I went to Italy last weekend. I left on Wednesday night (10/10) and returned Tuesday night (10/16). 6 wonderful days.
We started in Rome. We stayed in Hostel Alessandro for three nights. It cost about 75 euros per person for all 3 nights (borato!). The hostel was a little more hostel-y than the one we stayed at in Barcelona. Barcelona's hostel was very new and pretty. This hostel was less-so, and my friends and I (4 of us) were in a room for 8 people. At first, we weren't crazy about it (our first roommates were rather smelly), but by the end, we adjusted. I think Hostel Alessandro was much more of a typical hostel experience.
Thursday:
On Thursday, we had breakfast at the hostel (3 euros for a buffet: cereal, toast, tea, coffee, fruit, ham/cheese) and then headed out for our first day. We decided to be super tourists and go on one of those double-decker hop-on-hop-off buses, because we felt that would be the best way to see the most things, rather than spending most of our day wandering the city. It was a good idea :) on Thursday, we saw the Colesseum, Palatine Hill, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, and other lesser-known spots.
After we saw the Colosseum, we wanted to get some lunch at a place that my wonderful uncle John recommended (Nerone), but it was closed for siesta. So we decided to have a small lunch, that way we could save our appetites and come back for a big dinner at Nerone later. I split a sandwich called a Spongbol with Kaley, soooo good. It had proscuit (delicious ham), mozzar(ella), melanz (I forget), rucola (lettuce), olio (olive oil). Paired that with a banana to hold me over until dinner :)
After our quick lunch, we headed to the Pantheon, which was a temple built in Rome for Paganism. It was supposed to be a temple to all of their gods. It was impressive! It was basically a huge dome with a big hole in the top, which is the only source of light for the dome.
After that, we hopped back on the tour bus and rode around the rest of the city (we were tired from walking a lot) until the bus dropped us off back near the Colosseum (and Uncle John's recommended restaurant!). We went to Nerone for a nice dinner :)
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| Ravioli for dinner |
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| Panna cotta for dessert, which was pretty much this chocolate pudding-ish stuff. Really good! |
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| Shot of limoncello, came after our meal. Pretty good! I didn't know it was normal to take a shot of dessert alcohol after meals in Italy. Me gusta :) |
Shout out to my wonderful Uncle John and his dinner recommendation. It was delicious! We all loved our meals. Amanda had lamb, Kaley had chicken, and Gabi had fish. And I, of course, had ravioli.
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| Us with our server at Nerone |
Friday:
On Friday, we decided to do a tour of the Vatican City that was advertised through our hostel. The tour cost 30 euros, and included entry to the city and museum (plus we didn't have to wait in a 2 hour line!). The tour didn't start until 1:30P, so we started out our morning by having breakfast at the hostel, then headed out to see the Trevi fountain and have lunch before the tour.
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| Tossing a coin in! |
We had lunch at another spot recommended by my Uncle, called Cafe Capranica.
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| Started with an antipasti: eggplant, tomato, mozzarella. SOOO GOOD. |
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| Gnocchi with clams and asparagus. Again, so incredibly delicious. Had that with a glass of white wine :) |
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| Cafe Capranica |
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| Another great meal! Thanks, Uncle John! |
After our lunch, we headed over to Vatican City to meet our tour group.
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| Castle Sant'Angelo - for all my Dan Brown fans, this is THE castle from Angels and Demons. You know.. the bad guys lair. |
We headed into the Vatican Museum first. We were in a tour group of about 30 people, all students around my age. We wore headphones attached to radios and listened to the tour guide as she walked with us and spoke through a microphone. The Vatican Museum was very impressive, lots of sculptures and art. It was HUGE, we spent about 2 hours in it, but I think we could have spent a lot more time.
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| In the Vatican Museum. Covered shoulders and knees required. |
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| In St. Peters Basilica, which was WAY bigger than I thought it would be. |
I think the most impressive part of the Vatican City was the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, pictures are prohibited there. And even though I'd heard about the chapel, of course, I didn't realize how big it was, and I didn't realize that the ceilings and walls are literally COVERED in paintings. It was very interesting. It made me especially glad that I went on a tour through the Vatican City because our guide explained what the paintings on the ceilings/walls meant and why they were there, and I think that made me appreciate the awesomeness of the chapel. That Michaelangelo guy was skilled. I'm telling ya.
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| Swiss Guards of the Vatican City. Intimidating uniforms. |
After the Vatican City, the four of us headed back to our hostel, took naps, and got ready to go out for the night. We wanted to go out and have a nice, relaxing dinner.
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| Me and Amanda before dinner. Also, there are one of the four bunk beds in our hostel room. |
We wanted to go to a restaurant recommended to us by the guide book Lauren & Pat gave me (thanks again!) but when we got there, it was packed and had an hour long wait, so we decided to go somewhere else.
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| I split two dishes with Kaley: veal and lamb. On the left side of the plate is the lamb, the red-sauced meat is the veal. Paired with asparagus, potatos, carrots. |
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| Me & Kaley. And wine, of course. |
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| Gelato! Mint, chocolate, and stracialetta (I think that's the spelling, it's like chocolate chip) |
After dinner, we were walking back to the hostel, unsure of what to do (where do Romans go to party?) when we happened upon a plaza filled with Italian people drinking! And there wasn't a bar or anything, there was just a liquor store where everyone would buy alcohol and then sit outside and drink it. We decided to join. When in Rome, right? We started out with a bottle of champagne and plastic cups, and sat drinking and talking for a few hours.
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| Cheers! |
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| Sitting on cardboard because the ground was wet. Responsible. |
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| Walking home. Btw - our dresses are wet because we were sitting on wet ground. Just thought I needed to clarify that. |
Shout out to my mom and Russ, who had the patience to skype with a less-sober me after we got home on Friday night. :)
Saturday:
Saturday was our last day in Rome. We had to catch a train a 5:30P to head to Florence (Firenze).
We started out our day a little slow, with breakfast and shopping in the morning (we all bought matching sweatshirts! Univ of Roma!) and checked out the Spanish Steps and Plaza Navona.
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| Plaza Navona, Fountain of Four Rivers. Also - Angels and Demons fans, this is the fountain where (spoiler alert!) the last pope drowns. I was totally geeking out while I was here. There's an obelisk and everything! |
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| Another fountain at Plaza Navona |
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| We found masks in a tourist shop. |
We had lunch at a small Italian restaurant near the plaza.
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| Antipasti: eggplant, zucchini, artichoke heart, mozzarella |
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| Antipasti with different meats (I think salami and ham?), mozz, zucchini, eggplant. |
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| Minestrone for lunch! Very fresh tasting. |
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| Spinach |
After lunch, we did more shopping, walked to the Spanish Steps, and then headed back to the hostel to pick up our luggage and catch the train to Florence!
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| Got some pizza before catching the train. The red had salami and was pretty good. The white was DELICIOUS. |
Special thanks to Lauren and Pat for the Europe guide book they got me for my birthday. It was SUPER helpful in Rome, I carried it with me everywhere we went. It helped us find restaurants and find/understand the significance of all of the main spots. We'd arrive at a spot (I.E Spanish Steps) and then pull out the guide book to figure out exactly what we were looking at and why it was important. Really helped us to get more out of the experience. Thanks again!
Now I'm going to write my post on Florence. Stay tuned!
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