rome, italy

Now for our first destination after living in Spain for 7 weeks, Carolyn and I met each other in Rome. It was a little scary at first seeing as it was the beginning of our travels through Europe with just us 2 blonde girls and we had no idea what to expect. The whole plane ride from Barcelona to Rome I was thinking, 'what if Carolyn doesn't get there? What if she missed her flight?!' I would have been alone in Rome without any way to contact her. And come to find out once I found her at the airport in Rome; she almost did miss her flight! The plane had finished boarding in Madrid so she started crying and begging to get on the plane and they eventually let her PAY her way onto the plane. It was a traumatic experience for her but LUCKILY we were both able to arrive in Rome and all was good.

We eventually hauled our giant suitcases through the subways stations and to our hostel we had booked before getting there and it ended up being really nice. It was called "Salvador's B&B" which was run by George who was a friendly Italian man who owned two floors in a flat (apartment) building. He hardly knew any English so we used a lot of hand motions to communicate. He told us breakfast was at 8am so we got up assuming he probably made his guests some simple eggs and toast or something. But he ended up motioning us to follow him and took us out of the building, around the corner, and about a block down the street into a coffee shop where he bought us coffee and a pastry for breakfast and then left us to eat. It was so funny. We were like, "so this is his 'bed & breakfast'?" It was worth every penny seeing as it was only 20 euros a night and only minutes away from Vatican City and the subway. I would recommend it to anyone planning a trip to Rome and wanting to keep it cheap.

Anyways, to sum it all up... I LOVED ROME.

Even just walking down the most random street felt like seeing beautiful art. From the cobblestone streets to the small balconies full of plants, from unique doors to shuttered windows; it was amazing. I wanted so badly to live in any one of those flats, especially the ones that had a garden on their roof where I could sun bathe and hang my clothes to dry.

It was [amazing] to be surrounded by so much [history].

We took a guided tour at the Colosseum that took us through the Colosseum and the Roman ruins that they still have there. Our guide told us all about how the Roman empire began and how the Romans lived. I could almost imagine what Rome would have looked like back then.

Vatican City was awesome as well. The guards wore cool outfits and we saw plenty of nuns. Too bad the pope was at his 'summer home' seeing as its really hot there in the summer or it would have been cool to go to a mass.

We took another guided tour through the Vatican museum which was full of art everywhere you looked. Our guide told us that if you were to look at each piece of artwork for 20 seconds you would be there for 12 years! The last stop on the tour was the Sistine Chapel where Michael Angelo famously painted the whole ceiling by hand.

The Trevi Fountain (Fontana Di Trevi) was so cool, we loved going there. I threw a penny in and made a wish but sadly no hott Italian singer was standing in front of me when I opened my eyes like on the "Lizzy McGuire Movie".... bummer.

One thing that was so nice about Rome was that they had natural water taps all around the city whether it was a big fancy tap or just a regular looking one. The Romans built an underground water system and they still use it today. The water was cold & clean which saved us in the hot summer heat.

Spaghetti and Gelato also added to how much I love Rome since i'm a huge fan of those things.

Carolyn and I found a look-out point just above a square where you could see the whole city of Rome.

*The view is the first picture on this post

[As we were sitting there looking out at the city, watching the sunset, and listening to the Italian music being played in the square below us; that is when we fell in love with Rome. It was breathtaking and we never wanted to leave.]

The last night in Rome we decided to sleep at the airport because our flight left really early in the morning before any shuttle buses began and we didn't want to pay for a taxi. Plus, a night at the airport was free. However, they close the Rome airport at night so nobody is allowed to be in there. We found this out once we got there and joined about 30 other people who found places on grass, benches, or side walks to camp out on for the night. Unlike Carolyn, I got hardly any sleep. But I didn't mind because I was happy knowing I would be arriving in Paris, France in the morning. So be ready for a Paris post next... Ciao!