Thursday, October 15th: Right after I finished my final I quickly ate lunch and headed to the airport. We got into to Rome at about 6 or 7, but had trouble figuring out how to get to our hostel (the wifi at Ciampino is not good), but we ended up taking a bus to the main train station in Rome, Termini (which I would end up using many times). Then we couldn't find our hostel. By this point it was nearing midnight, and the neighborhood we were in did not seem the safest (Roma Termini has more homeless people at night than anywhere else I've ever seen). A nice cab driver who didn't speak English eventually drove us for free because we were super close but just couldn't figure it out on our own (it was getting late and, like in Dublin, street signs are up high on buildings and not the easiest to see). The people who work at our hostel were nice, but it wasn't the greatest place (I guess you get what you pay for considering it was like 13 euro a night). I was in the bottom bunk of a room with 6 other people. I did not sleep great either night I stayed there. They did give free breakfast though, which was nice.
The next day we woke up and made our way to Piazza Venezia (Venice Square), where we met up with the other two people we traveled with. We made a few wrong turns, but eventually made it there. On one wrong turn, we passed none other than the Coliseum!!! I wasn't expecting to see it, and it was so big and majestic, that I actually got a little teary eyed.
The Coliseum!
We then went on a guided tour of the Coliseum, Palatine Gardens, and the Roman Forum. Our tour guide was really good and knowledgeable. For instance, I learned that there are so many holes in the walls of the Coliseum because people would steel the materials to use for other buildings (which is really weird but this was after the Roman Empire when Rome was not nearly as wealthy).
The Roman Forum
After that, we had our first real Italian food: pizza! It was pretty good, but I had to cut it myself. They didn't give me a pizza cutter, so I had to use my knife. We then tried to watch the sunset from the Spanish steps, but they were closed, which was annoying. But we found another way of getting to the top. We were then scammed by a guy with roses :(. In Italy (especially Rome) there are a lot of people in the touristy areas trying to sell you stupid things. They really get in your face. Like, I have no interest in buying a selfie stick or any cheap toy they were trying to sell. They even go into restaurants and try to sell you stuff inside the restaurant. Still, it was a nice view.
That's amore.
Anyway, after that we got gelato! Yum.
The next day, we planned to meet at Trevi fountain (which you may remember from the Lizzie McGuire movie). But unfortunately, Trevi fountain was closed. You could see it, but there was no water running though it, and there was a glass wall that made it difficult to through a coin in to make a wish (would the wish even count if there's no water? Hmmm). This was disappointing, but we got gelato again to make ourselves feel better.
The (closed) Trevi Fountain
We then made our way to the Pantheon, which is the only piece of architecture from the Roman Empire that is still standing in its original form (unlike the Coliseum, which has a lot of damage to the walls and seats, and the Roman Forum, which is mostly in ruins). It was really beautiful, but I think it's a shame that the people trying to sell you things are allowed to be outside such a place of worship. On the plus side, it was free!
The Pantheon- look at the crowds!
After that, we got lunch. I got a pretty good gnocchi dish. Unfortunately, the portions weren't huge for their price. They wanted us to buy multiple courses, but it was lunch and we weren't super hungry and also couldn't really afford to do that. Yet they more or less shoved the desserts in our face and were pretty rude to us because, I assume: we're American, we don't speak Italian, we only ordered one course, and we payed by card (a lot of places prefer cash). Regardless, I really loved Rome and my first taste of Italy.
We then made our way to the train station to catch our train to Firenze (aka Florence), which I'll write about in my next post! As usual, more pictures will be on Facebook (soon).
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