How I Fell in Love with Roma

So it's Tuesday and I'm already blogging about my weekend! A vast improvement, I think. I spent this past weekend in Rome, Italy (hence the title), so for simplicity's sake I'll just give a day-by-day synopsis.

Me in front of the Colosseum

Thursday:

Phil, Kristyn, and I met in Dalkey around 12 to catch The Patton Flyer, a convenient way to get to the airport from the suburbs. We meet Amy and Meaghan at the airport and get on our flight to Bergamo, a small city near Milan in northern Italy at 4:45. Around 7:30 (local time) we arrive in Bergamo and immediately go out in search of food. In town we find a restaurant called Piemontese Risorante e Pizzeria. We thought it looked really fancing--white linen on the tables, an assortment of fancy pastries displayed, linen napkins folded up into some oragami-type shape, but it turns out that's just what restaurants in Italy look like. For 5 people the bill only came to €44.50, including wine and two bottles of Pellegrino, and we were all stuffed. I was in a pasta coma afterwards from eating a big plate of the most delicious gnocchi sorrentina that I have ever tasted. Afterwards we all went for a short walk farther into the town and lo and behold! What did we find? A gelato place! It was so tastey that ice cream will never be the same for me. Afterwards we headed back to the airport to spend the night. Our flight to Rome in the morning was too early to even bother with a hostel, but it was a very uncomfortable night. It wouldn't have been that bad if this night guard didn't keep moving us. He didn't move anyone else around, so I think he just felt like giving us a hard time. Every time we started falling asleep he'd say we had to go to another part of the airport or sit in chairs or not be so close to the door. It was a little ridculous. I think I was the least bothered by it, though. With all the traveling time to Rome the next day, I got plenty of sleep.

Friday:

We started our day off with some espresso, fresh squeezed orange juice, and a delicious croissant (all very cheap, may I add) at the airport, got on our flight, and then took a bus into Rome. We checked into our hostel (which was really nice for only being €13.50 a night) and started off toward Vatican City. When we got there we were all starving, so we sat down at a pizzeria and had some pasta while we waited for Kristyn's friend Lizzie who is studying in Rome. It was too late by the time we were done to get in line to go to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, so Lizzie took us everywhere else. We saw St. Peter's Square, got some more gelato, Roman Forum (original center of ancient Rome), Piazza Navona (we saw the Fontana del Moro, but unfortunately the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi was being worked on), the Pantheon, had espresso at the best coffee shop in Rome (according to Lizzie), ate gelato on the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna (where Keats, Goethe, and Mark Twain used to go frequently), we threw coins into the Trevi Fountain for safe return to Rome, the Colosseum, and then we had to go back to the hostel for a nap. We all slept for a couple of hours and then found a pizzeria down the road for dinner. Then we went in search of a souvenir shop (which we found) and then...you guessed it, another gelato shop.

Trevi Fountain

Me in front of the Spanish Steps

Saturday:

We woke up early, got dressed and headed down to breakfast at our hostel. They had this fabulous machine that dispensed quality lattes, cappuccinos, mochas, cafe Americanas, and espresso. I was nice and wired that morning because after making a latte I just kept pressing the "espresso" button. We all began to plot stealing the machine, it was that good. Anyways...I digress. We got to the Vatican in time that morning and stood in line for about 2 hours. We saw priceless religious tapestries, paintings, and statues. I wish I had more of an interest in art so I could have better appreciated what I was looking at. Then started the walk towards the Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina), the place I had been most anticipating the entire trip. The rooms leading to it were very stunning. Art on every crevice of the walls, ceilings, and even mosaic art on the floor. Then after all of these ancient paintings there are a few rooms of modern religious art. I've never taken a liking to modern art anyways, and appreciated it even less after what we had just seen and what was to come. After much pushing and shoving up stairs and through many rooms there it was. The most fascinating work of art I have ever seen. Michelangelo's Cappella Sistina. I arched my neck backwards, my jaw dropped, and I stood in awe for minutes. I was extremely impressed. All of the bodies he painted. Everything was so intricate and all of the different paintings seemed to flow together flawlessly (I snuch a fuzzy picture of God Creates Adam). It was an emotional experience to see this. A scene I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life.

God Creates Adam by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel

Afterwards we met up with Lizzie and got lunch (gnocchi with gargonzola cheese sauce and wine) and then gelato. Once we were nice and full we got in line to go into the Basilica of St. Peter. It was gorgeous. Unfortunately it was too big and too dark for my dinky camera to take any good pictures. I'll put some up from my friend Meaghan's camera when we have our picture-swapping day. Then we went to the grottoes under the basilica, the Tomb of the Popes. I saw where Pope John Paul II is buried. There were beautiful roses laying aroud his white marble grave and devout Catholics kneeled in front of it, clinging to their rosaries, and praying. Yet another emotional experience for me despite my not being Catholic and my lack of knowledge about him. He did a lot for humanity and worked hard to bring peace between people of different religions. It was very apparent how beloved he was.

Later that evening we went to see the Colosseum lit up at night and then to the Trevi Fountain again. On the way to the Trevi Fountain I found a Gucci purse knockoff that I loved, so I haggled a bit and bought that :-D. We went to Piazza di Spagna again to meet up with Lizzie and her friends for dinner a little early so I could drool over silver Dolce and Gabbana pumps. After dinner we got gelato at a famous gelateria in Rome, Giolitti. There I discovered that cinnamon is my favorite gelato flavor. Yum! We tried to stay out to experience Rome nightlife, but since it doesn't really start until around 11pm-midnight, we had to call it a night and catch some much-deserved zz's.

Sunday:

Again we debated the possibility of stealing the coffee machine in our hostel before departing Rome. As a departing gift, Lizzie brought us all Nutella-filled donuts (best ever!) before we boarded the DaVinci Express train to the Fiumicino Airport. I arrived back in Dublin around 3pm.

It was an incredible weekend that I'll remember forever! A perfect way to kickoff my series of trips that I'll be going on in this last month of the semester. Next stop: Edinburgh, Scotland!

Ciao! Cheers!