What better time to write a blog then at Termini train station holding ticket number A538 in a growing line of angry, misplaced travelers?! I don’t like to be grumpy, but sometimes there’s no way not to be. Why are we grumpy? Becauseeeeeeeeeee after waking up at 7 am to make sure we are on time for out 9 am train from Rome to Florence and waiting on the train till 30 minutes after it was supposed to leave we were told our 4-hour train was cancelled because of a strike. Woo!
I suppose I can review my lovely yet exhausting 2 and a half becoming three day trip to Roma. We arrived in Rome on Thursday night around 10 pm and went to our Air B&B. (Air B&B is a website where you can stay in peoples’ apartments in cities all over the world for a relatively cheap price)
Friday:
Woke up around 11 am to make it to our 12:00 coliseum ticket time. Walked around the coliseum, which was awesome and definitely something to see, but I wasn’t as shocked or impressed as I assumed I would be. I feel bad for saying that…I hope my ancestors aren’t rolling over in their graves. After the coliseum Erica, Jessica and I took pictures with “gladiators” aka smelly, old men in gladiator costumes. We knew we had to pay for the pictures at least tip, but when the guy tried to tell us it was 10 euros each we laughed in his face and told him we’ll delete the pictures. (They weren’t that cool) We didn’t have to delete them though hehe. After that we walked through the Roman Forum and other ruins because apparently the whole city is just a bunch of different ruins to visit. We walked through beautiful piazzas (plazas) and towns to get some pizza and an AMAZING Nutella calzone. I don’t know if I have anything more delicious than that calzone. Uncomfortably full but satisfied, we walked towards a huge park (villa b-something) and just enjoyed the scenery. By then we were exhausted from walking around and being in the hot sun so decided to head home. Jess and I were so full from the pizza that we didn’t have dinner and went straight to bed. It also didn’t hurt our wallets that we saved a few bucks.
Saturday:
Woke up around 10 am to go to Vatican City. We had tickets for the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, but to go in the Basilica we had to walk back around and wait on a very long line to get in. So Jess and I being suckers bought a tour guide for 15 euros who brought us through the museum and Sistine chapel and then because we were with a tour guide we were allowed to go straight to the Basilica without waiting on any line. (super clutch) The museum was very cool with beautiful ceilings and floors, and my favorite room was probably the room dedicated to the muses of various artists. I’m glad those ladies got some cred for being inspiring and junk. The Sistine chapel was incredible especially knowing how much work was put in and all the interesting facts about Michelangelo. No photographs are allowed and it is supposed to be silent, but with like hundreds of people inside that was a difficult task, which explains the guards constantly shushing everyone and yelling for silence. Being the sneaky snake I am, I stole a few pictures of the masterpiece. The basilica was incredible. There were signs in front of the mass times that made me chuckle and wonder what type of people you have to be to be able to go to mass in the Basilica. After Vatican City, Jess and I went to the Trevi Fountain. If you don’t know the Trevi Fountain; see Lizzie McGuire Movie OR see any girl who has studied abroad’s Facebook page. Look for the picture of her throwing a coin behind her head, usually laughing, smiling, or with her mouth open in just sheer joy in front of a fountain. Classic picture. Anywhooooo after the Trevi we saw a lot of policemen, their dogs, and their big scary trucks so we followed them to see where they were going. Apparently there was a riot/protest on the other side of the police barricades. According to Avery’s friend Alex, this is a common occurrence, which I guess means Jess and I didn’t have to stand watching them do absolutely nothing for about an hour. Time well spent in Rome. That night Jess and I met up with Avery and Alex for a delicious yet cheap Italian meal. I had spaghetti with Bolognese sauce and the whole breadbasket. Boy do I miss the free bread before every meal!! Once again extremely full and satisfied Jess and I went home to sleep so we could get up for our 9 am train.
The train situation:
So this whole weekend Jess and I have spent basically any penny we brought for Rome on taxis. I booked our Air B&B a little outside the city and therefore we needed to take some form of public transportation in. Unfortunately walking to the metro wasn’t an option we were aware of until last night so we tried to hail cabs from busy streets. One tip for anyone going to Rome: taxis only wait at specific taxi stands so if you need a taxi, call or find a taxi stand/station near by you. At one point we had to find a supermarket and have them call us a cab for which the cab charged us for the ride to the supermarket. Super awesome! The only time a cab was driving by without passengers was this morning on our way to the train station when we already knew that we could walk 20 minutes to a metro then take the metro 20 minutes, but since the cab was right there for once we didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. (Laziest people around) Funny story though, Jess and I booked different times for our train today, we’re responsible people I swear, so we had to come extra early to make sure Jess could switch her ticket to the early time. Turns out the train ticket works for a whole day and doesn’t matter what train or time you go on... Interesting but good. Something else we learned, there is currently a strike in the train company. Awesome! We were here nice and early and were waiting/praying for a driver on the actual train. I fell right asleep (didn’t even need the train to rock me to sleep) and woke up 30 minutes after the departure time to find out that the train didn’t have a driver, wonder why? Thanks train drivers for choosing today to strike! (I am totally unaware of why there is a strike, I’m sure they have a good reason, but that doesn’t mean I am their number one supporter either) So here I am 3 hours after the train was supposed to leave waiting 2 hours for the next train to leave. We met a nice boy named Jared who goes to NYU (not Jared Oliff-Lieberman I swear- but Jared if you are by chance reading this and managed to actually finish the whole thing Hey real Jared!!) and the fake Jared is hanging with us until we can get on the next train. So that’s what’s going on right this second in beautiful Rome. I’ll let you know how it went from Florence if we get there!
Muchos Besos
I suppose I can review my lovely yet exhausting 2 and a half becoming three day trip to Roma. We arrived in Rome on Thursday night around 10 pm and went to our Air B&B. (Air B&B is a website where you can stay in peoples’ apartments in cities all over the world for a relatively cheap price)
Friday:
Woke up around 11 am to make it to our 12:00 coliseum ticket time. Walked around the coliseum, which was awesome and definitely something to see, but I wasn’t as shocked or impressed as I assumed I would be. I feel bad for saying that…I hope my ancestors aren’t rolling over in their graves. After the coliseum Erica, Jessica and I took pictures with “gladiators” aka smelly, old men in gladiator costumes. We knew we had to pay for the pictures at least tip, but when the guy tried to tell us it was 10 euros each we laughed in his face and told him we’ll delete the pictures. (They weren’t that cool) We didn’t have to delete them though hehe. After that we walked through the Roman Forum and other ruins because apparently the whole city is just a bunch of different ruins to visit. We walked through beautiful piazzas (plazas) and towns to get some pizza and an AMAZING Nutella calzone. I don’t know if I have anything more delicious than that calzone. Uncomfortably full but satisfied, we walked towards a huge park (villa b-something) and just enjoyed the scenery. By then we were exhausted from walking around and being in the hot sun so decided to head home. Jess and I were so full from the pizza that we didn’t have dinner and went straight to bed. It also didn’t hurt our wallets that we saved a few bucks.
Saturday:
Woke up around 10 am to go to Vatican City. We had tickets for the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, but to go in the Basilica we had to walk back around and wait on a very long line to get in. So Jess and I being suckers bought a tour guide for 15 euros who brought us through the museum and Sistine chapel and then because we were with a tour guide we were allowed to go straight to the Basilica without waiting on any line. (super clutch) The museum was very cool with beautiful ceilings and floors, and my favorite room was probably the room dedicated to the muses of various artists. I’m glad those ladies got some cred for being inspiring and junk. The Sistine chapel was incredible especially knowing how much work was put in and all the interesting facts about Michelangelo. No photographs are allowed and it is supposed to be silent, but with like hundreds of people inside that was a difficult task, which explains the guards constantly shushing everyone and yelling for silence. Being the sneaky snake I am, I stole a few pictures of the masterpiece. The basilica was incredible. There were signs in front of the mass times that made me chuckle and wonder what type of people you have to be to be able to go to mass in the Basilica. After Vatican City, Jess and I went to the Trevi Fountain. If you don’t know the Trevi Fountain; see Lizzie McGuire Movie OR see any girl who has studied abroad’s Facebook page. Look for the picture of her throwing a coin behind her head, usually laughing, smiling, or with her mouth open in just sheer joy in front of a fountain. Classic picture. Anywhooooo after the Trevi we saw a lot of policemen, their dogs, and their big scary trucks so we followed them to see where they were going. Apparently there was a riot/protest on the other side of the police barricades. According to Avery’s friend Alex, this is a common occurrence, which I guess means Jess and I didn’t have to stand watching them do absolutely nothing for about an hour. Time well spent in Rome. That night Jess and I met up with Avery and Alex for a delicious yet cheap Italian meal. I had spaghetti with Bolognese sauce and the whole breadbasket. Boy do I miss the free bread before every meal!! Once again extremely full and satisfied Jess and I went home to sleep so we could get up for our 9 am train.
The train situation:
So this whole weekend Jess and I have spent basically any penny we brought for Rome on taxis. I booked our Air B&B a little outside the city and therefore we needed to take some form of public transportation in. Unfortunately walking to the metro wasn’t an option we were aware of until last night so we tried to hail cabs from busy streets. One tip for anyone going to Rome: taxis only wait at specific taxi stands so if you need a taxi, call or find a taxi stand/station near by you. At one point we had to find a supermarket and have them call us a cab for which the cab charged us for the ride to the supermarket. Super awesome! The only time a cab was driving by without passengers was this morning on our way to the train station when we already knew that we could walk 20 minutes to a metro then take the metro 20 minutes, but since the cab was right there for once we didn’t let the opportunity go to waste. (Laziest people around) Funny story though, Jess and I booked different times for our train today, we’re responsible people I swear, so we had to come extra early to make sure Jess could switch her ticket to the early time. Turns out the train ticket works for a whole day and doesn’t matter what train or time you go on... Interesting but good. Something else we learned, there is currently a strike in the train company. Awesome! We were here nice and early and were waiting/praying for a driver on the actual train. I fell right asleep (didn’t even need the train to rock me to sleep) and woke up 30 minutes after the departure time to find out that the train didn’t have a driver, wonder why? Thanks train drivers for choosing today to strike! (I am totally unaware of why there is a strike, I’m sure they have a good reason, but that doesn’t mean I am their number one supporter either) So here I am 3 hours after the train was supposed to leave waiting 2 hours for the next train to leave. We met a nice boy named Jared who goes to NYU (not Jared Oliff-Lieberman I swear- but Jared if you are by chance reading this and managed to actually finish the whole thing Hey real Jared!!) and the fake Jared is hanging with us until we can get on the next train. So that’s what’s going on right this second in beautiful Rome. I’ll let you know how it went from Florence if we get there!
Muchos Besos
ps. sorry