What I Did In Italy - Part 2

"Just A Romer"
"Rome if you want to"
...And other cool songs where I can change Roam to Rome



Sorry I never finished the Rome Part 2 entry until now! Better late than never, I suppose!


Tuesday:



Derek and I rode to Rome via a bus from the Siena bus station to a smaller bus station in Rome (the big one has trains, busses, and an airport). When we got to the bus station, we were disappointed to find out that the walking directions were not going to help us because we were literally fenced into the property. So we finally figured out how to hop on the metro and took it one stop to Bologna Square. Our hostel was really easy to find from there, and the hostel was cool because its theme was global travelling.



The guy at the front desk told us some inexpensive places to eat near the university, so we ventured toward that direction for lunch. It started pouring when we were walking, and when we went to the restaurants, most of them were closed for an afternoon siesta. So we ate gelato for lunch. Totally justified.



Next we walked up to the Trevi fountain, and explored that area. We also bought the Roma Pass, which came in handy a lot! It gave us free travel on the Metro for three days and free admission to two museums of our choice. From there, Derek and I started sightseeing around all of Rome. That night we went to the Pantheon and walked around and saw as many ancient ruins as possible. Also, it would be silly if I didn't mention that we chose to eat at a Chinese restaurant we found (instead of eating Italian food for the first time during the trip). Although the restaurant had awesome decor, the food was not up to my standards.


Me, my broken umbrella, and some light drizzle in front of the Pantheon.


Wednesday:


Wednesday we woke up and went straight to the Colosseum. I sang the song from the Arthur cartoon to Derek way too many times (he unfortunately had not had the pleasure of seeing that episode). It goes, "AAAAAncient Roooooome....It's not like hooooome....COOOOOOLLISEUMMMM!" And those are the only lyrics. Here's some pictures:


A picture of the interior. You can see the passages under where the floor used to be.


Me and Derek at the Colosseum. We found another American couple to take this picture.


Then Derek got a hold of my map and decided to start highlighting our route around Rome so that we could see where we had been and what we had seen. Needless to say, by walking way more than I was used to, we saw almost every single landmark in Rome on Wednesday. Here's some pictures:


Me overlooking all of the ruins of Ancient Rome.



Me sitting inside the Roman Forum.


Me at the Trevi Fountain when it WASN'T raining!



Thursday:


On Thursday Derek and I woke up early and went to Vatican City. We stood in line for about an hour waiting to go into St. Peter's Basilica. It was pretty cool inside. Very big church. Lot's of pretty things to look at. The weather had really cleared up by Thursday, so luckily it was a sunny day to stand in line!


To my disappointment, we ended up not going to see the Sistine Chapel (pretty much the sole reason why I wanted to go to Vatican City), because we didn't want to wait in line anymore. So we took the metro back to the center of Rome and went to all of the last tourist sites on our map that we did not hit. I think I liked the Spanish steps the most, because they were such a cool hangout! Derek also bought some paintings for his family from a street painter by the river, and I really enjoyed talking to the man briefly. I think he liked us too, cuz he threw in some extra wood paintings of his with Derek's purchases. Here's a picture of the Spanish steps:


A child playing with his grandfather at the fountain in front of the Spanish Steps. The fountain is really old.



Friday:


On Friday we took the metro back to Florence and I got to have dinner with my sorority sister Rachel and her friend Lauren who also goes to IU! They both studied in Bologna this spring and really loved it. We ate at a fun outdoor cafe, and I had some really delicious pasta and white wine. It was so much fun to see a friend from home!



When Derek and I went back to our hostel, we had a really rare and gross experience. We ended up finding bugs in our sheets and on our walls! So we got our money back and walked to the hostel we stayed at the first time we were in Florence and purchased a room there for the night. It was probably around midnight when we finally got that all sorted out. It was a huge hassle, and also very surprising because the bug hostel had good ratings on hostelworld. But, I guess strange things sometimes happen when you travel! My recommendation is to have the location of a back-up hostel written down when you travel to a city in Europe.


Saturday:


Saturday morning Derek and I woke up and went to the train station, only to find that the train we wanted to take had left 5 minutes before we got there. Because we had an issue with reading the train schedule for that day (remember our language barriers), we had a scare that the trains did not go to Pisa once per hour like we had thought. Luckily, we were wrong and we grabbed a local train that made a stop in every city (Pisa, too, luckily). Even though the train took much longer than we expected, we still arrived at the Pisa airport in time to grab lunch before our flights. (Both of our flights took off within 5 minutes of eachother's.)


There were a couple issues at check-in, though. Derek's line was super long and barely moved, creating a scare that he would not make his flight on time. I ended up convincing the attendants in my line after the London line was finished to check Derek in for his flight, which I feel proud about since they barely understood what I was saying. Also, I got a weird look from my attendant when I checked in for my London flight, since my visa had expired two days before. Thankfully, I brought proof of my return flight to Chicago just for that reason, and she stamped my ticket.


Sunday/Monday:


Before I flew back to Chicago on Monday, I spent a lot of time by myself wandering around my old neighborhood, chilling in Hyde Park, and doing some casual London shopping. I also hung out with Christine and Erin at Hyde Park a little bit too, which was nice because the park was beautiful! Also, I got my bags out of storage, and I recommend to anyone who would think about trying this that they should never try to take two 50-pound bags on the tube. The tube is not always handicapped accessible, and I learned that the hard way by needing to pull both bags up many giant flights of stairs. I really lucked out that I had a man and a women (angels from God) come and help me with the longest flight up the stairs. I had literally sweat through my shirt when I got back to the hostel, and the man at the front desk felt so badly for me that he let me store my bags for free overnight. I really should have spent money on a cab!


Overall, my Italy trip was really great, and I'm glad I'm finally able to document it completely!