When in Rome...

Rome was certainly a different experience from Florence. It had started to rain when we left Florence, and it continued to do so when we got to Rome. I had read reviews for our hostel, the Ciak, online when we booked it, and it had gotten good reviews. Well, they had failed to mention that it's located in a really bad part of Rome. I realized this when, on the directions from Termini station, the walking directions said "we don't recommend you walking here at night, even though it is a 10 minute walk." We got there around 5:30, so we just ended up walking because it was still light out, but it was definitely a run down area. We made it to the hostel, and were thankfully greeted by a very sweet British receptionist. She pointed out all the important things to see on a map, told us where there was a supermarket, and some good places to eat nearby. Our room was actually in a detached building from the main building called the Secret Garden, which was a little more private. It was a nice room, and it was just the four of us in the room with our own bathroom. In terms of the actual hostel, it was really nice. For dinner, we just walked to the grocery store a block away and got salad and brought it back to our room. It was an early night to bed because we were getting up early to go to the Vatican.

On Wednesday morning, we woke up relatively early to make it to the Vatican for our 10:30 admission to the Vatican Museums. We bought a Roma Pass, which I would highly recommend to anyone traveling to Rome-which gave us unlimited public transport and free entry to 2 museums for 3 days. The Metro stop was thankfully a minute walk from our hostel. I realized on the way that I had forgotten my camera at the hostel, so all of the pictures from the Vatican are from Meagan! We got to the Vatican Museums in plenty of time, only to find out that the Sistine Chapel is CLOSED for conclave. It had closed at 1 pm on Tuesday the 5th and we went at 10:30 am Wednesday the 6th. Less than 24 hours late. I was so upset. It was still cool to see the Raphael Rooms, but everyone was pretty bummed about the Chapel.

As we were leaving the museums, it began to rain. We popped out our umbrellas and went over to St. Peter's Basilica. Entry is free and the line was moving quickly, so we got in in just a few minutes. It was so incredibly ornate inside. I'm not Catholic, so a lot of the statues and displays didn't really mean anything to me, but I could definitely still appreciate the architecture and design inside the church. For those who don't know (and I definitely had to brush up on my knowledge), the church is named after Saint Peter, one of Jesus' apostles, and also the first Bishop of Rome (and Pope). There was a St. Peter's Church since the 4th century, but the current building wasn't finished until 1626. It was designed by Bramante, Michelangelo, Bernini and Maderno. It is without a doubt the most famous piece of Renaissance architecture and the biggest church in the world. The church has a huge, beautiful dome, and the church itself deceivingly HUGE-I was a little underwhelmed until I walked inside. Leading up to the church are tall collonades that circle around the square in front of the church. I'm sure it would be much more beautiful in the sun!

We ate a little lunch at a restaurant a couple streets away from the Vatican, which was actually pretty good! Since it was so gross, we decided to just head back to the hostel and regroup before figuring out what to do for dinner. Everyone napped and then we asked the receptionist about how to navigate Rome. Fiona's friend studying there had sent her a list of good restaurants to go to, so we went to one in the Trastavere area. I got  a good salad and wine there! We had maybe planned on going out somewhere, but we were nervous about figuring out how to get home late, so we just headed back to the hostel after dinner and went to bed.

On Thursday, it was slightly warmer and a little clearer, so we were really optimistic about our plans to see the Colosseum. There was a "breakfast" on the top floor of the Secret Garden, which was mostly bread and tea. We set off around 11 for the Colosseum  which was about a 15 minute walk from our hostel. Thanks to the Roma Pass, we got to skip the line and within 5 minutes we were inside! It was AWESOME. Like St. Peter's, you don't realize how big the Colosseum is until you're in it. Everything is just so old and falling apart; it's so incredible to me that it's so deteriorated but still standing. It was built in 72 AD and housed many a gladiator fight. I just typed that number and I literally can't even fathom how old the structure is! We just wandered around for about an hour, taking pictures every 2 seconds. It got really warm and even SUNNY! 

These are the skeletons of the dungeons where gladiators and animals were held until their fight. There used to be a floor above them, but for tourist purposes, it's been removed

It was lunch time at this point, so we grabbed some yummy paninis from a street vendor and sat outside eating before going into the Roman Forum. The Forum was really cool because, like everything in this part of Rome, it was so OLD, but also because everything was really close together. This is what used to be the center of the city of Rome-this is where the Senate began. I just kept thinking about Caesar the entire time we were there! Some buildings were deteriorating so you couldn't tell where they originally were, but it really felt like everything was on top of each other. There weren't really any plaques or descriptions of the ruins, so Fiona and I got audio guides which were really helpful. 

Arch of Titus

The ruins of the Roman Forum

It was only 2pm by the time we were done at the Forum, so we decided to go ahead and check out all the other places we wanted to go to in Rome. We took the Metro to the Spanish Steps, which was a beautiful area. Finally we were in the Rome that I had imagined-sandy colored buildings, cobblestone streets, little side streets with cafes with Italian flags, and TOURISTS. We felt so at home. We got some gelato and sat on the Spanish steps, even though it was off and on sprinkling.

Not totally sure what this is, but FINALLY blue sky!

Piazza de Spagna

The Trevi Fountain was a close walk, so we wandered down there. Again, so beautiful! We were able to get right in front of the fountain pretty quickly, even though there were a ton of people there. I just kept imagining myself as Lizzie McGuire making a wish.

We all of course tossed a coin in the fountain and made a wish, but I won't tell you what mine was! We just sat by the fountain for a while, which was very relaxing. 

The four of us!

We saw a wedding? Or maybe they already got married and just came to take pics...

Our next stop was the Pantheon. It was really beautiful, and so cool to see the circular hole at the top. We totally forgot that it was completely open, so the ground was wet and roped off right under it. It was built in 126 AD and was used as a Roman church. 

Raphael's tomb!

By this time it was only 5pm, and we had planned on eating at a place right near the Pantheon for dinner. We just wandered around looking in tourist shops and stopped at a cafe, where Meagan, Lucy and Fiona got a Cafe Roma-coffee with nutella! We killed about an hour, but when we arrived at the restaurant Miscellanea at 6, we were still the only ones there. We were able to get a student deal-5 course meal and unlimited wine for 15 Euro. It was AWESOME. First came the wine-1 liter of white and 1 liter of red. Then we got bruschetta, which was really yummy. Next was 2 types of pasta-cheesy gnocchi and a cross between ravioli and lasanga. Halfway through the pastas, we were brought a cheese and mushroom pizza-yum! After the pizza, we were brought another 2 liters of wine. We were definitely feeling that wine at this point...our dessert was poor man's Tiramisu-same flavor, but not as much cake. Finally they brought us a glass of "sexy wine"-bubbly fruity wine. It was definitely a great deal and a good last meal in Italy! On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at the Trevi Fountain, which was beautiful at night. I'm pretty sure we fell asleep at 10:30 that night, which was so relaxing.

We ended up being really glad that we hit all the good spots on Thursday, because Friday was another gross day. I woke up with a really bad headache and just feeling generally under the weather. We had to check out of our hostel at 10, so we left our baggage there and took the Metro back to the Spanish steps for breakfast. We found a little cafe and ate and chatted, since it was starting to rain. We mostly just wandered around all day; I was kind of in a daze until we got to the Trevi Fountain. We popped into a little supermarket right by the fountain and what did I find but a whole display of gluten and dairy free food! It literally turned my day around-my headache went away and I felt much better. I got a couple snacks which were really yummy. Our bus to the airport didn't leave until 5pm, so we just wandered around the rest of the day. It was hard to do much since Rome is such an outdoor city.

Piazza de Popoli

We headed back to the hostel, got our luggage, then go on our bus to the airport. The Rome Ciampino Airport is TINY, and it strangely took 30 minutes to check in with Ryanair, and about 1 minute to get through security. It was really weird. We grabbed some dinner once we got through security, and then headed to our "terminal," which was literally 7 gates, 3 vending machines, and about 50 chairs. Smallest airport I've been in. Unfortunately, our flight left 45 minutes late, so we missed our bus to central London. We had to wait for another one, then hail a cab home. Needless to say, I'm happy to be back in London!