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Hola from Roma!

Alright so we arrived in Civitavecchia on Wednesday and Nicole, Robie, Judy, Colby and I took the train into Rome. Essentially the town is only the port, so the train ride was about an hour and a half, which wasn't too bad. We actually found a liquor store so we bought a bottle of wine for the train ride. We had absolutely no plans for Italy, so the entire trip was spur of the moment, which was actually really nice. Robie, Judy, and Colby were only staying in Rome for one night, so we went to see some of the sights right away. St. Peter's Square was unbelievable. The line was actually not that bad considering its prime tourist season, and it moved pretty fast. We went into the Basilica, which was huge and beautiful. There are paintings and sculptures everywhere, so we definitely took a few hours to see everything. Since we were there we decided to climb the cupola, which is the dome of the church. It was 320 stairs to the top, so we could actually see everything from up high. There were these crazy mosaics on the walls which actually looked 3D from far away. After that we found another set of stairs that actually went all the way to the top of the roof, so we figured it couldn't be THAT much further, we had already climbed 300+. We were wrong. These stairs got narrower and the walls began to slant so it felt like an optical illusion. They were tight circular stairs straight up, so by the time we got to the top my legs were shaking, but it was completely worth it. You could see all of Rome and it was absolutely amazing. We then tried to get to the Coliseum, but ran into a crazy protest. Even though we had no idea what they were marching about, we joined in in order to cross this busy intersection. Apparently it was about social security, at least that's what I think the Italian police office told me. We finally made it to the Coliseum, and since it was kind of late there weren't many people around which was nice. There were crazy guys dressed as gladiators that you could pay for a picture. Since it was super hot and we had been walking around Rome all day, we decided to try to find their hostel, since Nicole and I didn't have a place to stay yet we hoped they would have open beds. They had booked a hostel in advance online, and it was across town by the main terminal, but when we got there we found out that their bathroom was broken. They found another hostel, which ended up being in the Chinese ghetto, which was super sketchy. They didn't have any open beds, but we actually stayed there illegally with them so there were 5 of us in 3 beds. We met up with a ton of other people that were staying in that hostel too, so we all showered and headed out to the bars. We actually met up with a bar crawl, so we joined in. We ended up going to a few bars and ended in a night club, so we had some good beer and danced with hot Italian men. After far too many lemon cello shots, we headed back to the hostel. Robie, Judy, and Nicole wanted to find the Trevi Fountain at 3am, but ended up getting on the right bus headed in the wrong direction, so they ended up in the Roman ghetto.

We had to get up at 7 the next morning in order to sneak out of the hostel, since they had to catch their train to Florence. Nicole and I found a café so we could get some coffee and the Italian waiter tried to pick us up. We were a hot mess, we had 2 hours of sleep, no shower, and last night's makeup on, and he still wanted to take us on a tour of Rome when he got off work. It was hilarious; we couldn't even stop laughing at the whole situation. We finally found the Trevi Fountain, which was unbelievable. I threw in my euro and made a wish. The Pantheon was the next block over, which was also really pretty. After that we found the Spanish Steps, which were really crowded, but beautiful. The road they're on is the main stretch of shopping, there is a Tiffany's next to a Rolex store, if that tells you anything. We then found the Borghese, which was a huge park. We actually relaxed in the park for 2 hours and just laid in the grass, which was really relaxing since we had been carrying our backpacks throughout Rome. We met up with Nicole's friends from home that were studying abroad in Rome and went out to La Maison which is this crazy nice club right on the Tiber River, which was pretty cool. We ended up getting a Temple Rome apartment for the night, which was really nice.

Our day in Rome we ended up sleeping in since we were exhausted. We grabbed some lunch and went to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. They were so nice, but completely packed with tourists. Since we didn't have to be back on the ship until 9 we went shopping, which was nice.

Rome was beautiful, but kind of dangerous like Barcelona was. You just need to be aware of your surroundings and can't get distracted because there are pick pocketers everywhere. There was so much to see and do in Rome I'm glad I stayed there for the entire 3 days. I would love to come back so I could see Florence, Venice, and Pisa. I'm surprised but mostly everyone spoke English and was helpful with directions. I feel like there were definitely some rude people, on the metro especially, that just run into you and don't apologize, but you get that in the States too. The traffic is out of control and I would never want to drive here, they are crazy. Pedestrians don't have the right of way either, so it's kind of risk just trying to cross the street. Everything is so commercialized, there are guys selling knock-off purses everywhere, even outside the Vatican but it is a very touristy area. The food was AMAZING and I feel like I've gained 100 pounds. I've eaten pizza for pretty much every meal, and it is so so so good. The gelato is good too, but I miss regular ice cream.

I'm onto Naples for two days. So until then…

Peace & Love,

Kati