roma roma roma!!

heaven is a word that comes to mind when attempting to describe rome. italian pizza, genuine pasta, gelato and some of the most interesting and impressive historical sites in the world!! how are there cities in the world like this??

our travel to rome was the most convuluted ever!! we had gone the cheapest way possible which inevitably meant a less direct route...MUCH less direct. our route took us from a bus to the tilburg train station, on a train to brussels, where we caught another bus to the Charleroi airport, where a plane flew us to Ciampino airport in Rome, from where we caught a bus to Termini Central station in the actual city of Rome where we finally caught a metro which dropped us a few blocks from our hostel. *sigh* so much travelling!! an entire day.

but exaustion from travelling didn't stop us from setting out late at night to find an italian restaurant - our rampage of italian cuisine had begun!! which made it interesting that as we stepped inside the italian restaurant, we found it competely decorated american style. but who cares!! the food was excellent and we met a great canadian couple with whom we drank wine and chatted all night. it wasn't very busy so we began chatting with the owner. it turns out she and her husband built the place together, cooking and decorating (including the coke can wall that was to our left). she said her daughter pushed for a remodel from time to time, but after hearing that her husband passed away 8 years ago, we assured her we loved it as it was.

the next day was our first tourist day in rome. we met a group in our hostel who planned to visit the vatican that day, so we tagged along. it was a large group and basically filled with north americans hailing from tennesse, montreal, newfoundland, san diego, ottawa, etc. as we entered the vatican i found it strange, a place that we had heard so much about and seen so many images of and here i was standing in the centre. standing in Piazza San Pietro staring at St. Peter's Basillica surrounded by Bernini's collonade...i definitely felt insignificant and very small in the world. as for the basillica, it was gorgeous, but i had seen so many churches by this point, that i really can barely tell the difference between them :S. i did love michealangelo's dome, especially since i had learned so much about it in art history. another favourite piece was michaelangelo's pieta. i was really moved by a pieta in a dutch church on our 1997 trip to holland and whenever i see them, i'm reminded of that. we climbed the 551 steps to the top of the dome to experience the view of rome. there is a dress code within the basillica which meant that we were all wearing cardigans and long sleeve shirts over our clothes. that coupled with the intense heat and the very little insulation in the stairwell made it a very uncomfortable climb, but once we arrived at the top and saw the view of rome, all that was forgotten. distracted by the view, jo and i were separated from the group. thus, we continued our tour on our own viewing the gallery and of course the sistine chapel. we were completely exhausted, so unfortunately we didn't spend as much time there as i would have like to looking back on it.

that night we reuinted with the group in order to go out. instead of a club, we ended up spending the night at a nearby donair place where we drank beer, joked and laughed until early in the morning. this night?? this was our one party night on our entire europe trip...a few beers in a pita place ;).

we ventured on our own the next day. in our guide book were various themed tours through rome. this particular one focused on Bernini whom i had studied extensively in art history. he has a huge presence in the city and many of the famed artistic pieces are by him, including the trevi fountain. the pantheon was just a bit farther on our walk, and so impressive!! walking through it, my art history class came screaming back to me and i basically taught jo an entire lecture was we walked through it and around it.

in the evening we were able to meet up with my friend monika and her brother since they had arrived from sweden. we walked to the colloseum which was only a few blocks from our hostel to see what it looked like at night. (in case you're wondering...it's spectacular). we grabbed a few drinks and sat at the base of Santa Maria, a church near our hostel.

our next day brought us way back in history since we decided to take an actual tour of the colosseum and the roman ruins. the morning put a small hitch in our plans as everyone in the hostel was moved to surrounding hostels due to a "hydrolics problem." (basically, it meant that the water in the building was ICE cold, even the showers, and they were finally going to fix it). we were placed in the "michigan hotel." interesting that they should put the word "hotel" in their title since it was one of the worst places i've ever stayed in.

once we were settled there, we ventured on to the colosseum. the tour guides are relentless!! and we'd experienced some pretty annoying ones throughout our trip so we weren't exactly fond of the idea of supporting them, but once we got to the colosseum, we fell into the trap :(. at the beginning i was a bit concerned. he was saying things like "this is the colosseum" and i would think "no s***," or "that's a hill next to the colosseum" and i would think again, "no s***." but in the end it turned out to be a pretty great tour!! very informative, and really great guides. interesting tidbit...they were able to see 55,000 people in 10 minutes!! i don't think we can do that in rexall place of 18,000!! while we toured, a movie was being filmed with a famous italian actress. we had no clue who she was, but the italians were pretty impressed!! we then took a guided tour of Palatine Hill and did our own tour (via guidebook) of the roman forum.

the next day was another walk from our guide book (highly recommend them!!). this one was titled "tombs, legends and artists" which led us to the spanish steps. this used to be spanish territory, and apparently, if people were found, even accidentally, by teh steps, they could find themselves forced to join the spanish army. we ended up sitting next o bernini's "sinking boat" at the foot of the steps for about an hour, people watching and chatting with an older american couple. it was one of those cherished moments where i thought "wow, i'm in italy!!"

for dinner we met up with our roommates from "michigan hotel," sarah (canadian) and dave (malaysian). it was an interesting meal. we entered a restaurant jo and i had eaten at a few days ago and had the best time!! as we entered, they recognized me...but not for what i thought. apparently i looked very similar to a girl who had come in the day before and stolen a bottle of wine for herself and her boyfriend. once that was cleared up, we were able to sit down to a meal. at the end of our meal, they offered us each limincello, an italian lemon liquer which one of the italian exchange students had taught me to sip slowly. for the others, they saw the shot glass and downed it in one fell swoop. our waiter raised an eyebrow. at teh end of the meal, we said goodbye to the waiters and they leaned in to kiss our cheeks...normal behaviour for europeans and i was quite comfortable with this after being in holland for 6 months. but what isn't normal in holland is kissing smack on the lips. it sounds like a dream to be kissed by an italian stranger...let me tell you, that dream is highly overrated!!

rome was fantastic. it's one of my top cities of all time. the food, the history, the atmosphere and ESPECIALLY the gelatto!! i didn't mention this, but we would have multiple scoops a day. my thighs may not love it, but my mouth sure did!! coconut, vanilla, cherry, pistacio...it was all so amazing!! 10 days of gelatto, i could do much worse ;).