Here I am in Roma, Italia. After saying our goodbyes to roommates and the harsh cold of Oslo we headed off on a 2 week journey. We were ready for a vacation. Finals had drained us. We woke up at 5:30 am… just when I was starting to enjoy my sleep. We did a group hug with our flat mates for the last time and where out the door by 7 holding back tears and our excitement. Usually I cannot fall asleep on transit, but this time I was completely out the entire way there. Upon my last arrival at Rygge airport, the trees were completely frosted in a white sparkle, begging me not to leave Norway, the land I’ve fallen in love with. Everything was white… EVERYTHING! We checked in and tried to go through security. Already my hand luggage was 2 kilos over weight. I’d managed to pack my biggest backpack yet. Oops. After putting on a couple more layers and distributing the weight to other people’s bags, I made it through. The flight was around 2.5 hours. Again I couldn’t help but sleep the entire way. Just another Ryanair flight. I’m kind of glad they’ll be over soon. Even though the flights are dirt cheap, they do have their disadvantages. There is no assigned seating so as soon as they open the gates to the tarmac everyone runs to the plane. They also try to sell you things along the entire flight. 2 hours of perfume, lottery ticket, magazine, and food sales is SOSOO annoying.
The weather in Rome was so relieving. No snow and I didn’t need my winter jacket. Although it was cloudy it was still in the upper 50’s. Ahhh… summer. Another inconvenient thing about Ryanair is that it flies to the most inconvenient airports possible. Now we had to figure out how in the world to get into town. The cheapest way was by city bus. Unfortunately I made the mistake of asking a shuttle bus driver how to get to it. After trying to persuade me to take his bus he angrily shook his head and pointed.
The bus took about 30 minutes through the suburbs of Rome. I was really surprised to see slums and very dirty roads along the way in. Large barricades had been built to try to hide the slums from incoming tourists. Let me tell you, Rome is not like the movies. Well, I guess in one way it is. As we were getting onto the bus, I was the first one. I handed him the money and he asked me if the other girls were also with me. He greeted me with “Ciao Bella” and let all of us pass for the price of one. Italians are very hospitable and will try their hardest to help you. Ahhh… Italian men. Once we made it to the city center we needed to take a tram to Guattemelta station. No one speaks English. Tell me about a struggle trying to find that stop. Luckily we were able to get our point across and when the stop came around three Italian women pushed us off the tram “Now, Now, Now!” From there we got lost for a good hour. Eventually 5 little, old, Italian men helped us find our way. They shoved all 3 of us and our backpacks into an elevator big enough for maybe 1 person and hit a button. Once again “Ciao Bella!” When the elevator stopped Andrea, our couch surfer greeted us at the door. We were so lucky to have found a last minute couch surfer. Our original one canceled on us last minute. Andrea is a 30 some year old bachelor. He eagerly welcomed us into his apartment. As soon as we told him we were starving he whipped us up our first plate full of pasta. MMMMmm. He also showed us our room and the rest of his small apartment. I was expecting some creepy guy, but it turned out better than expected. I felt really comfortable there and he trusts us as well. He even gave us our own key.
After lying down for awhile we ventured into the city. I wanted to see the Trevi Fountain or as the Romans say it, Fountain di Trevi.
It’s interesting because the Romans like to hide things. You can’t see the fountain for blocks and then suddenly you round a small alley corner and BAM! It’s right there in front of you. Your own discovery. But, WOW! The fountain is absolutely romantic. It glows. Every sculpture is absolutely magnificent. I sat there for awhile in complete disbelief. Was I really here? I felt like I was watching a movie.
Friday morning we missed out alarm and didn’t wake up until 8:30. Jamie and I had slept “ying yang” style on a bed. Amazingly I slept like a baby. We didn’t see Andrea in the morning, a bit of a relief. We waited for 2 other friends who were meeting us in Rome. They are from the states, but are studying in Bulgaria. As Calysta and I went down to get some breakfast we met them at the gate and showed them up to the apartment. Calysta and I then continued along our way. We stopped at a fruit market. I was amazed at myself for understanding a little Italian. A woman was laughing at me for squashing my bananas in a bag. A cute Italian boy also offered me a coffee. Si! I want a coffee. Italian coffee is a bit of a wowza. It’s a tiny shot of espresso. Super sweet, thick, and short. The way they like it. After cleaning up and eating in his amazing kitchen, romantic balcony included,
we headed out for the day. First stop colosseum!
As I said before, the Romans like to hide things. The colosseum is no exception. It’s not like the movies where all of the main sights are in the same area. You don’t go whizzing by it on a bus on your way into town. You get lost for awhile and then BAM! There it is. The Colosseum. Wow.
Lucky to not be traveling in the off season the line wasn’t horrendous. We waited only 30 minutes and paid 11 EUR. The colosseum is spectacular. It is unbelievable to imagine this structure in working order thousands of years ago. It is still in such good condition, considering it is so old. We wandered and gawked for nearly 2 hours.
The view from the top of the colosseum is amazing. You can see most of the ancient ruins from here. Wow. Caesar walked those grounds! A little hungry we stopped and bought our first gelato. MMMMmm! Gelato, Italian ice-cream, is thicker and creamier than normal ice-cream. It comes in tasty flavors like Nutella, dark chocolate and Pistachio. The gelato is heaped into piles and then displayed in nearly every shop window. So good!
With our gelatos we wandered through the forum, ancient grounds.
From there we walked around Piazza Venezia. This area is home to the world’s largest equestrian statue and a gorgeous marble building.
From there we walked along the main shopping street, Via Corso and dove into and from tiny side alleys. We ran into the Trevi fountain again. This time we sat down beside it and enjoyed some pizza and our second gelato for the day. At home I may have been a little concerned about my gelato consumption, but it Rome there is no option, but to do as the Romans do. From there we walked to the Pantheon, a large holy building that is special because of the large hole in its ceiling.
We also walked through Piazza Navona which was holding a Christmas market. Here they were selling witch figurine everywhere.
I was a bit confused considering it is Christmas not Halloween. Then someone told me the story of them. The witch comes on January 6th and if you haven’t been a good girl or boy it takes away all of your presents. Along some of the side streets we came across some unique and beautiful shops, a Geppettos wood shop and a traditional Italian pottery shop.
Saturday morning we woke up early, really early. One of the Bulgarian girl’s watches was still on Bulgarian time. So instead of waking up at 6:30, we woke up at 5:30. Grand. I took a shower in a bath tub with no shower curtain. Accidentally completely soaked the floor. FLOOD! Then I got back into bed for a couple hours. By 10 all 5 of us were ready for the day and caught a bus to Vatican City. St. Peters square is beautiful. It is a large circular plaza nearly completely surrounded in a wall of pillars, and on one end is St. Peters Basilica. The wait to get inside the Basilica was about 30 minutes. Again e were lucky to be traveling on off season. We had to go through metal detector as is necessary in many famous attractions, holy places, and museums. Another good thing about the time we were traveling is that it was winter. You are not allowed to enter holy places if you are scantily dressed. This means tank tops that don’t cover your shoulders and shorts that don’t go past your knees. Thank God it was cold and we were wrapped all the way up to our eyeballs in order to stay warm.
The inside of the basilica was absolutely stunning. It was the largest structure I’ve ever seen devoted to God. With buildings like these it is easy to understand why Catholicism spread as easily as it did. I was awe struck. We didn’t see the Pope, but we did see the cardinal. Pretty special. We also walked through the Vatican museums.
There are many paintings, sculptures, and chapel’s, including The Greek School and the Sistine Chapel.
No photos are allowed in the Sistine Chapel because it is a holy place. One also must stay quiet. Getting people to follow these rules is quite tough though especially when you’re looking up at the Sistine Chapel. I saw a couple people escorted out for trying o sneak pictures with their phones and there was a worker constantly shushing people. .The whole experience is just unreal. After the museum we were dead tired and headed to what some of our friends considered the best Gelateria in Rome, Old Bridge Gelateria. Oh, YEAH! It was good gelato. For 3 EUR you could get 4 heaping scoops in the yummiest of flavors. I almost died right there and then I was so excited.
We then took a bus back to Corso. This area was swarming with people. A Friday night before Christmas on the busiest shopping street in Rome. We should have expected chaos. The streets were completely filled with people. There were also cars trying to get though. The crowds were over whelming. We walked by the ritzy shopping area in front of the Spanish Steps. Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Dolce and Gabana.. kids, Louis Vuitton. Yea… and people were actually walking around with shopping bags from these places. Only in Western European capitol cities is there a Chanel and Gucci on every corner! Geese.
In this area we ate at a Pizzeria. Italian pizza is different in that there is less cheese, less sauce and the crust is both crunchy and soft at the same time. It’s an amazing combination.
Sunday. Our last day in Rome. We slept in a bit. After getting lost and realizing it was Sunday because all of the Gelato shops were closed, we took a bus to Circus Maximus, the area that the Romans held their chariot races. This area is right below the colloseum and is filled with beautiful ruins. We also walked into an Organic market. They had lots, and lots of different pasta sauces. Also, not having lunch I was starving. I bought a huge piece if olive bread for only .60 EUR! The woman, not speaking English, had to type the price out on a calculator so I would understand. Later we waited in a long line... simply beacsue a lot of other people were. Turned out that we were waiting in line for the Stone of Truth.
Stick your hand in its mouth, if you lay it bites it off. This was also the site of the first church in Rome. It’s actually underground.
It was freezing, windy and raining. Everyone was in a bad mood. We decided to take a bus towards a famous church we’d heard of, the bone church. Along the way our bus was unable to continue because there was a car parked in the middle of the road.
Romans are bad drivers / bad parkers I tell ya. Once there we saw the catacombs of the church. It contains bones of thousands of Monks arranged in elaborate patters.
It was very cool, and improved all of our moods. We then did some tourist shopping. It’s funny to have Calysta along for this. When she is surrounded by 4 Americans people assume she is also America. Therefore they will talk about us in Chinese assuming we won’t understand. Ha-ha. Well. Calysta isn’t American. The shop owners were laughing at us for coming into their shop every day.
Next stop... PASTA! For 7 EUR you can get a boat full of delicious pasta. MMMmm..
We all were members of the clean plate club that night. That and the extremely full club. To top off the night we enjoyed our last gelatos. We said our goodbyes to Andrea with and Italian kiss and then headed to the airport around 10 pm.
We took the metro and then were supposed to take a bus from here. We weren’t sure where to catch it so I asked a guy who was carrying a suitcase. Although he and his sister didn’t speak the best English they offered to drive us the rest of the way because they lived nearby. They looked friendly enough and were our age so why not. They loaded our packs into their tiny car and we rode with them to the airport, a 20 minute rude. After unloading our backpacks he gave each of us a hug and made sure we’d never forget him.. Ha good thing I don’t even remember his name. So cute. If only he took English classes more than once a week.
I hate spending the night in the airport. It is sooo painful. I had a winter coat, mittens, scarf, 3 pairs of pants, and boots on and was still freezing. No sleep.
At one point I was completely delirious and playing with my souvenirs. Yea… pretty bad. We weren’t the only ones either. There were about 30 other people doing the same thing. Stupid Ryanair. At 5 am we checked in and went through security. They were really laid back. My bag was huge, I didn’t take my liquids out of my bag, I beeped when I went through the metal detector and all they did was smile and let me pass. Huh? Ciao! Italia!
The flight to Paris was 2 hours. I slept the entire way.
