I am currently ten thousand feet in the air as I write this on my way back to Ireland from Rome! What an amazing weekend I had. Megan and I planned this trip two weeks ago and man was it a good idea!
We flew to Rome on Thursday and our flight got in at about half 8. We then had to take a shuttle bus that would take us into the city of Rome and that took about half an hour. Megan and I were super worried about finding our hostel but it ended up being right around the corner from the 'Termini' station which is where the bus dropped us off. We checked into the hostel and then found that there was a great restaurant downstairs so that is the first time I had food in Italy! I got the four cheese pizza which had a white sauce on it and surprisingly enough Brie on it to feed a host of families. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love me some Brie, but only in small portions. However, it was still one of the best pizzas of my life. Megan got a pizza that had 4 toppings on it and it came out with each topping separated on different portions of the pizza. AND they accidentally put hard boiled eggs on her pizza. Surprisingly tho, we found out that's a really popular thing in Italy. That night, we got to bed semi early because we had to be up the next morning for our first tour of the weekend!
Friday morning rolls around and the sun is shining so we figured it was going to be a lovely day. It was time for our tour of Vatican City. We had to take the metro to get there which was more crowded than a church on Easter Sunday. Then we walked what seemed like miles to get to the meeting point with our tour group but we made it. At this point, we're both sweating because you have to be completed covered up to get into the Sistine Chapel and the Basilica. So the tour takes us through the Vatican museums and we learn so much history. We see paintings by Michaelangelo and Ferdinand and are then overwhelmed by the magnificent ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. To imagine that Michaelangelo hung upside down for 4 years to paint that ceiling is just overwhelming. It was such an amazing experience so be in the presence of such greatness. We then got to see the tombs in the Basilica and see where s few popes bodies lie as they are just covered in wax so you can still see what they look like. After the tour was over , Megan and I went back into the church to pray and man was that such a spiritual experience. It was an amazing morning to say the least.
The tour in total lasted around 3 hours so, you can imagine we're pretty hungry by the time it is over. We start walking around to find somewhere to eat and then get lost inside a park that only has 2 entrances. We finally escape the maze and find a lovely little cafe with a view of Vatican City where they sit us outside in the beautiful weather. I had been craving spaghetti bolognese since the second we landed so naturally, that's what I ordered. The flavor was very sweet and the sauce a lot more red than what I would eat in Ireland or America but it was fantastic! All of a sudden, it starts to rain. No. POUR! So Megan and I decided we would get desert to see if the rain would settle any time soon, and of course, it didn't. Luckily there were loads of men running around selling umbrellas and ponchos so we grabbed a poncho and speed walked to the metro station while our feet got soaked!
When we got back to the hostel, we finally met our roommates who were both traveling alone. One was from The Netherlands and was taking holidays from work and another was from California who works in Alaska on the oil rigs and goes traveling on his time off. They were both pretty cool guys so we went to get gelato and dinner with them and then we planned a roommate outing for that night. We went to a bar full of tourists and met babies of the tender age of 19 from Notre Dame who were studying abroad for the summer. We didn't meet many Italians that night but we did have a pretty good time. It's funny, some random guy said that Italy isn't like America where you can just haul a taxi and next thing you know, I wave one down. Then when we were getting in the taxi he said he didn't like me and I was like good for you, I don't even know who you are. He was from Pennsylvania apparently so I won't be visiting that state if they apparently don't like redheads. Megan and I came back to the hostel to get some rest because we had another busy day ahead of us.
Saturday was the day we got to tour Ancient Rome. Our tour started at about half one and we didn't finish until about 5. It was a very long walking tour and we got stuck in the rain a few times. Megan brought her poncho but I didn't want to cover up my cute outfit so I just sucked it up. I was dry by the time I got back to the hostel because it eventually stopped raining. The tour started at the colosseum and was pretty sunny for us so we got loads of pictures. I learned that gladiators were actually owned by people so they were technically slaves. I also learned that most people didn't actually die because it would cost too much money for the owners to buy a new gladiator. Don't get me wrong, there were a few people who were killed, but more often than not, the owners wanted their players to live. Next we headed to 'El Foro' and got to see some ruins of "the real Caesars palace" and a garden that used to be a really gigantic fancy pool. We then walked to the Trevi fountain that was closed for construction and then Pantheon which was closed for mass and then we saw the fountain that was used in the movie "When in Rome" with Kristen Bell. By the end of the tour we were hungry again so we went to get food and then decided we would walk to the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately, we weren't too impressed with them but it was nice to say we've been there. We took the metro back to our hostel and got some more Gelato. 5 scoops for 4 euros. Pretty amazing. By the end of the day we were exhausted so we got into bed and fell asleep at about half 10.
That brings us to the current moment. On my flight home awaiting to land in Dublin, not ready to be back from holiday yet. That's ok because Megan and I are going to Lahinch next weekend and then I'm going to Germany only 3 weeks after that!
I have 3 months left of my time over here and while I'm ready to get home to see all my friends and family, I am not ready to leave the family I've made over here. At least I've got 3 months left with them. I'll try not to let them go to waste!
Ciao!
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