would like it, right? I ordered a meatball sandwich. I love those things, and I'm in Italy. It should, technically, be the best one ever, right? Oh my goodness. Nastiest sandwich of my life. I don't know what kind of meat it was, but I feel like it was the meat of a monster soaked in gym sock vinegar. Or something like that. Insta-gag. Christin's sandwich was okay. Let's just say I won't be eating any more meatballs while I'm here. Oh, the irony.
The meatballs of fury.
Tour time. We had the same tour guide for the past two days. Manuel is my homeboy. He was so awesome! He basically knew everything about Rome, which was perfect because he knew the answer to literally every question we asked him. We went through a fun, cute market square (me and Christin found it earlier in the day because we are expert level explorers) first, followed by a series of gorgeous fountains, important ancient and modern buildings, and plazas/squares. My favorite part was the Trevi Fountain. I absolutely loved it. I threw two coins over my shoulder into the fountain - the first was to ensure I would return to Rome one day, and the second was a wish. It was a solid wish, if I do say so myself. We had a short break for lunch. We went into a little pizzeria-ish place and I got a caprese salad (again, I know). Those were seriously the best tomatoes I have ever eaten in my entire life. And I have eaten a whole lot of tomatoes. We then went on a bus tour to see more ancient ruins and monuments/memorials. Theeeeennn we went to the colosseum!! SO COOL. While we were there, we found the aTm that someone carved into one of the pillars. Naturally, we had to take some WHOOP and GIG 'EM pictures. The colosseum was so gigantic and rich in history. Thuper duper awesome. I definitely recommend seeing that if you ever get the chance...
Making wishes at the Trevi Fountain!
We found the ATM!
The Colosseum!
After our tour of the colloseum, we headed back to the hotel. We had free time for the rest of the evening. Shannon, Diane, Christin, and I were starving. Sooo we decided to ask the front desk dude for some recommendations of good places to eat within walking distance. We found the ristorante after getting just a wee bit lost (the roads don't make any sense because they are not on a grid and some times they aren't marked - OR they have markings, but they aren't the same as your map... curse you cellular data roaming! We need a GPS here! haha). We had a lovely bottle of vino... and then... the salad that launched a thousand ships. The girls got pizza, but I got a salad. The salad. The ingredients were all things that I recognized, but I never thought to put together. Oh my goodness. Worst decision ever. I felt awful for the rest of dinner. My stomach hated me. It was the dressing. I can't even think about it... UGH. After the fateful meal, the girls decided that I would feel better if I finished my glass of vino and had some gelato. And whaddya know?! It worked. Rome is indeed magical. After dinner, we crossed the Tiber and found a cute bar/ristorante and had a glass of Chardonnay. We had so much fun! I feel so blessed to be able to share this experience with such a wonderful group of girls! After that, Christin and I walked back to the hotel. We were exhausted.
Making fun of the way Shannon was holding her wine glass...
Hotel. Sleep. Right? No. Didn't sleep... migraine. And in the morning, my stomach caught up with me. Good gravy. It was like that salad just wouldn't leave me alone. Or maybe it was the phantom meatball. Geezzzz. So this morning was borderline miserable. I tried really hard to stay positive though. There was no way I was going to miss the Vatican! Christin is the best roommate ever. I took some medicine, got a bottle of water, and hoped for the best. Oh. Water. When I ordered a bottle of water at the dreaded Subway next door, he asked me "gas or no gas?" ... What? Carbonated water. It was a funny moment... the Italian Subway dude and I bonded. He thought my being from Texas was the coolest thing ever. Because it is. ;)
Tour time again. We took a bus to Vatican City. First we toured a palace... didn't quite catch who used to lived there... heh... I was a little busy trying not to see my salad again, ya feel me? The palace was so cool though. I loooove walking around in old buildings. So this thing totally took the cake for me. My favorite part was the rooftop terrace because there was a perfect view of Rome. After the tour, we had some time for lunch. I was scared to eat. So, naturally, I went for the caprese sandwich. LOVED it. I started to feel much better. After lunch, we went to the Vatican. Holy cow, Batman. That place is amazing. It's HUGE inside and the attention to detail is ridiculous. It made me feel so small! It was just overwhelmingly gorgeous and there is no way that a picture could capture how beautiful it was. We then went to the Vatican Museo and the Sistine Chapel. It is crazy how amazing those paintings are... There is so much attention to detail. There is not a single foot of space that was not considered. It was cool, buuut we were exhausted. Christin, Shannon, Diane, and I went through the museo probably a bit too fast. We took a taxi back to the hotel because our feet hurt and walking back to the hotel didn't sound all that fun (it was cold and raining and we didn't have on the proper attire for that nonsense). Christin and I FINALLY found a working ATM. Yay. Then we got some delicious gelato. :) This gelatteria was even better than the one we went to last night.
View from the top of the palace! Best tour group ever.
The Vatican - seriously, a picture can't capture how massive and gorgeous it is.
We couldn't take a picture inside of the Chapel - this'll do. :)
Now we are back in the hotel room. I'm sure I forgot to talk about something. Florence tomorrow! I can't wait to get settled at our apartment and get into a routine. I want to slow down a little bit. Cenare time!
A presto ragazzi!
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