One Lady in London

The final leg for that ten day portion of spring break was Rome. Ahhhh, Rome is wonderful. Upon getting to London, America seemed like a baby by comparison. In Rome, every other place felt like a preemie. To hear of people and see buildings that were around in BC times was absolutely incredible. There’s just so much history in that city it’s almost overwhelming. When Hannah and I got into our hostel and were attempting to plan out our days, we both just stared at the map and at each other cause there is just so much to see in Roma.

We had a really early (like 8.30 am) flight into Rome, so we arrived in Rome around 1030. We found a super cheap (4 euro) bus that took us from the airport an hour into the city center. Luckily, the bus drops you off at Termini station- only about a five minute walk from our hostel, so that worked out perfectly. After settling into our room, we attempted to figure out the best way to go about diving into the city. We decided to do a Hop-On=Hop-Off bus tour with a ticket that lasted for 2 days. After our other Italian transit mishaps both in Venice, and for lack of a better word, clusterfuck that was getting onto the direct bus to Rome, we decided a private bus company would be a worthy investment. Plus it was beautiful the days we were there, so we got to ride around the eternal city on the open top of the bus while at the still time being super touristy with our orange disposable headphones plugged into the bus speakers. While that bus was the most overtly touristy thing I’ve done yet abroad, it was well worth the money as the city is pretty spread out and we learned a ton from the commentary as we drove around.

Aside from all of the sights, there were four things I was on the lookout for while in Rome: gelato, wine, cannoli, and fresh pizza/pasta. I was successful in finding all four and don’t regret a single calorie….when in Rome. (That phrase was said all too often, especially while in the vicinity of a bakery or gelato shop, regardless, not sorry in the least.) Our first dinner there we just stumbled upon some restaurant that looked good and relatively cheap- it was amazing. Fresh pasta and amazing wine - so good. Turns out it was an Italian chain, which definitely wasn’t what we were going for, but it’s safe to say that Italian pasta chains are 100 times better than Olive Garden. The next day we went the pizza route, fresh veggies for Hannah and olives for me. I’m still dreaming of that meal. I don’t know what it is about it, but authentic Italian pizza is just a whole other level than American attempts at the real thing. Trust these words- this is coming from a pizza connoisseur.

Our flight back to London wasn’t until 8 at night, so we had the majority of Tuesday to explore some more. The weather couldn’t have been better Tuesday- we literally just sat outside the pantheon on the steps for hours basking in the sun and soaking up our last day there. As much as I loved Rome, by the end of the day, we were both so ready to go home. The past week and a half was a lot of waiting around in airports, packing and unpacking bags, and tons of walking- we were just burnt out by the end, so ready to come back to London. (We say that, and it’s rained every day we’ve been back. AND I sent my raincoat and rain boots home with my parents since I literally hadn’t used either once since January. So typical) Overall though, Rome was amazing, and the trip was unforgettable. Worth all the waiting around, lines at customs (which didn’t exist getting into Germany or Italy, yet oddly present to leave them?) and definitely the money. I figured out the math and the whole ten day, ten night trip, including transportation, hostels, food, admission charges, the whole shebang ended up being only just over $1,000. Not too shabby considering a round trip ticket from Dulles to London is $800 dollars on its own. If I could do it all over again, would I? In a heartbeat.

The Palatine / Circus Maximus

Casual orange trees

Hard to see, but a rainbow over the Palatine

Circus Maximus: there all the chariot races were held. The picture doesn't really do a good job of showing it, but like everything else in Rome, it was MASSIVE. Something like 300,000 people fit onto the hill to watch the races

The Mouth of Truth. Legend has it that when you stick your hand inside the mouth, if you are a liar your hand will be bitten off. Managed to walk away will all ten phalanges. Go me.

Cannoleria <3

The Vatican at sunset

Trevi Fountain- beautiful, and (shocking) massive

Inside the Colosseum. Note the awkward black boy next to me...he literally photobombed four of my pictures.

Casual cat rome-ing (get it) around the Colosseum

Vatican City!

Switchblades are frowned upon in the Pope's presence...good to know.

Peeking down into the grotto's below where all the past Popes are buried- so so so cool being down there.

The Pantheon. Look how tiny the people are standing next it, it's giant.

Spanish Steps

Venice was picture perfect: exactly how I had imagined it to be, and I couldn't be happier about that. Our original spring break plan had us in Venice for two days, however we got much cheaper flights if we were only there for one day. This ended up working out perfectly because we were later told by multiple people who had been to Venice that you really only need a day to do it, and boy was that the truth. There isn't really anything specific to do or see in Venice. Obviously it's filled with little shops and restaurants, and the gorgeous canals, but those are all things that you don't need much time to see. We ended up actually being in the heart of Venice for 6 hours Saturday, and that was the perfect amount of time. Any more than that and we would have been itching to leave as the island is really tiny, and taking the water taxis to other islands is outrageously expensive. Once we were in Venice, everything was smooth sailing, getting there was another story in its own.

We flew from Berlin and landed in Venice around 11.30. Our hostel had given us directions using the public bus system, and it looked simple with only one transfer. Yeah- Italian public transit is a nightmare. The first leg went smoothly, we had to take the bus from the airport to a train station where we were to catch our next bus...only thing, that next bus didn't exist at the train station. After a really confusing 15 minutes, we found an adorable Italian woman who spoke with a bus driver who agreed to take us to the stop where our bus picked people up. That whole process alone took a good 20-25 minutes start to finish. So we get to the new stop, get on our bus, and the directions said that the bus stops directly in front of the hostel, and is the second to last stop. Italian public transit doesn't have names for stops, so we just knew it was the second to last, but they also don't have maps of the routes, so we had no idea how many stops were on the journey, therefore no idea where to get off. We were a little worried, but since the stop was supposedly right in front of the hostel, we just kept our eyes peeled as we were driving for the name of our hostel so we could figure out where to get off. We didn't see our hostel. We did see several Italian prostitutes though. Wish I was kidding. High heels, mini skirts, sitting on a plastic lawn chair on the shoulder of the road. To say we were petrified at this point would be an understatement. We had no idea where to get off, and if we did get off but at the wrong place, we would be walking along the deserted road with the prostitutes. Awesome. Our bus driver knew enough English to verify that we were indeed on the right bus, and just as the directions said, the stop was immediately in front of the hostel. Needless to say, after seeing the seedy area our hostel was located in, we were a bit worried, but ended up being very pleasantly surprise. The place was adorable, just how you'd picture an Italian hotel to be. AND it was a hotel too, not a hostel, so we had our own private room and bathroom and everything. Small victories. We were a little flustered still from the whole getting in process, so Hannah took a shower as I did some deep breathing, and before we knew it we were in Venice. Thanks to the beautiful city and a gelato, we were happy campers once again and that morning seemed like it was days ago.