Buongiorno Principessa!
Well I am at work right now on the 2:30pm-11pm shift and there is nothing to do so I thought it was about time I told you all about Rome (I mean I know my thousands of readers sit at home just WAITING for me to post about my overly exciting travels!)
So here goes!
My traveling to Rome went much more smoothly than for London (thank God!) and I got to Rome in the early afternoon and navigated my way to my hostel (without a map or knowledge of the language… yeah I basically rock) and it was a cute hostel in a pretty good location. I had to wait for my friend Amy to get there though otherwise I would have to pay for everyone up front and that just wasn’t going to happen. Luckily, however, she arrived about 10 minutes after me so it wasn’t too bad. We got to our room which we shared with 6 other people. The first night there were 3 Canadians (1 boy 2 girls) and this girl from like Oklahoma or something and the second night we had a girl and boy from Texas a guy from some middle eastern country I think (okay I really don’t remember) the same girl from Oklahoma and some guy who I only ever saw sleeping. It was interesting to talk with other people and hear about their travels. Most of the people were just spending the summer backpacking, which made me want to do it and want to do it very soon… but I need to graduate first and maybe get some dollars because it is EXPENSIVE! any-who so after we checked in we changed and relaxed for a bit then headed out to explore Rome!
Amy had a friend who lived in Rome for about 6 months so she told us everywhere we had to go and then we grabbed a map and started walking. We saw so much and the city is beyond beautiful! And the weather… LOVE IT! So warm and sunny, unlike lovely rainy cold Germany (but I love Germany). The first thing we did was eat. Right across from our hostel was a little restaurant with a deal on pizza and a beer for 5 Euro… that’s a sweeet deal! Then we started walking toward the Spanish Steps (Piazza di Spagna) and when we first got there we didn’t even realize we were there, then we looked down the steps and noticed and they were beautiful and packed with people. Then we kept on our journey and saw the Trevi Fountain (Fontona di Trevi) which was also beautiful and something cool about Rome that they do NOT have in Germany (okay that’s a lie they had it in München but that was like amazing) are fountains with fresh water throughout the town and they aren’t like typical American water fountains they are beautiful and match the architecture of the city so it’s awesome because Rome is HOT and you are always thirsty. So yeah we filled up at the fountain, took in our surroundings and continued on our way. We were heading toward the Pantheon and we found it (well Amy said we did) but it wasn’t the Pantheon it was like some financial building. We were glad it wasn’t the Pantheon because that would been quite the let down, it was pretty pathetic. So we kept walking and found the Pantheon. It was cool but we didn’t go inside (I don’t know why…) and then we headed toward the Colosseum (Colosseo). On our way there we passed the Piazza Venezia and some ruins. The Colosseum was really pretty but totally creepy to think of what went down there. We were there later in the evening too so it was nice to see it while the sun was going down. All around the Colosseum are also garden type things and patches of grass so it’s a pretty site. We got to see a ton of the city from walking everywhere and I think my fav place was the Colosseum because the other places were incredibly packed with people and the Colosseum was much calmer. Also at the Colosseum were a few couples taking their wedding pics, how cool is that! And another cool thing throughout Rome are obelisks.. like everywhere! I found out that Rome stole them from Egypt or something like that. We then walked through some ruins and then a park but German parks are much greener. I guess that is something you have to forfeit when you have so much sun because Germany is MUCH greener than Rome. Then we found a restaurant and sat down for dinner around 9 ( I guess that’s normal for Rome…. weird) I got penne pasta but it was called something cool. We got home and were in bed by midnight so we could have an early start to our Saturdays.
Saturday morning we got to the Vatican around 10. We left around 8:30 and walked all the way there and it was a beautiful and warm walk. We got to see some more of the city and saw the beautiful river that runs through it and we were hungry so what better way to start the day than with some gelatti? We saw the castle that is before you get to the Vatican (not too exciting after all the German castles I’ve seen) and THEN the Vatican! it was sooooooooooooooooooooo cool! As soon as we got there we were getting in a good place to take a pic and this guy came up to us asking if we wanted a tour and we did want one but we weren’t sure if he was offereing us the best deal… we felt a bit pressured and weren’t sure if we should do it, but we ended up doing because the tour was leaving RIGHT then and we figured we might not getting a better opportunity. It was definitly the right decision because we had an awesome tour guide and got to get started right away. Our tour guide was from New York but had been living in Rome for a while and was some kind of history nerd but that was good because he really knew his stuff. We didn’t wait in any lines and got to start right away. The first part of the tour was the Vatican museum and we ended up at the Sistine Chapel and got direct entrance to St. Peters Basilica (without waiting in lines again! sweeeet) but he didn’t give us a tour of the Basilica. In the Sistine Chapel they can’t actually give tours inside so in the first courtyard in the Vatican Museum (The pincone court) they have all these bulletin board type things set up for tour guides to explain the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museum was full of the most beautiful pieces of art you could possible imagine, and having a guide was so nice because I actually would learn what the stuff was and why it was there. The Vatican Museum is also the biggest museum in the world so yeah I’ve been there 
. So at the end of the Museum tour our guide told us we could go into the chapel, but no pictures were allowed and he couldn’t give us a tour inside because there was supposed to be a reverent silence…. this was very disappointing for me because it was exactly the opposite! When we walked in the Sistine Chapel was PACKED full of people and there are no bunches in the chapel, but people were sitting all over the place chatting and shoving through people to try to get the best picture. I was really dissapointed because I did’t get to enjoy it at all. Amy and I tried to take it in best we could but we didn’t stay long because it was so frusterating. Then our guide walked us over to the Basilica and we parted our ways. St. Peters was phenomenal! It also had a lot of people snapping pictures, but it was a lot quieter and you could feel the reverence in there so I was much happier. We went into one of the rooms where they had adoration for a while and it was a nice way to unwind after the busy morning. Then we payed 5 Euros to climb the Dom, SO COOL! 555 steps or something like that, a great workout. Anyway they have a gift shop about half way up and we bought our souveneirs there (way cooler than at the bottom level gift shop) I bought a beautiful crucifix and a rosary (I have so many rosarys).
After the most wonderful morning (oh yeah and in a NEW country!) we had to head back to the hotel because we were supposed to meet Amy’s friend hours before but Amy forgot her phone. Well turns out their phones weren’t working anyway so we were relieved that her friend wasn’t sitting around waiting for us and head spent the day exploring on her own. We got changed (I mean it was a hot day I needed some fresh clothes) than went out searching for this restaurant that Amys other friend had told us we just had to eat at! It was a bit confusing to locat, BUT we eventually did and it was delic! We all got the same thing, the pasta trio with gnochi ravioli and some spicy pasta. Also he asked us if we wanted water and we said yes and he brought us out bread before our meal. Well in the US you would think “score free bread” and you wouldn’t think anything of the water… but in Italy they do this and then charge you! I did not order bread and I would not have ordered water… that was a bit annoying, but when in Rome. After dinner we walked back to the Vatican and enjoyed it’s beauty at night and then adventured back to our hostel. Amy’s friend left to the airport (she had an early flight so she slept there) and Amy and I got to bed around 12 again.
The plan was to get to the Vatican in time for 10:30 mass…. that did not happen. We got there late and then got very confused because St. Peters has like 6 alters. We finally figured out where the 12:15 mass would be held and stood by that entrance until they let us take our seats. Well I have been having trouble understand German mass and I understood NONE of this one. But I knew exactly what was going on of course and it was such a beautiful experience. All these people were here worshiping together from all different countries with all different languages. Gosh I love being Catholic! After mass we made our way back to the train stop to head to the airport but on the way we ate some food (I had an Italian Doner of course) and got some more gelati (duhsies) then we stopped in places on the way back. Saw the Trevi again and saw a women get pushed in and then the police escort her out. Saw the Pantheon again, and this time went inside (super beaufitul) and some more obelisks.
All in all it was an amazing experience and just what I needed. I felt like I was in a rut before I went because things were getting repetetive here in Heidelberg and my one friend here had finished her internship and headed home. But God is awesome and I came home refreshed and excited for my last 3 weeks here and more motivated to get the best of it!
okay that’s all for now, more about my life soon!!
Love,
Your Favorite Spartan
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