Hello Readers! I am finally back from spring break in Rome, and do I have some stories to share. I am going to update by day because a blog post for the whole week would be astronomically long, and you wouldn't want to read it.
So, this first post is a combination of Friday and Saturday since Abbey, Jess, and I got into Rome at about nine or ten at night on Friday. We took a flight from London to Paris and then Paris to Rome. Once at Fiumicino airport, we had to take the Leonardo da Vinci Express train to the city. It was an hour trip, but we arrived at Termini Station, the hub of transportation in Rome. There are only two metro lines because every time the city starts trying to build a new line, a ruin is found! The two lines only cross once at Termini, so it is very busy. After making it to Bologna (the metro stop our hostel is close to), we tried to find the hostel. It took us a good half hour, and it was literally a block from us the entire time! The hostel was cramped, but at least they gave us clean sheets, a hot shower, and free internet! We settled in for our week long trip.
On Saturday morning, we got up early (we woke up before 7:15 the entire trip) and headed to the Office for US Visitors to the Vatican to get tickets for Easter Mass. We got them as we were the third in line and at least 200 or 300 tickets left! Excited that we accomplished our task, we visited the Trevi Fountain because it was right around the corner. There were not a lot of people there yet since it was just 9AM, so we took some great pictures! Next, we took a walk to Sant' Andrea al Quirinale Church. It is the smallest church designed by Bernini and made of pink and white marble. It was beautiful, and the first of many churches we would visit.
Throwing a coin in the fountain and making a wish!
From there we explored ancient Rome. We got on the metro to the Circus Maximus...I was not at all impressed. It was neat to see, but nowadays, it's just an indent in the ground where the stadium used to be. It's just a massive green space that people can hang out in. Nothing remains other than the long oval shape in the ground. We saw some ruins by the Circus Maximus, so we decided to explore. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out what they were on the map or where exactly we were. So, we walked around the entire ruins site, but couldn't find a way in even though we saw people down at the bottom of the hill at the sites. Without knowing it, we were walking around the old Roman Forum and Palantine Hill! We got some good pictures and found out the entrance was by the Arch of Constantine near the Colosseum.
Instead of going straight there, we walked around some more and saw the Column of Trajan and Trajan's Markets which was really cool for me because I had studied the column in art class. I know these names probably mean nothing, but we saw a monument called Vittorio Emanuelle II and the Via dei Fori Imperali (I had never heard of them). Following a walk in my Rome day-by-day book my thoughtful mother sent me, we saw the Teatro di Marcello which inspired the design for the Colosseum. We backed tracked and went up the western side of Capotoline Hill. It was tourist free with beautiful gardens and nice and shady (it was actually warm that day).
After seeing all of that, we finally made our way to the Colosseum. There were so many people there, and the queue was way too long for us to wait in, but don't worry, we went back another day which you will read about later! The Colosseum was massive, hence the name. Although, it is hard to believe that it used to be larger than it is now! We saw the Arch of Constantine (another one I studied in art class), got some gelato, and ate it in the grass by the Colosseum. It was very warm by this point, so we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the night.
We booked a dinner cruise along the Tiber River. We met the boat by the Castel Sant' Angelo (if you have seen Angels and Demons, this is the last church in the movie). It was amazing at night, the bridge was great as well as the church, and we went back later in the week. At 9PM, we got on the boat for a great meal. The Italians are big believers in multiple course meals to which we didn't complain! We had some antipasti (appetizers, I had no idea what they were, but it was good), two courses, and dessert! I can't begin to spell or pronounce anything we ate, but it was delicious! It included something like a ham and cheese pasty, bean and noodle soup, potatoes and meatballs, and lemon cake! We got back to the hostel at about midnight.
It was a great start to the trip, and it only got better from there. Oh, and the titles of each blog are something someone said or something I thought while walking around. This happens to be something I thought about. We were roamin' around, and I thought that in my head for some reason. And then I thought it was funny that we were in Rome, and we were "Roman" around! I thought it was quite funny! Well, update as soon as I can with the next day. Ciao!
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