Let Rick Steves be your guide: Roma

Vera and I decided to go on a Roman adventure, so we packed our bags (lightly of course), hopped on a plane (we somehow ended up with priority boarding although we didn't pay for it...) and a few hours later found ourselves in a new airport (and then bus stop, and then train station, and then cab)! We learned early on that Roman cab drivers loooove to scam naive tourists. We had just arrived and needed to get from the train station Termini to our hostel. We asked a cab driver if it was close enough to walk and he told us absolutely not, that the walk would be long and dangerous. Soooo we hop in the cab and after a long ride that cost close to 20 euro!! we get to our hostel, relieved that we hadn't decided to walk that long distance at night. We found out the next morning that the hostel is a 5 minute walk from the train station...the cab driver just drove us around in circles!! Oh well, lesson learned.

Our hostel was called The Yellow and it was great! Really clean and modern, with its own bar and wireless internet! For some reason none of my ATM cards would work in Italy and I wasn't thinking and didn't bring much cash, so I ended up borrowing from Vera and making an IOV (I owe Vera) sheet where I kept a tab going the whole trip...pretty entertaining, thanks for saving me V!

Lead the way Rick!

We were hungry and got a recommendation from someone working at the hostel for a good, close place to get dinner. Well it wasn't close (and we were walking), and the restaurant he suggested wasn't even there! It was some different restaurant, but we had a fine dinner there, and a table of Italian men sent over a glass of Proseco (my favorite Italian sparkling wine) to each of us awww. We were both pretty tired our first night, but the next morning we got started on a very full day with Rick Steve's "The Best of Europe" book in hand. First we went to the Coloseum. We decided to do a guided tour, but the woman was boring and impossible to understand, so we decided to just stick with Rick from then on. It was cool to imagine gladiators and wild animals fighting to the death there! And as a USC Trojan, it was nice to get back to my roots lol- Fight On!! Right by the Coloseum was the Roman Forum, Rome's birthplace and civic center. Rome is such a historically rich city, and looking at the Forum you can literally see the layers. It was incredible.

Fightin' on in the Coloseum!!

Roman Forum

From the forum, we took a very entertaining cab ride to the Pantheon. We get in the cab and our driver asks us our names and tells us his name is Marco. The he keeps saying Marco! Maya! Vera! along with all these Italian words we don't understand. Finally he starts saying, Marco! Maya! Vera! Triangulo? and we eventually realize that he's asking us to have a threesome with him. We made it very clear that this was not an option, and got out of that cab as quickly as possible hahaha. Italian men are VERY aggressive, much more so than Spain...but they're also cuter =) We got lunch (not at Rick Steve's recommended restaurant b/c it didn't look great), checked out the Pantheon, looked in some shops, and got gelato!

Pantheon

Nutella anyone?

Then we headed back to the hostel to rest a little before going back out, b/c of course we wanted to take Rick Steve's recommened night walk! As suggested, we ate dinner in a cute restaurant in Campo de' Fiori, then embarked on our nocturnal adventure. It was cold out and two waiters told us our destinations were too far away to walk, but Vera and I had our hearts set on a night walk across Rome and nothing was going to stop us!

Amazing Italian dinner

The destinations of our night walk

First we went to the Trevi Fountain which was sooooo pretty! Did I mention earlier that I LOVE fountains?? After taking lots of pics (and trying to figure out the night modes on our cameras), and throwing a coin over our heads into the fountain (apparently this means you'll come back again someday-I hope so!), we continued to the famous Spanish Steps. But whatever was famous about them seemed to be under construction, so we went home.

Trevi Fountain

Travel buddies!

We woke up at 7:30 the next morning to get an early start on the day. No, I am not kidding I ACTUALLY woke up that early without being forced haha. We stopped at a Cafe that Vera had discovered the day before to get breakfast, and somehow ended up spending 37 euro! I guess we each got tea, oj, and 2 pastries, and then each didn't like one of the pastries and got new ones, but still, that's expensive!!

At least it was good... =)

We took a metro to the Vatican City...I can't put into words how absolutely stunning it was, all I can say is that the Pope is one lucky guy! Saint Peter's Basilica is hands down the most incredible church I have ever seen. I was pretty much in awe the entire time.

Don't mess with St. Peter

St. Peter's Square

Ceremony inside the Basilica

Then we went to the Vatican museum to see Michaelangelo's depiction of God creating Adam in the Sistine Chapel. I studied this painting in class and was soooo excited to see it! We literally walked among a very big crowd for at least a half an hour up and down steps following signs to the Sistine Chapel...we were starting to think it's just a hoax and everyone just pretends it exists! But we got there, and I finally got to see the painting (it covers the entire ceiling of the chapel) in its original form! I think I'm in love with Adam hehe, no wonder Eve tried to tempt him ;) Photos weren't allowed in the Sistine, but I just haaaad to get one so I was sneaky and did it.

God's Creation of Adam

After a delicious lunch (food in Italy definitely rivals Spain) we took the metro to go check out the Borghese Gallery. It turned out you had to have a reservation so we couldn't go in, but along the way, we found some swings and swang, and then walked through a really beautiful, peaceful park, it was great!

wheeeeeeeeee!

Broccoli trees!

That night, we decided to go on a pub crawl that our hostel was putting on...big mistake. A lot of the people staying at our hostel were really weird. This guy from Canada, who was actually staying in our same room ughhh, was really creepy and obnoxious and drunk. I was joking with Vera that it was a pretty busted group overall...a few minutes later I was talking to this Austrailian guy who actually seemed at least somewhat sane, when all of a sudden he starts laughing and a retainer falls out of his mouth...WITH ONE OF HIS TEETH ON IT! So much for that ahahaha...Rome nightlife isn't great, everywhere we went was overcrowded and under-fun, but that's not why we went so it was ok.

We flew back to Madrid the next morning, and unlike Barcelona, this trip home was seamless. I had SUCH an amazing time in Rome. It was definitely one of the most culturally fascinating experiences I've ever had. I really can't believe how much we did in three days! Team Maya/ Vera/Rick Steves (no Marco, please) rocks!!