Rome (6/3 - 6/8)

After Florence, we headed to Rome. I was getting quite nervous at this point. My money was quickly dwindling even though I was pinching all the pennies. That's the thing I can remember the most. The desperate emails to my dad for a loan. The denials at the ATM. Yeah, rough times. I was also sick for the beginning of the time in Rome. But I downed vitamin C like it was my job. So the first day Sohae and I walked around and it was exhausting. It was a huge city. And the public transportation (surprise, surprise) wasn't stellar. So that didn't help me feel better. But we walked down one of the main shopping streets, and Sohae was in heaven. But there were SO MANY tourist groups. Walking around like zombies with their headsets and tour guides and maps. So frustrating. But I was just in a bad mood from being sick. I mean, it was like four months ago. I'm terrible. I really should have done this this summer because I can't remember anything. I'm so mad at myself. I mean, we did everything. I just don't remember when. Or most of the details.

So it'll have to be another post with a big long list with whatever details I can remember.

The second day we were there, we met up with our friend Katie from Alicante. She was touring Europe with her brother and they were in Rome for the day before a couple day trips to Pompei and such. So we walked around with them for a bit. We walked to the Villa Borghese. It was a nice little escape from the big city. The ONE thing I really wanted to see in Rome was the Galleria Borghese. So we walked to that museum in the Villa and found out that this was one of those stupid museums where you have to book in advance. So Sohae and I bought tickets for our last full day in Rome.

We also saw the Spanish steps. And we had lunch and then explored the Roman ghetto, Trastevere, the Jewish area. We saw a nice church and synagogue and stopped in a pub. It was nice to be with other people. Not that I was getting tired of Sohae, but it was fun to share our stories and hear about their stories.

So here comes the list.

-We saw the Trevi Fountain, twice, once during the day, once at night, in the rain
-We got some DELICIOUS gelato at Giolitti. Maybe the best we'd had so far.
-We roomed with two kids from New Zealand. First time I've met people from there. They were studying for the summer in Malta.
-We visited the Colosseum and the Roman forum.
-We had McDonalds.
-We mailed Sohae's souvenirs back to the states. It cost her two arms and a leg.
-We found a WONDERFUL outdoor food market. The fruit was so delicious and they had dried fruit and that was delicious and they had so many other treats. They also had a demonstration of some really cool cooking tools and I was mesmerized for about fifteen minutes.
-We FINALLY got some tiramisu, and it wasn't that good. I was thoroughly disappointed.
-We visited the Pantheon.
-We SCOURED the city for a movie theater with an American movie. But to no avail. Disappointed would be an understatement.
-We saw LOTS of fountains :)



Now here are some things I remember. One our last full day, we went to the Vatican. We spent the morning in St. Peter's. We walked around. We attended Mass in what I can only assume was Latin, possible Italian. Doesn't really matter. All that mattered to me was that I could understand parts of it!! I was so proud. We also found a big long list of all the popes that have ever been pope. It was mind boggling. Seriously, so crazy. But after closer inspection, we figured out that thought they might be men of God, they can't be pope for more than a hundred years, so some names had to be missing. But the list started with S Petrus in 67 AD. It was amazing.


Then we headed over to the Vatican Museum. Obviously we didn't know what to expect. I thought it would be a bunch of religious stuff and then the Sistine Chapel. Boy, was I wrong. It was SO MUCH MORE! First off, we had been warned and warned about the long wait to get into the museum. And so many people hounded us to by guided tours with no wait, just walk right in. The sales people told us that we'd be waiting for hours if we didn't go with them. Well, sorry. We're on a budget. So we just ignored them or lied and said we already had tickets. And we walked around the side of the Vatican City and walked and walked though roped lines and thought to ourselves, "Where is everybody? Where is the line?" It never showed up. Never. We walked straight up to the ticket line, bought our tickets and walked right in.

Now listen to this. I had browsed blogs and travel sites and reviews and everything before we left for Italy. And nearly everybody said to buy ahead of time. Some said, buy weeks or months ahead of time. BUT THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO NEED! I knew it. I just knew it. Italy. They want to scam you and take all your money. They want to scare you and make you think you need to pay more for a reservation. Well apparently on a Tuesday afternoon, around 1pm, you don't.

So yeah, we walked right in with no line whatsoever. And we decided that this was a place where we'd need an audio guide. Katie and her brother also said that an audio guide was necessary. So I got in line for one. I walked up to a nice old man at the counter and asked (because it never hurts) if there was a student discount and he said no. But he said he needed my ID as collateral for the audio guide so I gave him my drivers license and the five (or so) euros and he said, "Oh, we don't take IDs from Illinois, only Alabama." And I laughed. But he took the license and handed me a map of the museum and pointedly slipped my money back to me! Finally! Some good karma! I was so so happy and even now, I think of it and smile like a fool. There are some really nice people in the world.

So Sohae and I scurried off and explored the museum. There was so much more than religious stuff. I was really shocked. They had a bunch of Roman mythological statues and busts and paintings. It was wonderful. And the ceilings were beautiful. Everything was beautiful. I was in awe. After wandering around the museum for a couple hours and listening to all the audio commentary, we finally just started skipping stuff and scurried over to the Sistine Chapel. I don't know what I was expecting. But I certainly wasn't expecting to see what I saw. It was CRAZY detailed. Beautiful and overwhelming. But so crowded. Oh well. The last thing we saw at the Vatican was a special exhibit with Faberge Eggs. I didn't know what they were but Sohae said they were famous. And they were beautiful. Big jeweled eggs.


And this was also the same day we made reservations for the Galleria Borghese so we left the Vatican Museum (after returning the audio guide and looking (unsuccessfully) for the nice man to say thanks again) and took the Metro over to the Villa Borghese, stopped for some iced coffee, spilled it all, got a new one, and walked through the Villa. We got to the Galleria in time, so gave our feet a little rest before we began our next museum visit.

The Galleria was pretty strict with how many people they allowed in at a time. Not like any other museum I'd been in. But let me tell you this. This was my favorite part of Rome. It was so worth the wait and the price. I love mythology so I knew almost all the stories behind the art and I could explain most of them to Sohae. It was so cool. There were entire rooms devoted to works of art about a certain character or story. And the two main sculptures that the museum is know for... they were breathtaking. So detailed and huge and I don't know. There aren't words. The reason I wanted to come to this museum is because my mythology teacher from the past semester had showed us a picture of one of the sculptures and said it was in Rome. And at that point, I knew I'd be in Spain and traveling so I got the name of the museum and added it to my list of stuff to see. My favorite part of Rome. If you go to Rome, you NEED to go there.

(I also met with the same mythology teacher because he leads a study abroad trip in the summer to parts of Greece and had been there many times. Greece was on my list of places to visit, so I had him tell me places to go in Greece and specifically Athens. Sadly, I didn't make it there.)

After the Galleria Borghese, Sohae and I wandered around the fancy, rich part of town in search of food, but nothing was in our budget and we walked and walked and walked and got so cranky. I could find ANY reasonably priced restaurants. It was ridiculous. So after a lovely day, we started to hate Italy once again. I don't remember what we ended up doing. I assume we found some mediocre food and didn't die of exhaustion because here I am, recounting the tale. But it was bad.

So that's pretty much it. I think. I can't remember much more from Rome. I've been there once. Don't really need to go again. The only thing I'd see again is the Galleria Borghese and the Vatican Museum. Not much else. Maybe that awesome fruit market. Those were the best parts of Rome. And spending time and making memories (no matter how miserable we were) with Sohae and Katie and her brother.

On our last day in Rome, Sohae and I did laundry and got our last meal together and then she headed to the airport to go to Munich again, and I headed to the train station, to make my way 6 hours north to Verona.