Italy Part 1!!

Bonjourno all!! I have made it home safely from the land of Italy. I had a fantastic trip, quite possibly the best week of my life! I can’t believe how much I was able to see and do in one week. And, I completed a ton of my goals- I think all- from the list I made before hand. I didn’t get pickpocketed- hooray, ate gelato at least once a day-yum, saw amazing art and Roman ruins, bonded with my 3 travelmates (I just made this word up and I like it), and found the perfect leather jacket- check fbook for pics soon! My travelmates and I would recap in our journals everyday, so I have a record of all we did, and I am going to turn it into blog form all week. I think I will divide up my adventures by city, so here goes the first one…

ROMA

Friday
We flew out of Frankfurt Hahn airport on Friday night on Ryan Air. We were all a little nervous to experience the infamous budget airline for the first time, but the 2 hour bus ride to the airport, intense security line, strict baggage checkpoint, and mad rush to board and get a seat all went smoothly (I did get intensely patted down after I beeped at the buzzer line- was a tad awk) and I liked RyanAir. It reminded me a bit of Southwest airlines in the US, which I like a lot, only difference is RyanAir tries to sell you lotto tickets and beauty products on board while SouthWest has not resorted to this yet. In line for the flight we actually met a women and her children from Blacksburg, VA. It was so cool to talk to a fellow Virginian before we departed even though she was a Tech Fan. Its so crazy the people you met in the most unexpected places!

Anyway, after landing safely in the small airport outside Rome, we first attempted to claim our luggage from the carousel. Unfortunately, we hit a glitch at this point when their was a massive pile up on the conveyor belt as one suitcase got stuck on the up ramp and everything else behind it was trapped. We were slightly rushing because, being the organized, anal Americans that we are, we had booked a bus for shortly after our arrival to get us to the main train station and we didn’t want to miss it. We were worrying because we could literally see our luggage on the conveyor belt, but it couldn’t move past the blocked piece. Everyone was sort of waiting around, looking for a hero to save the day. In the end, a fit Italian stallion stepped up to the plate, jumped on the carousel, down the ramp, and removed the stubborn piece. Applause broke out and it looked like he might have taken a bow and enjoyed his moment of eternal glory, until the siren sounded and he realized the conveyor was about to move. He quickly ran back to his position and avoided a massive fall. Our luggage was saved and we quickly retrieved it, wished our hero graci, and headed out to the Rome air, which to our delight, was warm!!

In the end, our rushing and worrying was proved futile, it turns out in “Italy there is no time,” (a man ahead of us in line actually told us this and laughed), and our bus came far later than the scheduled time. We waited for about a half hour, then finally boarded our bus and headed to the train station, which took about 40 minutes. From the train station, we then had to find our hostel, which was named rather ominously, “Hotel Beautiful 2.” Despite having a very sketchy exterior that consisted of an unmarked dirty, fenced staircase, and a small buzzer with the hotel’s name listed in very small font on one of the numbers, we were pleasantly surprised when we were let in and led upstairs. The owner of the hostel was a nice, Indian man and he was waiting up to let us in. He showed us our room, which was very spacious and nice, and then pulled out a map of Rome and proceeded to circle an enormous walking path that we should take the next day. The trend of “circle maps” continued in all of our cities, and they became our most valuable possession (besides of course our passports and cute souvenirs!). The owner recommended that we see the Vatican the next morning, so we quickly unloaded and went to bed in anticipation of an early morning!

Saturday
In the AM, we rose early, showered and ate a quick breakfast that was delivered to our room, took a Metro to the stop our man had circled (public transportation in Rome was really simple and convenient- only 2 metro lines to navigate!), waited in a pretty quick line through security (the line is apparently far worse in summer during peak tourist season) and suddenly found ourselves in probably the most famous religious center in the world. Standing in St. Peter’s Square, we were all giddy with excitement and overwhelmed by how much history surrounded us. We went in the Basilica first. Being here about 2 months, I have visited a decent number of Cathedrals and Churches, but this I can accurately describe as THE MOTHERSHIP. It was beautiful, gorgeous, stunning. I am really not exaggerating, everywhere you looked was breathtaking architecture, art, statues, and alters. I was emotional just taking it all in, to me it is very moving knowing how many people’s lives have been touched, changed, and inspired by religion, and here I was standing in the center of it. We walked around for quite some time, taking it in and trying to take pictures that would capture the beauty (of course, no picture can). After, we decided to take the challenge and climb to the top. You could pay 2 Euros more to take an elevator that would reduce the climb by 200 steps, but being both the physically fit and economically wise travelers that we were, we opted for the more aerobic and cheap route. It was quite a hike to the top- over 500 steps- but they were broken up into different segments with some stopping points, so it wasn’t too bad. The view from the top was incredible! You could see all of the Vatican and surrounding Rome. We were so giddy this first morning not only from the amazing things we were seeing, but also the incredible weather. Luxembourg is not exactly sunny and warm, and in Rome on this morning we awoke to sunny skis and temperatures in the 50s! We took off our coats and soaked it all in. It was lovely to see the view from St. Peter’s with such blue skies!

After our descent, we decided to treat ourselves to a little gelato as a reward for our morning workout. It was the beginning of a love affair that lasted all week, I am not ashamed to say that I ate the delicious gelato at least once a day since then! It is just so creamy and yummy and I love how you mix the flavors on one cone! I hope my Dad gets to eat Italian gelato at some point, and that he tries some flavors other than his standard chocolate, I think he would love it! Gelato in hand, we wandered over to the Vatican Museum. I didn’t realize what an incredible collection of art the Catholic Church owns! It was astounding really, but obviously makes sense since the Church was a huge patron of the arts for such a long time. We could have spent three days in the museum browsing, but we decided to visit the most central wing that started with Egyptian Art and then proceed to Ancient Rome and finally the Renaissance masters. We saw so much neat stuff, I can’t even recap it all. Eventually though, all the signs began pointing to the Sistine Chapel, and anticipation began to build. It kind of reminded me of those signs as you drive to Florida that keep advertising “South of the Border,” that strange Mexican inspired theme park that turns out to be a dump. We were all getting excited and the crowd was getting larger as we approached what is probably the most famous ceiling in the world. On the way, we saw Raphael’s School of Athens, which was awesome, it was neat to try to figure out who was who in the myriad of famous faces. Then, it was onto the Sistine, which turned out to be all it is built up to be! All I have to say is, Michelangelo was a genius, and a very flexible and creative one at that! Its so crazy to think he did that all craning his neck back so high in the air! Impressive to say the least! It was all so detailed. My friend Kelly, who is an art major, pointed out the most important portions including the Creation of Man and the Last Judgment. It was so interesting to me the story that the entire thing tells. Although pictures are strictly forbidden, literally everyone in the room was snapping photos right and left, so I followed the crowd and did the same. I got a few nice shots but tried not to go crazy, I was in a holy place so I had to obey the rules to some degree!

After about 40 minutes of craning our necks, we headed out into the beautiful day. We had a nice lunch and then set out to follow the circle map’s main markers. We saw the Castel Saint Angelo, and then walked along the Tiber River, which was beautiful. We then strayed a little from the circle map’s guidance and turned down a street that was too cute to pass up. We wound around some windy, really quaint streets lined with antique and specialty shops. Then we went to the two squares circled on our map, Campo de’Fiori and Piazza Navona. At this point, it was getting to be dusk and the sun was going down and the lights began to light up both squares. One had a street performance going on to celebrate carnival. Both squares were lovely, and just gave you a happy feeling to be in. They were exactly Italy as I had imagined it, bustling, full of life, people, food, fashion. (Ah I know I am so cheesy but this is how I felt!)

From there, we headed towards the Trevi Fountain, and stumbled on…the Pantheon! You know you are in an amazing city when you just stumble upon incredible ruins and temples on your way around town. The Pantheon was huge and the sphere dome amazing, to this day engineers cannot figure out how they were able to construct it so perfectly. We then found Trevi Fountain, which was beautiful lit up at night, and possibly my favorite site of the trip. I threw in a penny over my shoulder and made a wish, which should ensure that I one day will return to Rome and the Trevi (I really hope this comes true and possibly I am there with someone I love, a running joke on our trip was that Rome was incredibly “ROMEANTIC”)!

From the Trevi, we made a brief detour in a cute clothing store and headed home. We bought wine at a little shop- it was very high class 3 euro bottles- and sadly my friend was carded to show she was 16- a low blow. We then got ready at the hotel and ended up having girl talk and wine for quite sometime. We ended up going out too late to be seated at a restaurant and grabbed sandwiches from a place open late. I was scolded for putting ketchup on a wood plate (I have no idea why), but the sandwich was great. At this point, I was able to get in touch with Kyle, the birthday boy, and I was thrilled to be able to hear his voice and say Happy 21st in person! We then went to an Irish Pub (random I know) and met some strange characters, including very serious Catholic Studies students from Minnesota, and Italians with the most Italian names possible- Mario, Franco, and Giovanni. We grabbed a gelato on the way home- I got a biscuit flavor that was to die for- and then headed back to Hotel Beautiful. What a day!

Sunday
We had our sights set on Rome’s other big site- the Coliseum- on Sunday. We set out walking after breakfast and showers, and got a bit lost. We were looking at our map at an intersection and looking super touristy when my astute friend Margaret said, “Uh guys, look left.” There it was- right before us- the huge, extremely famous landmark. We laughed, quickly shoved our maps away, and headed towards it. We were slightly surprised to see a HUGE line to get in, and we reluctantly joined the crowd, hoping we wouldn’t have to wait several hours, but it looked like it. After a few minutes and discussion to make sure the offer wasn’t a scam or sketchy, we decided to join an English tour group. It only cost 5 Euros more than regular admission cost and you skipped the lines and received a guided tour of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. It turned out to be an excellent decision. Our tour of the Coliseum was really cool, and our guide quite hilarious. He seemed to like us young American girls, and took any chance to joke about our homeland (he told us Chicago means Shit Over There- I think a stab at Barrack, and also called us the modern day Virgil Virgins- not unlike the ones who had to guard the eternal flame in the Roman Forum Temple). Despite these jabs, which were all lighthearted, he was informative, and we learned a lot. Did you know that about 1,000 a year died in the “entertainment” that took place in the Coliseum for over 400 years, so close to half a million in total lost their lives their! Also, the word arena means sand in Latin, and comes from the fact that the Coliseum floor was made of sand.

After walking around the Coliseum and seeing it from different viewpoints, we headed to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum where a very nice Canadian lady gave us a great tour. She told us the history of Rome, which was started by the brothers Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she wolf on Palatine Hill (again a J.K. Rowling reference for you devoted HP fans). The hill became a center of Rome, and the Roman Forum became the market center of this area, where people went to do their banking, shopping, and run other errands. It was absolutely gorgeous. We were so thrilled to see all the greenery and lush gardens. We took a ton of pictures and our tour took us to a ton of great viewpoints. We wandered around even more after it was over, and went down into the Roman Forum which we had previously overlooked. I loved, once again, the feeling of being in the middle of so much history! Can you believe we think things in the US are old when they are from a couple of hundred of years ago?! This is thousands and thousands of years! So neat.

We then grabbed a very Italian lunch of pizza and salad and wandered the area around the Coliseum. We saw a random Michael Jackson (he was a theme of our trip and will appear again), imitator (my friend Kelly dead panned asked me- didn’t he die last year? and I thought she was serious and laughed a lot- another trip catchphrase), who drew a huge crowd but was actually horrendous- I swear he had no personality or style! We didn’t linger too long, and moved on to other sites including the “Wedding Cake” monument, a building built in the Classic Roman style but in the 20th century and disliked/made fun of by many native Romans apparently but that we thought was pretty cool. We also saw the Column of Trehan, which Kelly informed us was a big deal. Then we walked along the river again and this time went onto a little island. The view was great, and it was here that I discovered the sepia and black and white settings on my camera that would be clutch for the rest of the trip. We then stumbled into the Jewish quarter, which was very untouristy, and just incredibly interesting, it felt very authentic. We winded back to Campo Di Fiori again for gelato, and then got a little lost, but in the end found a bus back to the train station with our hostel right next door.

That night, we went on a date for Valentine’s Day (even though 2 of us were missing our boyfriends, we got dressed up and treated ourselves to a fun girls evening) at a restaurant called Aroma. It was a tiny little place with really delicious Italian food, I had salad and gnocchi- the gnocchi was to die for. We sat very close to an older couple and the outgoing Kelly struck up a conversation with them. They were from Sydney, Australia, and were just beginning a 5 week vacation in Europe. We hit it off with them because they had hosted study abroad students in their home for 25 years and were actually visiting a lot of their former residents across Europe! They were so nice and it was kind of like chatting with parents again, which we all agreed we missed. They even gave us their name and email address and promised if we ever made it to Australia, we would have a place to stay! After dinner, we headed to Campio de Fiori and a bar that all the guidebooks recommended called Sloppy Sams. We met some strange American army soldiers on leave, one of them was very excited about a very creepy duck stuffed animal whose neck did a weird dance move that he bought his niece (don’t worry Temps I didn’t buy Gabby this disturbing toy.) When I told him it was nice because “everyone knows Rome is famous for its ducks” this became another trip catchphrase, and we decided it was time to head out. We were exhausted, and all fell into bed as soon as we got home.

Monday

Since we had seen most of the big sites in Rome at this point, Monday was our more relaxed day to leisurely wander, and of course, do what girls do best in a big, fabulous city- SHOP! We first headed to the Spanish Steps, climbed them, and took pictures from the top! We learned that the poet Keats actually spent the last three years of his life in the building directly to the right on the steps and there is a museum there in his honor now. The area around the steps was great, and had a ton of lovely shopping chances. One road is lined with the highest end designers and their gorgeous window displays- it reminds me of 5th Avenue in NYC (my friend Allie loves fashion and she was in heaven). We could only window shop here, but eventually found some places more in our price range, and took advantage! I won’t bore you with the details, but we found some cute stuff! We had lunch midday at a sandwich shop, and I had my favorite Panini of the trip, it had egg, mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, on delicious rosemary bread with olive oil. We spent more time in the afternoon browsing and just exploring areas we had yet to discover. It was nice to just take in the city and not feel rushed or pressed to go visit a specific site. We were all really glad we had allocated three full days to Rome! We grabbed dinner at a market, and then took the 6 o’clock train to our next destination, the Tuscan beach town of Viarregio. I had the brilliant idea to pick up some extra food as well as a face-mask and nail polish at Sephora, so when we arrived tired at our HOTEL (we would be staying in a real life 3 star hotel in Viarregio, not a hostel), we could have a relaxing girls night. We got the goods, easily found our train, and were on our way. We had a ton of room, and were able to eat, read, and sleep on the 3 hour trip.

We hit a problem when we arrived. We got directions to our hotel from two nice older men on our trip who were natives of Viarregio. Unfortunately, after walking 20 minutes in the direction they pointed, we realized it must be wrong. We were all wearing our heavy backpacks and carrying all of our packages from the day, which was quite a lot. We got directions several more times, but were quite lost. In the end, we walked about 1.5 hours and were delirious with back pain but also because we were laughing at ourselves so much. The journey was miserable, but highly comical as well and we made a lot of jokes. We pretty much saw the whole town of Viarregio as an added bonus! (turns out we were looking for the road Via Puccini, not the Piazza Puccini, which is where the first two men had directed us). When we finally arrived at our hotel though, we were thrilled! It was adorable- think pink walls, old fashioned jewel toned decorations and antique lifts- and our room was huge- it was actually two rooms connected! We were even more thrilled to have the goods for a girls night, and immediately devoured the snacks we had brought and just vegged out. We put on our face masks and chatted and soaked up our surroundings! Then we headed to bed so we could rest up for Tuesday’s carnival festivities!