Rome - July 17

Yep, Rome in one day! Basically :) I arrive in Rome fairly late from Venice after a fun train ride... Kasey had picked up the book 'The Kite Runner' at a book sway in Salzburg in exchange for my Jason Bourne novel, and although I had already read it, it was all I had, so I started reading it again on the train. The problem was, I had forgotten how sad it was, and since I had read it before, I had all the knowledge that made the beginning even sadder, annnnnd I'm a book-crier anyway, so there I am on the train, sitting with people I don't know across the table, trying not to look like the weirdo who is crying on the train. I had to keep playing Solitaire to take emotional breaks haha. Great book.

Anyway, after arriving in Rome, I followed the directions and caught the bus to my hostel, but the bus was crowded and I had to stand with all of my stuff the whole time, which was just not good considering my omnipresent blisters were in a bad state after all the walking in Venice, so I was pretty tired when I got to the hostel! I got settled in and used their free internet (I loveeee free internet, it can be so expensive at the internet cafes!) and decided to not even venture out for dinner because I was so tired. I hadn't eaten a very large lunch, so in retrospect, this was probably not the best decision, but oh well. I set the alarm for early and hopped in bed.

I got up early the next morning and headed first to Trevi fountain, where I ate my last ziploc bag of Oatmeal Crisp cereal I had brought from home and enjoyed watching them clean all of yesterdays change out of the fountain! After the fountain I walked to the Spanish steps, and then headed to join the crowds at the Vatican Museums/Sistene Chapel. Since the museums open at 10, I tried to beat the crowds by arriving at 9, but there was still pretty many people there. I didn't have to wait too long to get in though, and soon I was enjoying the vast, and I mean vast museum... you have to walk through most of it to even get to the Sistene Chapel, which is the main attraction, and towards the end I basically just wanted to be done. I'm not a big museum lover anyway, and they are even more boring when you are by yourself. I had rented an audioguide though, so at least I knew what I was looking at for the most part! In the end, the Sistene Chapel was really impressive and beautiful, and I did get to see a lot of cool things. I was incredibly tired by the end though, most likely due to the lack of food over the past few days, so I ate right there in the overpriced museum cafeteria, and felt a lot better after I did! Post-museum, I headed to the cathedral, which was humongous and really great- I love taking pictures in churches - and St. Peter's square was huge and amazing also!

Around 1, as I was sitting in the square planning the rest of the day, I realized that the Colesseum, on the other side of town, would be closing at 3:30, so I booked it back to the metro
and headed there right away. Luckily the metro stop is literally right next to the Colesseum and Roman Forum, so it was easy to find, and I had a great time walking around and seeing where the gladiators and prisoners and Romans and caesers had been, and thinking about what an awesome movie Gladiator is! My feet were reallllly killing me at this point though, so I elected not to spend much time looking at the ruins in the Roman Forum and pressed on to the Pantheon and a few other squares I wanted to see. The problem was, it was only like 3:30 and I was out of things to do! How could this happen in Rome? I don't know. But I was so tired that I didn't want to keep looking for things to do until dinner, so I got ice cream and headed back to the hostel around 4:30. I guess I hadn't needed to get up so early after all! I figured I'd go back out for dinner later that night , but I never did... I just ate some of a leftover sandwich from my big lunch and worked on updating this blog and catching up on emails, and on my written journal, which I am unbelievable behind on!

I tried not to go to bed too early so I wouldn't inconvenience the other people in my room by turning the light our early, but I was still in bed by midnight so I could catch my 9AM train in the morning. This plan turned out to be flawed though, because at 4:15, two of the guys in my room came home drunk and louddddd and turned on the light, and proceeded to joke with each other and yell and hit each other with towels, etc. So dumb. And it was only a 6 person room, so of course the rest of us are all awake. I figured there was no real reasoning with them, but then the Italian girl in the room started fighting with them over whether or not the fan should be on, and the whole ordeal went on for like 20 minutes, including the guy from reception coming to tell them to be quiet and settling the fan dispute, so the whole thing was just ridiculous. But oh well, I ended up feeling rested the next morning anyway, and had a nice breakfast with the hostel staff before I left. You never know with a hostel haha.

With Rome, I almost felt that it was a waste of a day that I could have spent elsewhere, even though I did enjoy the day. Before I came on this trip, I had thought about skipping Rome to spend more time in Tuscany or Venice, and decided not to, and I think it was a wise decision... I think I would have regretted not going it I had skipped it. Anyway, Rome was nice, but I was tired and it was a little boring by myself! But if you are into history and art, Rome is for you - just bring a friend!