Hot, Stinky, Sketchy, Ancient Rome

Night 1

Our first stop in Rome was the train station McDs.  Why hang out at McDs instead of going to get authentic Italian food in Italy?  Well in all of our excitement in Interlaken we forgot to book a hostel for Rome.  So, we needed wifi and couldn't find it anywhere in the station except for McDs.  We got all set up with Rome's finest McDonald's offer...a free Mozzarillo burger promotion, a burger with mozzarella cheese, lettuce and special sauce, Sure! 

Then we found out that you have to have an Italian SIM card to register for the free wifi, so we had to quickly eat then head out to find an internet cafe. Well, I believe we headed out to the ghetto side of the Termini train station, so my first impression of Rome was at 10pm with sketchy people trying to "help" us find hostels, tours, whatever they could possibly scam Americans with, the strong smell of urine, and dirty sidewalks along graffitied buildings.  We asked a shop where we could find an internet cafe and the guy recommended his friend's laundry/internet shop.  Since we had no other leads, we headed in that direction.  When we got there we saw the sign saying that the internet was down, of course.  What next? 

 

You know its harder to think fast and make decisions when you're nervous and tired.  We stopped in a hotel and asked for a suggestion.  Finally we found the internet cafe and set down our ever growing, heavy packs.  Ugh!  Then we couldn't find any hostels available for the next 2 nights.  We got frustrated and D called one of the hostels, Friendly hostel.  Turns out they did have one room available, and the owner said he would meet us there in a few minutes.  So we rushed to where the website indicated we would find the hostel.  After 3 calls back to the owner, we found out we were on the wrong street, one block away. 

It was such a relief to get to the Friendly hostel.  The owner was so nice and helpful.  He went through the map showing us where we were and how to get to the sights we'd want to see.  Our room ended up being a nice, private room.  It was actually a B&B, not a hostel, so it was basically an apartment with the bedrooms rented out for travelers.  This room was only available for the one night, but we didn't care.  We crashed!

Day 2

The next morning we were awakened with a knock on the door.  A girl that cleaned the B&B was told by the owner that we would need a recommendation for another hostel for our 2nd night.  So once we got ready we met her downstairs and she took us to meet up with another B&B owner.  They walked us the couple of blocks to her B&B which was even nicer, Nuovo Principe.  She gave us the same price for her room, but I would imagine she normally would charge more.  And she was the nicest little Italian lady that barely spoke English but tried all she could to be accommodating.

 

After leaving the hostel we headed to an internet cafe to find out what time the pope comes out to St. Peter's Square on Wednesdays.  We found out he comes out at 10:30 and it was 10:15, so we rushed to the metro to the Vatican.  We got there at about 10:45, but he was gone.  We later found out he's on vacation in the mountains.  Oh well!  We walked around the square (actually a keyhole shape, not a square), which was a neat experience.  There was an incredibly long line for St. Peter's Basilica, so I didn't think we would go to see it.  We turned down several tour offers (people are all over the square offering), but finally I said yes to one because I knew there was so much history in Rome and the Vatican that I would miss out on if someone wasn't walking us through the details.

The tour lasted about 4 hours, which was a bit longer than we would have liked, but was really well worth the time and money.  We started learning about the history of St. Peter's Square.  The obelisk there and those around Rome were apparently all taken from the Egyptians when Rome conquered Egypt. 

Next we walked over to the Vatican Museum.  It was great to have a guide explaining what works were important and why.  The Sistine Chapel was beautiful!  I would highly recommend having a tour guide, especially for the chapel.  It went on and on but really made it more meaningful because he explained the paintings piece by piece and their significance. 

After the chapel we walked over to St. Peter's Basilica and toured on our own from that point on.  I couldn't believe how big it was!  St. Peter's tomb is in the center and beautifully adorned.  Being able to bypass the line by being on the tour was yet another benefit.  Remember when you go to the Vatican you have to wear pants or a skirt past your knees and something to cover your shoulders.  I had on a strapless shirt, so I used my scarf to wrap around my shoulders..

After the Vatican we wandered to the other various sights we wanted to see...the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Novana, and Campo de Fiori.  It started sprinkling when we got to Campo de Fiori, so we stepped under the awning at a cafe, grabbed a table, and ordered a glass of wine.  As soon as we sat down it started pouring.  It was so relaxing listening to the rain, drinking a glass of wine.  We finished our wine the same time the sun came back out and slowly made our way back to the hostel to get cleaned up and rested for our night out.

For dinner we headed back to the Trevi Fountain for pasta at a sidewalk cafe.  Pretty good, but not as great as I expected from Italian food in Italy.  We were sitting at our table around the corner from the fountain enjoying the people watching and all of the sudden hear loud cheering and clapping.  I walked over to see what was going on.  Apparently there had just been a proposal.  Pretty cool, but I wouldn't have changed ours a bit!

Day 3

The next morning we headed to the Colosseum.  We didn't get a tour guide, but instead just walked around inside and out then headed over to the Roman Forum.  It's so amazing to think how ancient everything is and that you are walking on grounds that have been walked along for thousands of years.  We needed a map or a guide to fully understand the grounds, so I don't think we got as much out of it as we could have, but we had a train to catch and not much time to devote there.

All in all Rome was very interesting and worth the visit to see the sights you've always heard about.  There is so much religious history there which I really appreciated being able to visit.  However, D and I discussed we probably wouldn't want to go back because beyond the sights, the city itself doesn't have the vibe we like.  It was dirt

y, the food wasn't that great, and the sketchy people made me feel unsafe.  We would however, highly recommend and love to revist Florence...Next...