Roman Holiday

Rome wasn't built in a day, but it can definately be seen in two!

After an...interesting night in the Standstead Airport, we woke up at 4am to get through security and onto our 6am flight. All went very smoothly and we slept like babys on the plane and even was able to--enflight--book a bus ticket to town. (We flew into Ciampano, which is about 40 minutes outside of the city). Bus tickets in hand, we made it to the station and promptly booked train reservations to Cinque Terre and the Italian portion of what is going to be a verrrryyyy long journey to Marseille. The hostel was really close by so we stopped in, dropped luggage, and were on our way!

Highlights:
Day 1:
-Roman Forum, Colleseium, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps.
-The Forum was JUST my type of place, if a little overrun with tourists (though expectedly so). The ruins were incredible, but the gardens and general lanscape/ambiance was so perfect. It's hard to imagine what everything must have been like back in the day, but for now, it still eminates beauty, grandeur, and power.
-The fountain and steps were... just "eh." It didn't help that it was raining for most of this part, and FULL of people. Cool, but the feeling was kind of lost.
-Dinner: A very classy outdoor cafe on our street...delicious gnocci with REAL pesto...so so so good. Followed by gelato that was...uninspired. Still, when in Rome...! Also, there was a dad and his two teenage sons sitting near us at dinner. Eavesdropping, as any good traveller does, I picked up that they were speaking DANISH! I could make out a little of their conversation, which was thrilling and comforting, in a very weird way. It was a great little confidence boost. :)
-Our hostel...oh our hostel. Rome was the most difficult place to find a hostel, simply because there were so many. We stayed at the Freedom Traveller, and it was...well...it was a bed to sleep in. The sheets seemed very clean, which is I guess the important part. Everything else was really dingy and very old. The shower basically dripped water, so that was...amusing?

Day 2:
-Vatican museum and Sistene Chapel, St. Peters, Vatican City, Pantheon
-The first two just had TOO much to take in. It was all very beautiful, but I was pretty much just following along with what Claire said (she's really into art/art history). I had very little preconceptions of all things Vatican, so I was consistently surprised!
-We met up with Claire's friend Callegee who is studying in Rome. She went to the sights with us and took us to a famous gelatto place for... LUNCH! Haha in trying to save money we opted for a huge gelatto for 1.5 euro. Perfect.
-ST. PETERS IS AMAZING! I've loved seeing great cathedrals since I've been in Europe, and reading Pillars of the Earth recently has only added to that. But St. Peters is easily the most stunning cathedral in the world, as I suppose it should be. Words or pictures can't decribe the very holy beauty that you are hit with when walking in. It is simply stunning.
-My feet feel like they're going to fall to pieces at any given moment.

Right now it's about 5:00 and we're sitting in the lobby with FREE INTERNET (ok, at least this place has that going for it) and are debating dinner plans and what to do for the evening. I know it's suspensefull, but you'll just have to wait for my next internet portal to find out what went on. It'll more than like likely be, "I ate. I went to bed." or something along those lines. Daylight savings was today and I'm SO tired. :(

BUT! I am proud of us for having gotten this far on our own, and everything seems to be going smoothly. Tired feet aside, I've walked miles already in terms of knowledge of myself and traveling confidence. Not bad for a few days work.

Vi ses. :)