When in Rome.

On the bus in to the center of Rome from the airport we met this girl who told us everything to do in Rome. She was from Alabama and had lived in Rome for 6 months studying. She typed me up a list of the best places to get pizza, gelato, things to must see, things to skip and how to get to everything! It was so helpful! The first thing we did when we got to Rome was go into the train station and buy the rest of our train tickets around italy! It was so easy to do and so much cheaper than we thought it would be! After that we walked right down the street about 100 meters and checked in to our new hostel!

This hostel was called the Coconuts all girl hostel. It was 100 times nicer than our last hostel. There was a little air conditioning, and a nice indoor bathroom and shower! It was just over all much better. We only had two other girls staying with us in our room. They were from Northern Ireland and were so sweet!

After dropping off our bags it was time to explore Rome. We figured out the metro much easier than in Paris cause there are only two metro lines instead of 10. We took the metro to the Colosseo. First thing to do: Pizza! Italian food is my favorite so I was super excited! We went to this amazing little Pizza place right nice to the Colosseo and had some amazing Italian Pizza! I don’t think Italian food in America will ever be the same after Italy. We split inorder to save a little money, but half a pizza was plenty of food!

After our first Italian food experience, we walked over to the Colosseo and got a tour! At first we were not sure if it would be worth the money to actually go in and take the tour of the Colosseo, but now we would have been crazy not to. It was an amazing experience where we learned so much! We are now experts on Gladiators and the Colosseo. Our tour guy was really funny, he spoke with a broken accent and tried to crack jokes that were not funny and constantly laughed at himself (not to mention he looked like Johnny Bravo). Now one thing I have to do when I get home, watch Gladiator!

We then went on a free tour of Palatino. Palatino is the OLDEST part of Rome. Our guide was from Denver Colorado and new EVERYTHING there was to know about Rome and its history. Needless to say we learned so much from him. I really didn’t think I would be as interested in the History of Rome as I was, but it was really captivating. To think we were walking around nearly the oldest civilization in the world was hard to even grasp. The two tours combined lasted till around 5:30 pm, so once we were done with those it was time to go find so dinner and explore a new part of the city.

We took the metro to a stop near the Trevi Fountain. We walked toward the Trevi Fountain and found an amazing little Italian kitchen along the street on our way. We stopped and ordered the most amazing pasta I have ever had (besides yours of course mom). Angie and I had a very romantic candle light dinner. It was a very nice restaurant (the bathroom was the fanciest I have ever been in), but even the nicer restaurants in Rome are still cheaper compared to Paris. Once we were done with our relaxing and yummy dinner was kept on walking until we made it to the Trevi fountain.

There was a band there so the fountain was so crowded! We snuck up to the very front to get the best view. The band was standing right in front of the fountain playing “Rocky!” It was pretty funny and the band was really good. We watched for a while and then decided to go get so Gelato right next to the Trevi in an attempt to wait out the crowd. The Italian gelato was to die for! It is so much better than American, Spanish, and French ice cream (but not better than Momo’s homemade ice cream). The only problem was that is melted so fast! We looked like little 3 year olds trying to eat the ice cream! But seriously- people were laughing and we had it all over out face and hands. We took out time enjoying the gelato before going back to the fountain. The fountain was not nearly as crowed as before. The band had left and there were just a few people sitting around and tossing coins into the fountain. Angie and I found the perfect front row spot. We sat and talked about our trip as the sun went down and did a little people watching. There was this one crazy couple doing a strange photo shoot together at the fountain. He was taking her picture and she was wearing this gothic dress. They had to have taking a million pictures, but every single picture she never changed her pose. Ever shoot was the exact same pose- weird.

I love Angie and my nights in Europe. They are always really relaxing and always have one of the best views in the world. We just hung out for a few hours before we decided to was time to head back. But before we left we had to make a wish a throw a coin into the fountain. Of course I saved 2 of my lucky American pennies to throw in! So we both took turns making wishes and tossing our pennies into the Trevi Fountain before we headed back to the hostel.

We walked back up the street to catch the metro home, but to our surprise the metro was already closed! So we started mapping out our walk back. Luckily, right when we started walking we saw a bus stop that would take us right in front of our hostel. So we hopped on and headed home! We got off one stop before to take a picture at this really pretty square before we made it back, but we finally made it! Transportation is much easier in Rome than in Paris, I think that is one reason Angie likes it better in Rome. I did love Paris, but I’ll have to admit I think Rome is my favorite so far! When we got back to the hostel, we finally to a nice long good shower and got an amazing night’s sleep!

We woke up pretty early and got a jump-start on the day! It is crazy how fast our time goes by in each city that we are in! I wish we had longer in each place, but I’m glad we are getting to see everything we get to see. It is just exhausting trying to get everything done that we want to… but we are! We grabbed breakfast and coffee at a café right next to our hostel and then caught a tourist bus (just like Paris) to take us all around town. We saw EVERYTHING. We packed so much into one day it was unreal but so worth every second of it.

At on stop there was this guy standing outside dressed up as a Gladiator. I figured he was another one of those people dressed up asking for money that you could take pictures of, so I did. I took a picture of him. We were kind of a distance from him so after I took the picture we turned around and started walking to get back on the bus. Little did I know the Gladiator was chasing after us. He was yelling “Excuse me! Excuse me!” so we turned around and stopped. “You took a picture of me. You do not respect my profession. You need to delete that now.” A little frightened, but kind of amused. I asked why and what exactly was his profession…? He said he was a dancer…? I laughed a little and asked what kind of dancing he did as I respectful deleted one of the two pictures that I had taken of him. He rudely said, “Go! Leave!” Probably the most comical thing that happened in Rome.

We stopped and walked around everywhere in the city of Rome. I seriously don’t think we missed one thing. The Vatican was amazing! It was a holiday when we were there so we even go to watch a mass on a screen outside of the building. It is just crazy to think of all the amazing things that we got to see and do and experience. We are so blessed!

We ate lunch right across the street from the Vatican and had an amazing Greek Salad. It seems that all of the food in Italy is simply amazing. After lunch we headed over to Castel Sant’ Angelo and went inside and looked around. After that we headed over to the Spanish steps. We sat on the steps for a while before we did a little window-shopping. I emphasize the “window” part because every shop in this area is extremely expensive. Gucci, Prada, Fendi, the list goes on and on. We just didn’t feel fancy enough to actually go in and actually look around.

After a while it was time to head over to our wine tasting. Yes, our wine tasting in Italy. I was excited beyond words, Angie- not so much. We walked across the river until we got to the building. We went in and went up to the 7^th floor were the tasting would be. This wasn’t just an ordinary wine tasting though. It was more of a wine tasting/ learning experience. One of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Everyone partaking in the tasting sat at a long dining table with some bread and two empty wine glasses in front of you. We met and had great conversations with some people from all over the place. There was a newly wed couple from Norway, an older very wealthy couple from Australia, a mom and daughter from New Jersey, and three other people from San Francisco. Everyone was so fun! The lady in charge taught us how exactly to taste wines and the proper way to analyze them and find out what you like and what you don’t like. We tried 6 different wines from all over Italy (one of which was actually produced from the ashes of a Volcano in Southern Italy).  It was a great experience. Angie even liked it! She even decided she kind of likes some wines!

After the tasting we walked back over near the Spanish Steps and grabbed our last meal in Rome- pizza of course. We both ordered a glass of wine to test out or wine tasting skills! It was funny- as I was going through the process of tasting my wine (looking, swilling, smelling, slurping).. the waiter came us and asked me if everything was okay with the wine or if there was a problem with it. I laughed and said no it was great, but I can only imagine how funny I actually looked in the process of it all.

After dinner we caught the bus again. It was nice to drive around Rome at night with all of the lights and just look at everything again. We got off again at the Trevi Fountain to get one last gelato from Rome, tell the Trevi Fountain good-bye, and make one last wish before we headed back to the hostel to pack our bags and get some sleep. We woke up early and caught our train to Florence.

I am writing this blog on the train as we are heading to Florence right now. On the train view of the countryside on out way to Florence is breathtaking so it is kind of hard to even concentrate on my writing! I will let you know how Florence is whenever I can. Thanks in advance to one of my favorite people in the world, Taylor Petree, for giving me the best to-do list ever for when we get to Florence!