The first night we got to Rome we didn’t have much time to see a lot, but we did have time for Charlotte to get a fine on public transportation. They take validating tickets seriously. Here is what happened: we had to take the underground and a bus to get to our hostel, and we bought 1 hour tickets and validated them before getting on the underground. When we were headed to the bus, Charlotte realized that she had dropped her ticket and bought a new one. When we got on the bus she didn’t know that she had to validate it, and we were on the only bus with people checking for tickets. The guy was a complete jerk, took her passport, and made us get off the bus. We tried really hard to talk our way out of it, (there might have been a few tears threatening to come out) but in the end Charlotte paid 50 Euros, and we all learned a lesson… transportation guys are jerks. We did walk to the Vatican that night. It was Easter weekend, so they were setting up for a big service. This is kind of sad, but one of the fist things that came to mind was Angels and Demons.
The next morning we went really early to get in line for the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. The line was an hour and a half long, but totally worth it. We met a pair of girls later on the trip that said the next day the wait was 5 hours! The inside of the museum was very interesting; the Catholic Church collects A LOT of things. A LOT. There were tons of statues and paintings. The Sistine Chapel shocked me; it was smaller than I imagined it, but the artwork was amazing. I can’t believe one man did that.
After the Vatican we started walking towards the Coliseum; which left me speechless. I don’t know that my mind has comprehended yet; that has been there for thousands of years, and I saw it. We didn’t get there in time to go in that day, they were closing early for some reason, and so we walked to the Trevie Fountain. It was one of my favorite sites in Rome, well that is hard to say because everything was amazing. Tradition has it that you are supposed to throw two coins into the fountain: the first to ensure your return to Rome and the second to grant a wish. And no I won’t tell you what I wished for, but I think it’s pretty much a sure thing that at some point in my life I will return to Rome.
That night was our last night to eat at a sit down restaurant in Italy (my budget wouldn’t have made it eating out every day). We had pasta, and I couldn’t decide if I wanted cream sauce or meat sauce on my tortellini, so I asked the waiter If I could have a mix, and he said no. Then when he brought our plates he had split my order in two, so I could have both sauces. It was the sweetest thing ever. Oh and of course we got gelato again that night. I decided the walking cancelled out all the extra calories, and WHO CARES about calories… IT’S REAL GELATO!!!
The next day was full as well. We went to the Roman ruins, the Coliseum, and the Pantheon. The Roman ruins were beautiful. And we decided that we traveled during the perfect season, because the weather was gorgeous, it wasn’t too warm, it was perfect! The inside of the Coliseum was almost eerie. I had a hard time dealing with the thought that thousands of people were okay with people fighting animals or even other people to the death. By the time we got to the Pantheon I was exhausted, but I’m glad I saw it. Oh, I forgot to mention that our hostel in Rome was on the beach, that morning we went down to the beach took pictures; it was so fun, if it wasn’t Rome and we didn’t have so much to see, a day at the beach would have been wonderful.
That was it for Rome. It is one of the places that I really can’t believe I got to see, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to do so. The history behind it, the atmosphere, it was all very incredible.
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