ROMA!!

So it seems like forever ago that I was sitting here telling you about my trip to Paris.  Just one, very long, week later I am here now to tell you about my adventures in Rome!  This past weekend I took a short but action packed vacation to Rome with four of my friends.  It was fully of sights, walking, excitement, and of course food. Here's how it all went down.

We got into Rome fairly late on Friday night.  It was about 8 when we landed and then obstacle number one of this adventure hit us: trying to get to our hostel.  So the plan was to take this bus to a metro stop and then the metro to another station where we would then walk to our hostel.  Little did we know we could have just taken a bus straight to the station and skipped the whole metro thing but hey...lessons learned.  So we waited 20 min in the cold for our first bus.  Once arriving at the metro stop, we and everyone else on that bus discovered that the metro stops running at 9.  Ok no worries we'll just get on another bus.  There were tons of busses and some guy with a very bad attitude tells us that we have to get on this one bus so we do.  It is jammed with people and our luggage isn't helping much so we stay near the front so we can know when to get off.  Obstacle number two then came: nothing is labeled in Italy.  Streets, bus stops, nothing.  It literally looks like people are just standing in the street hailing this bus like a taxi.  We asked the driver when to get off and he promptly ignored us many times.  Luckily some very nice man was telling this other girl where to get off and magically we were going to the same place.  This tactic worked many times for us on the busses.  So we finally got off after a very cramped and long bus ride to find that we now still don't know how to get from the station to our hostel.  Being 5 resourceful females, we notice that the station has a bookstore inside and we sneak in to peruse the Rome guidebooks for a map to use.  Once getting our bearings we set off in what we believed to be the right direction.  A few blocks later we stopped into a hotel for a confirmation that we were going in the right direction only to be told we were about 5 min past where we were supposed to be.  Turning back around we finally got to the right spot and found Franco our hostel manager.

Franco may be the nicest, coolest person ever.  He waited for almost 2 hours in the cold for us to arrive because we told him to expect us at 9.  Then we surprisingly had to walk for another 10 min and take a bus one stop to get to our actual hostel.  Still not sure why they don't just have us go to the hostel directly but it all worked out.  Our hostel, which is actually a bed and breakfast, turned out to be amazing.  The five of us got our own room which had a bathroom in it.  You usually have to pay when you get there but because it was late and we were hungry, Franco told us to just go eat and we would take care of the money later.  Win!  So we dropped our stuff and off we went in search of the amazing food we had been promised by our high expectation of Italy.

Let me tell you, this meal lived up to every expectation I ever had.  We found a small restaurant around the corner filled with very cute young Italian waiters.  We all ordered food and when they offered us the wine selections of white or red we all of course said red and when he asked large or small we all replied with a resounding large!  It had been a very long day after all.  They all wanted to know where we all lived in the states, why we were in Rome, and even invited us to go dancing the next night.  The owner bought us all roses from a vendor outside and we each got free italian ices after our meal.  It was probably the best way we could ever start our trip.  After all of the fun we had to leave before we fell asleep in our pasta so we went back to the hostel and crashed; ready for the fun tomorrow.

If you ever need to see the whole of Rome in one day....just come talk to me because I've done it.  Our morning started when Franco brought us our breakfast.  Yes to our room....it was great.  We had capuccinos, sweet rolls, some amazing fruit juice, and a whole loaf of bread which we at like 3 pieces of.  I had my first ever whole cup of coffee, which was not really great, but I figured I was in Italy and so it would be rude not to drink the capuccino.  Our sightseeing started at the Vatican Museum.  Because the Vatican was the furthest away from our hostel we took the metro there and decided to work our way back on foot.  The line to get into the museum was pretty long but one hour of standing outside enjoying some much missed sunshine is not too bad.  Tour guides patrol the line asking people to join their tour and skip the line.  We of course said no to all of them.  "No sir I will not pay 30 euros for your tour when I'm going to wait just one hour and pay 8 euros when I get in there."  Lucky for us, students get into a lot of places for discounted prices.  I will be sad the day I am no longer a student.  The museum was beautiful and the highlight of course was the Sistine Chapel.  We stood and marveled at it for a while and laughed as the guards attempted to keep people from taking pictures, which of course everyone does.  Well, I didn't but that's because I'm too much of a rule follower, but my friends did.  By that time we were all getting hungry and was ready for lunch.  Amazing meal number 2: check!  Margarita Pizza....it doesn't get any better.

Next we had to go see St. Peter's Basilica.  For me this was the highlight of the entire trip.  I don't know if it's because I'm Catholic or just because it is by far one of the most stunning structures in the world, but I could stay there all day.  The celings are amazing, the scupltures are gorgeous, and I just felt peaceful.  I touched the foot of the St. Peter statue.  I can't really remember why people do that, but I did it last time I was there too so I guess it's important.  We wandered, we gawked, and stood and just experienced the amazingness of it all, but we had a lot more to see so they dragged me out and we went on our way.

What do you do when it's a sunny day and you are in Rome?  You get gelato of course.  This we decided was the perfect point to get some gelato and it was everything I remembered and more.  Gosh I love Italy.  The next stop on our whirlwind tour was the Spanish Steps.  We sat, we people watched, we rested our feet, and then we were distracted by the amazing signs on the street just in front of us.  Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Jimmy Choo, Bulgari.  Yes we had found the most expensive shopping street in the city and we just had to walk down it.  We all drooled over the amazing window displays and dreamed of a day when we could walk in without judgement and purchase that Hermes scarf and those Stewart Weitzman heals that we wanted so badly.  Someday...

Next it was time to make a wish and get some good luck from the Trevi Fountain.  I absolutely love the Trevi Fountain and was so happy to be going back to see it again.  All of us threw in our coins over our left shoulders and had a great time reenacting every film that you have ever seen that involves Rome.  That fountain is also one of the best places for people watching.  You can just sit and watch tourists and Italians.  Everyone loves the Trevi Fountain.  At this point I am feeling very content and happy with our day but there was one more stop on our tourist day.  Of course I'm talking about the Colosseum.  The imposing structure that is the Colosseum kind of just pops up out of nowhere.  We turned the corner and BAM there it was.  Because it was late, and we were tired we didn't actually go inside but we took tons of pictures and even made some friends with the gladiators that stand around to take pictures with you.  The charged us a bunch after it, but I guess it's all part of the experience.  We then decided that if we were going to be any fun at night we needed to get off our feet and rest.  So back to the hostel we went to relax.

My friend Kristen knows a girl studying in Rome right now, so we all got ready for a night out and when to meet her at her apartment.  We all went out for, once again, an amazing dinner.  I had the best caprese salad that I have very had in my entire life.  Only the Italians can make 3 ingredients taste so amazing.  Dinner was followed by a few local bars and one very steriotypical euro club.  Honestly I felt like I was in a movie.  Especially when I made friends with some guy named Giuseppe.  I know right...how Italian is that!  We all had such a great time and was sad to see our long day of Italy come to an end.

The next day we had to leave Rome.  It was very sad but we did have one last gelato on the way out because our hostel happened to be right across from the largest gelato factory in the city.  Or so they said.  One metro, one bus, one flight, one train, and one tube ride later we were back in Kensington.  We stopped at the local pub for some food because we were starving and I had lasagne of all things.  Actually this pub's lasagne is amazing and I thought it would be a good cap to the Italian weekend.  All and all I had an fantastic time and I cannot wait to go back.

I didn't get any complaints about the link not working last time so I would assume that this picture link does work.  Here is my album of pictures from the weekend.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2076972&id=1005390138&l=852665e439