When In Rome

Day1:
So, remember how I said Stephanie and I have gotten quite good at getting lost - our arrival in Rome was one of those times. We made it out of the airport, and to the correct metro stop and everything, but finding our hostel was a task. We always seem to head like 5 blocks in the wrong direction, realize we've made a mistake, and then have to turn back around and walk the 5 blocks again plus the distance it actually takes to get to our hostel...with our backpacks on...in the Rome heat. Not fun.

We eventually made it though, and that's what counts...I guess. We showered and then set out to explore the ancient city! Our first stop was Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. When we got off the metro, it was really cool because the Colosseum was RIGHT in front of us. Not something you see everyday. We walked aimlessly for a bit through Palatine Hill (something Stephanie and I have gotten quite good at) and then we found a tour to slyly follow behind. That tour made all of the difference. I'm so glad we were eaves dropping because we actually learned a lot!! I really enjoyed the Roman Forum. I thought it was so cool to see the ancient city and really be able to visualize what it really looked like back then. That was much harder to do in Athens because the ruins were so scattered, as opposed to Rome where they're all still centralized and in the same area. Way cool.

After the Forum, we headed over to the Colosseum. It was cool because we got there when it was almost closing so it wasn't crowded at all. We explored it for a while and took a lot of pictures. It was crazy to read about all that used to take place there and about GLADIATORS! rawr.

After the Colosseum, we walked to Campo Dei Fiori. After aimlessly walking, we (Stephanie) finally decided on a place to eat. We got homemade pasta and bruchetta - oh Italian food. :)

After we sat and people watched for a bit, we headed back to our hostel and the Vatican was on our way! We stopped in St. Peter's Square for a bit. I'm really glad we saw it at night when it was less crowded, it was well worth it. Then, of course we stopped for gelato, got back to our hostel, showered, and went to bed.

Day2:
Wretched Rome heat. Masses of people. No AC. Blood. These words marked the first half of this day.

I'm not going to lie, Day 2 was rough for me. We woke up and went to the Vatican to go hear the pope speak! I'm not catholic, so I don't even know the pope's name, but it was cool nonetheless! He does like a mass on Wednesday mornings...which is where the wretched Rome heat and masses of people come into play. The mass is in St. Peter's Square, which isn't covered, so it was soooo hot! We only stayed out there for about 30 minutes because first of all, they don't speak English in Italy when giving mass, it was hot, and it was crowded. Being able to say I've seen the pope is a pretty cool thing though.

We decided to go over to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel. Initially, I was excited about this. My excitement quickly faded once I ran into about 20 tour groups of 50 or more people. For some reason, people find joy in annoying me - there's no other explanation to it. The groups just stood in the walkways and walked at a negative pace. All I wanted to do was see the Sistine Chapel - I didn't know anything else about this other art. Of course, the museum puts the chapel at the very end. And for some reason, Rome hasn't heard of the beauty of air conditioning. So we walked, at a negative pace, without AC, stuck behind tour groups for like an hour and a half only to get to the chapel and find it FILLED with MASSES of people. You couldn't take pictures inside the chapel, but to spite the museum, I did. The chapel itself was really cool. It was awesome to see something that you've seen so many pictures of. And I had watched Angels and Demons before I left, so it was really cool to see the pictures come to life.

We got out of the museum quickly after we saw the Sistine Chapel and then decided to go inside of the Vatican. We approach St. Peter's Square and are greeted with the longest line yet. Thrilled, we get to the back and are herded like cattle to the front of the building, only to find more people oblivious to their surroundings. Once again, the actual inside of the Vatican was cool - I tried to not let the masses of people ruin what I was seeing. I really enjoyed seeing the similarities between Angels and Demons and the real thing - I would run and tell Stephanie "this was in the movie!!"

Here's where the blood comes into play. So obviously, I'm already annoyed with the world for being oblivious, walking through my pictures, and taking up entire isle ways, so I'm just ready to move on. As we're walking out of the Vatican, we're going head to head with a huge tour group. Knowing I can't take on 50+ people, I'm pushed to the side of the walkway. It's here that I RAM my foot into something metal and proceed to bleed in the isle of the Vatican. I drop a couple inappropriate words before I realize I'm in like the most holy place on Earth. Looking back, it's a funny story, and perhaps the scar on my foot will forever commemorate it. Moral of the story - please don't be one of those people in the huge tour groups, save us all some pain.

At this point, the day got better. We saw the old popes' tombs and then headed to the Spanish Steps. We climbed all the way to the top of the steps, which in theory is fun, but in reality is quite tiring. But, cool nonetheless. We took some pictures, caught our breath, and headed back down. After we hung out there for a bit, we headed to the Trevi Fountain. It was packed with people, but we eventually found a place to just sit and enjoy the view. We sat there for a couple hours and at the Spanish steps for about an hour and then headed back to our hostel.

Day3:
We decided to head to the island of Capri on day 3. We got on a train and then a ferry so it took a while to actually get there. Once we got there we quickly bought our tickets to go to the Blue Grotto. We didn't have much time on the island because we had to be back to Naples to catch a train back to Rome by 9:30. We hopped on a little boat to go out to the Blue Grotto and it was so pretty! Capri is just a little island, and the coast is beautiful.

We got to the Grotto and then had to get in a little 5 person canoe to go into the Grotto. A grotto is like a little cave in the side of the island, and this one in particular is famous because of the blue water within. To get into the grotto, we had to lay down in the canoe and our guide guy had to pull us through.

Inside, the water was so pretty! It was a bright blue. I took pictures, so hopefully I can get them up eventually. The whole experience was quite short and we were back to the port within 45 minutes, and out 22 euro.

We didn't have much time to stray from the port, so we walked along it, got some gelato, and watched Brazil cream USA in soccer. It was a relaxing evening, and a cool place to see - I only wish we got to see more of it. Maybe next time.

You'll be pleased to know, that we did in fact make it back to Rome successfully (although it was the longest, most boring train ride of my life because I didn't bring a backpack to Naples because it's like run by the mafia, therefore I had absolutely nothing to do). We were ready to move onto Florence and had an early train in the morning, so we packed our things, showered, and went to bed.

Rome favorites - Roman Forum and Trevi Fountain

I hope these 4 posts are enough to keep you occupied for a while! We finally a free internet in Prague!! Yay! Enjoy.

hey case