Rome Italy

Friday Continued-

After classes I went home and took a siesta after lunch with madre, her daughter, and her granddaughter. I packed for Rome then met Lisa at her house. We walked to the metro where I was almost robbed. Lisa spotted a lady with a scarf over my backpack about to unzip it. I had no idea. Lisa confronted here and she left the metro station and walked out. It could have been a bad start to the trip. We took the metro to the airport and our plane was delayed an hour. We were at the airport for a long time so I got decided to enjoy some granizado while I waited. We finally got on the plane around 11. The plane was packed with people and there was little legroom- I guess that’s what you get for a cheap flight. The flight was a quick 1 hour and 40 minutes over the Mediterranean and we had a great view of Rome at night on the way in. We also had a good view of Sardinia at night. We took a bus to the train station from the airport and walked to find out hostel. We eventually found it around 2am, and went to bed almost immediately. The hostel was nice and I was impressed for the price.

Saturday July 21, 2007

We woke up at 8am and went to a café to have breakfast which was included in the hostel- cappuccino and a croissant. We walked to the metro and took the metro to the Vatican. We met our tour group and walked to the Vatican. It was very nice to bypass the 3 hour line waiting to get in with our tour group. Our tour was good and our tour gide was very knowledgeable. I took a lot of pictures and really enjoyed the Sistine Chapel. I like St. Peter’s Basilica, but there was so much detail that it was hard to take it all in. I liked it all over all and it was worth while. We got some funny pictures outside of the Vatican and then walked to a pizza place for lunch. It really felt like Italy now. We stopped by a store to have gelato then we went to a book store to read for a little while. It was nice to get out of the heat. We walked to one of the plazas and it was cool to see all of the art work that street vendors had for sale. Lisa bought a small picture. We walked to the Pantheon and got a UVA picture outside of it because the Rotunda at UVA is based off of it. We visited a government building and saw the Coliseum in the distance. We checked out some of the clothing stores along a main street and got some more funny pictures. We went back to the hostel to shower and nap and then got ready to go out for dinner. I had a tomato and mozzarella sandwich. We went to see the Spanish steps which were packed with people, but it was cool to see it lit up at night. We walked toward a concert, but it was over when we got there. We also passed a Valentino dress worth over 6,000 euros that Caleb and Lisa really liked. We wanted a drink and some ice cream so we decided to go to McDonalds- and waited in line for over 45 minutes. It was a nice McDonalds with a café and gelato as well as the first McDonalds in Italy, but the service was slow. We walked to the Trevi fountain which was also great lit up at night. We walked back to the hostel to shower and go to bed because we were exhausted.

Sunday July 22, 2007

We woke up at 9 and went to breakfast. We decided that we wanted to go the beach. We took a metro to a train and then we got to the beach. The metro in Rome is really dirty and covered in graffiti. We could not figure out how to get to the beach. There were private resorts blocking all of the entrances. We finally found a really good pool and decided to go there. They had several diving boards of various heights right on the ocean. We chilled there all day by the pool on the ocean. It was not the fishing village we hoped to fine, but it was ok. There were not many tourists- only Italians so that was cool. I only brought a speedo so I wore that for the first time where as Caleb and Lisa had to buy bathing suits because they left theirs in Spain. I had lunch and a drink for really cheap. The beach was not good at all- the sand was dark and the water looked gross- I was glad we were by the pool. The high dive was a highlight. We did not buy sunscreen beacue it was so expensive, but after over 6 hours in the sun we were all burnt. We were all hungry, burnt, tired and not in a good mood. We took the metro back to Rome. The metro was so packed and that made things worse. We went back to our hostel to shower and regroup. We were tired of spending money because Rome was so expensive and we went to McDonalds. We ran into 2 other Americans who invited us to an Opera concert they were performing in across the street. We decided to go to that and it was really good. They were a group of 50 selected students from the USA performing Opera in Rome. We went back to the hostel after walking around to plan Monday, talked, and went to bed.

Monday July 23, 2007

We woke up at 8, showered, packed our stuff and headed to breakfast. We went to see the house of John Keates- a famous English poet who spent his final years in Rome. His house was right beside the Spanish Steps. We were there for about an hour, went by the nice McDonalds to use the nice restrooms then went to get a daylight picture of the Trevi Fountain. It was not running so we moved on to the next sight. We walked to the Botanical garden a good distance away, but when we got there it was closed. We went to a café near by and had the best mozzarella and tomato sandwiches for really cheap. We passed several more water courtesy of the aqueducts on the streets to drink and cool off (one of my favorite things about Rome). Circus Maximous was less impressive than I thought it would be. We walked some more and paid 11 euros to see some roman ruins. The Palatino was closed and it was really hot. We later found out that it was over 100 degrees and I had to try hard not to bicker and get mad because we were all hot, tired and dehydrated from standing in the sun. We almost passed out. We went to the Coliseum which was cool I guess. So much of it was destroyed, but it was hard to enjoy much as hot as it was. We waked all around then went back to the hostel to get our bags and then we walked to the train station. Caleb and I ate at a pizza place whish was good. We rode the bus from the train station to the airport. We waited for our flight which was delayed half an hour. By this time Caleb was not feeling well and really annoyed. We finally boarded the plane and were on our way back to Valencia. We had great views of the setting sun as well as views of some Spanish islands and a great night view of Valencia as we landed. As the plane landed the Spanish people all clapped, bur when the plan was struggling to break the Spanish children yelled break, break, break in Spanish and it was very comical. We took the Metro back to our houses. I ran into Liz, Larry and Danny on the street and talked to them. I called Jessica to get our homework then I went home to eat dinner, talk to Jordan, go some work and go to bed. It was a good weekend- I saw a lot, but it was expensive and very hot. I think it would have been a better idea to stay in Spain.

* A note on Rome *

I feel like Rome was not as great as it was made out to be. First of all I am glad I went, but most of the city is just a big tourist trap. Everything was expensive and I spent about $490.00 US dollars on the trip. I got to see a lot, but it was also very hot and Lisa, Caleb and I got mad at each other during parts of the trip. I would have enjoyed it more if I would have stayed longer, had more money, it was not as hot, I knew some more Italian and most of all- if I had time to visit other parts of Italy which I hear are incredible. I was glad I came to Rome, but I am not sure that this was the best time for me to visit.