Tuesday July 1
This plane was a small one. And we got to sit in the back. I wasn't complaining. it was nice. There was music playing when we walked into the plane. And it was American music! Whoot Whoot! The hour went fast while I was reading.
We landed, grabbed our luggage, and then looked for an info desk. None were open. We saw a taxi company desk open. We decided to pay the set price of 50 euros to get a good cab driver.
Seriously, that was the best cab ride we have had so far. I really liked it. We passed all of the important landmarks, at night. It was still pretty. He dropped us off where we needed to be.
Inside the hostel, we paid and got things talk care of. She explained to us that we were in an apartment a block away. We asked the reception lady how to get to different places and what the best way to get there was. She pulled out a map and literally explained everything. She showed us how to skip the lines, the best gelato places, and all of that good stuff. She was the most helpful person we have met on our travels. We were all happy. She showed us exactly where we were staying.
An apartment. It had a bathroom, kitchen, tv, computer, and our own 3 person room. The only bad side was that we had to share one bathroom with 12 people. That is a bit not good.
We went straight to bed. We were so tired. The AC helped with a good nights sleep.
Wednesday July 2
We woke up at 8:45 to get ready before breakfast. We had to go to the home base hostel to get our breakfast tickets and then go across the street for our breakfast. We got our choice of croissant. I choose chocolate chip. It was pretty good.
Then we headed out for the day. We really didn't have a destination in mind, we just wanted to see everything. That was fine.
After getting lost, we stumbled upon Piazza della Republica. This was comprised of two buildings in a crescent shape with a fountain in the middle. It was a round about so there was about 4 lanes circling around.
Piazza Minanelli. This was a building with giant steps. There were many people around there. Including more creepy guys with roses. We stayed clear of them. There were great views of the city here. We were pretty high up. Down the road from this was Villa Medici. We couldn't reall see much, but yet again, there were great views of the city.
Piazza del Popolo. This was a circle with buildings and fountains and a large stick thing in the middle. Walking was getting tough. We were so tired. We passed many high end shops. Prada, Valintina, Louis Vuitton. Stuff like that. We had to get out of there as fast as possible because we couldn't afford even to look at that street.
We found a little Pizzeria. We all got Margherita pizza and 1 L of water. I downed that water. I was so darn thirsty. I tried to save some water for my pizza. The pizza wasn't the best I had ever had. It was extremely thin and a little burnt. I didn't finish the pizza. From there we were headed toward the Colosseum.
It was a long walk. We got tired. We did listen to our receptionist and went to the other ticket booth. We didn't have to wait to buy the tickets or get in. It was very nice. We roamed around arce di Tito for a little bit. We got tired and hot really fast, so we sat down on a bench in the shade for 20 minutes. It was a nice time.
Colosseum time! I was really excited for this. We got to skip the queue and go straight in. Even nicer. We had to start on the 2nd floor. Getting up the steps was a real struggle. They were high and deep. Sweating and struggling. When we finally made it, it was breath taking. I loved it so much. We sat down on some steps and just took it in. We listened to some English tour guide for a little bit. It was nice. We walked back down to the lower level. I honestly can't even explain how amazing and surreal it was to actually be in the Colosseum. I was astonished. It was more amazing in person.
Leaving the Colosseum, we got lost again, big shocker there… We just wanted some food. Waiters were standing on the streets trying to lure in people. We kept running past them. Finally we heard one saying some things that we liked like 5 euros, free wifi, and no sit down charge. That sold us. We sat down. I ordered lasagna. It was pretty good. The only way to finish off an italian meal-- Gellato! I got chocolate chip and nutella! It was delicious!!
Thursday July 3
Woke up a little earlier today because we had to make our tour time at the Vatican.
I got a lovely chocolate filled croissant for breakfast. So yummy. Then we headed off to the metro station.
We found it no problem. Got our tickets and headed to the platform. There we were met with about 100 other people and a packed metro. We waited for that metro to go. It was too crowded. 3 minutes later, another metro came by, still very crowded. We really tried to get on, but we couldn't fit. We moved to where we were standing on the platform to try to get on the next one. When it arrived, I literally shoved myself onto it. The others were clinging onto me so they wouldn't get left behind. It was soooo crowded. I couldn't move.
Several stops later, we made it. We had no clue where to go when we got off, but we were close. We followed the crowd. On the street, we were met with many people trying to sell us tickets to the Vatican. Still fresh off the Rose guy, we ran past them shaking our heads and saying "NO!" We finally stopped when a guy said that we were going the wrong way. We stopped and listened to his directions. We got going the right way. Finally we found our meeting place. Giant stairs right outside Vatican walls. Thank goodness we bought our tickets before because there were over 400 people in line waiting to purchase tickets.
We had to dress for the occasion too. No shoulders or knees showing. This wasn't good because it was a high of 90. So hot and we had to be covered so much. Luckily we were inside for the most part.
We had to get through security since we were entering a new country. We passed. Thank goodness. We were set on our own to discover the Vatican. We started off in one direction. There was so much to see. All the different paintings and sculptures. It was all so beautiful. We walked around in awe. I had never seen so many sculptures or paintings in my life. The sistine Chapel was beautiful I had a crick in my neck after looking up for so long, but it was great.
We exited the sistine chapel and went to St. Peter's Basilica. Oh my beautiful! This was the largest church I have ever been in. And so beautiful too. I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. Georgeousness all around. We wandered amongst the domed ceilings, sculptures, and paintings in a daze. After 45 minutes in there, we went to the basement, It was really neat down there.
I then wanted to explore the souvenir shop across the street. From there, the Pantheon. This was quite a walk. So tired from all of our traveling, we were basically dragging our feet, not wanting to move. Eventually we got lost (no surprise there), so we sat down in the shade of a building. We examined our swollen feet and drank some water. We then thought we should find the Pantheon. Come to find out, we were sitting at the back of it the entire time. Of course…
We went inside. Man the Romans really do things right! Amazing. The oculus was incredible. All of the gold and giant sculptures were great. We found benches and sat for a long time.
After working up the motivation to move, we headed back outside and to Piazza N….. I really didn't know what was there, but if we were close, why not. We got there and it was a huge oval of buildings surrounding a fountain. It was pretty cool, but yet again, I was so stinking tired. We took pictures and headed toward the Trevi Fountain.
Our hostel reception lady told us that this would be under construction, but I didn't expect it in that magnitude. You couldn't see anything. I was really disappointed. There was scaffolding all over it. You could only see the part where the water was supposed to be. It was drained. They did have a little think of water that wouldn't even constitute as a kiddie pool for you to throw coins into. It was sooo small and there were tons of coins around the small tub of the failed attempts. Lindsey threw her coin a little too hard and it went over the pool and into the now drained area. I threw mine and it bounced and made it in! Yay!
As we were about to leave, a reporter came up to us and asked if he could ask us a few questions. We didn't mind. He asked us about how we felt that the trevi fountain was under construction. We said that we were disappointed. He asked several more questions. We just thought it was funny that he choosee to ask us.
Dinner was next. We wanted to get closer to our hostel before we got our dinner. We also wanted to make a stop at the gelato shop our hostel receptionist recommended. If a local tells you to go somewhere, it must be good. We found a restaurant across the street from the gelato shop. We looked at the menu as the grouchy waitress looked on. We didn't want to discuss our dinner plans in front of her. We finally decided that it was a good deal. We sat outside under an awning with fans.
I ordered spaghetti and Karli and Lindsey ordered white pizza. The waitress, who was grouchy gave them really weird looks when they ordered it. She has been grouchy the whole time, so we didn't think much of it. That was until they got their "pizza" if you could even call it that. It was literally just crust with a little garlic on it. I couldn't help but to laugh out loud. They were extremely disappointed. I would have been to. They each ordered a whole pizza for themselves. They ate it all despite its off-putting taste. My spaghetti was really good.
Gelato shop time. We had seen a line out the door the entire time we were at the restaurant, so we knew that it had to be good. We couldn't have imagined the greatness that was inside that shop. The line was still long inside. But we got to stand by the cake refrigerator. I did not mind. Just looking at all of the delicious pastries made my mouth water. Go big or go home, I ordered 3 scoops. Then you go and pick out which ones.
First, they ask you if you want chocolate in the bottom of your cone. There are two faucets with chocolate flowing from them. One milk chocolate, the other, white chocolate. Only a crazy person would say no to warm chocolate in the bottom of their ice cream cone. Then I got to pick out my flavors. This being my 4th (I think) gelato in Italy, I am starting to know which flavors I like. I got the italian version of cookies and cream and a hazelnut thing. Then they ask if you want whipped cream on top. You could have chocolate, regular, coffee, or something else. All the options! This made for the most delicious ice cream ever! I loved it! So scrumptious!
Back to our hostel to chill the rest of the night.
Friday July 4
No 4th plans this year. We really didn't know what to do today.
We woke up with just enough time to get dressed, go to the hostel for breakfast tickets, and eat breakfast. After breakfast, we went back to the room to look up things to do today.
We thought Scala Santa and Chapel of San Lorenzo sounded interesting. It supposedly houses an important staircase. Legend says that St. Helena, Constantine's mother, brought the step back with her from Jerusalem. They were marble stairs from the palace of Pontius Pilate and were said to be the stairs that Jesus ascended in order to appear before Pilate. People climb the stairs on their knees and say a prayer at each step. We thought that would be fun.
We went to the metro station and got our tickets. The car we were in was pretty crowded, but we didn't have to go too far. We got off and found the church. It is then when we realized that we were dressed "inappropriately" to go inside. It was 90 degrees, and I was dying in shorts and a tank top. I wasn't about to cover my shoulders and knees again. So we went to the building across the street. We were again met with a dress code. Defeated, we sat down.
We states sitting for a while. It was really hot and we didn't want to move. Eventually, we ventured into the flea market thing that was outside. We really didn't find anything we needed, so we moved and sat down again. Lindsey and I still wanted to go inside because we came all that way.
We headed toward the lady positioned in front of the doors to get in. I asked her wht all I would have to cover I get in. She looked confused. She pointed inside and told us it was free. She said Lindsey might have issues with the guards because she was in a sleeveless dress. We decided to risk it. We all went in.
I'm sure glad we did! It was amazing on the inside. Lots of gold and it was huge! After exploring and not getting caught, we leave ad head toward our dinner destination. Yes, I did say dinner even though we haven't had lunch yet. We wanted to eat at a certain place for dinner so we planned our day around that.
Eating, shopping, and taking breaks pretty much summed up our afternoon. We were all dragging. Around 5 we headed in the direction of dinner. We had a rough heading, but the roads got a little confusing. We whipped out the map to examine it when an American family walked up. They asked where we were going. I showed them on our map. They didn't know. He tried really hard to find it. Then he pointed us in the direction we were going. We kept walking and then we found it.
Obika motzerella bar. Sounds fabulous. We knew going into it that it was more expensive. We decided that we should split two main courses and hit up the fabulous gelato place on our way back to the hostel. We ordered a motzerella calzone and lasagna. Oh my delicious! Best meal I have had over here! It was so good! I wanted more. We finished just as a massive crowd rolled in and a massive tv rolled out. The World Cup. Obika showed the World Cup on TV fr customers. We left completely satisfied.
It's gelato time! Since July 5 is Lindsey's birthday, Karli and I decided to buy her a cake from the gelato place and present it to her in the morning. It was no small task trying to concele the purchase and carrying of a cake. We made sure Lindsey ordered gelato first and I went last. Karli served as a distraction. Once tey ordered, I stepped up and over to the side f the counter. I asked the cashier if I could have a cake from the freezer, in a hushed tone, I went on to explain that it was Lindsey's birthday and I needed to keep it a secret. The cashier don't understand me, so she called over another worker. I explained to her want I needed. She fetched if while Karli sang to Lindsey. The cake was packaged and handed to me. She asked if I wanted a bag. I said no because it was a surprise. I then attempted to shove it into my purse. There was an American couple behind me in line that heard the entire exchange. The lady asked if I needed help. I said yes. He helped me put the box of cake in my purse. Lindsey hadn't seen. While waiting for my ice cream to be scooped, the American lady started talking to me. She asked if the gelato was good. I told her absolutely ad that we had had it the other night. Then then told us how skinny we were for eating so much gelato. We stayed in the ship and ate.
Back to the hostel. We quickly shoved the cake into the fridge and went to our room. Another boring night.
Saturday July 5
Lindsey's birthday. We had to wake up at 5 to make our train and then plane. While Lindsey was in the bathroom, we put the box of cake on her bed. She was really surprised.
One 2 hour train ride and one 3 hour flight later, we landed in Liverpool for the last time. What a bittersweet feeling. There are still a few more posts to come. Stay tuned! Ta and Cheers!
