After our 3 day voyage from Greece, we finally made it to Rome!! On the train from Bari to Rome, it was hard to find a place to put our luggage since our backpacks didn’t fit in the space above our heads. Luckily there was room between the seats, but we really need to do something about the massive amount of baggage we have. It’s not good when people on ferries and in hostels are telling you that you have lots of luggage.
Anyways, we grabbed all of our stuff and headed out the doors of Roma Termini, the train station. We searched for people holding up signs for hostels and accommodation but couldn’t find anyone. Finally, a man noticed us and asked if we needed a place to stay. While he was sorting out a place for us, a lady who spoke German came to us and asked a bunch of questions. Amanda had a perfect conversation with her in German while I had absolutely no idea what any word coming out of her mouth meant. We’ll get by so easily in Germany thanks to Amanda and her language skills! I should be able to say the same about Italy, but I can’t (even though I lived in Florence for 4 months!) The travel agent, Magdi, told us of a place that was only 20 euro/person a night for our own private room and had wifi, breakfast, and was in a great location. Thank you Magdi! It sounded perfect, so we took it and hopped on the bus towards our place. We couldn’t both take the elevator up at the same time because the elevator couldn’t fit us plus our luggage. Amanda went first, followed by me. When the man took us to our room, it was huge! It also had 4 extra beds. Well, apparently Magdi lied to us about our accommodation. The room was not private. That would have been fine if there was a safe place to store our luggage while we weren’t in the room, but there wasn’t. There were no other guests sharing our room on the first night, but we decided to only stay the first night and find a better place for the rest of our stay. Around 10:30, we finally ventured around Rome and found a nice place to eat our first meal!! Pizza and coca cola. It was absolutely delicious. Italy really does have the best pizza, there is no comparison. And of course, gelato was our dessert!
The next day, we woke up and tried searching for other hostels/hotels to stay at. A lady at gipsy travel pointed us in the direction of a bed&breakfast, so we looked there but it was 120 euro a night!! However, there was a man sitting there, Willy, and he took us to another bed&breakfast that was much cheaper. The owner, Paula, is the sweetest lady! She was very helpful and even gave us some helpful tips about Rome. Willy took us to our little apartment- our own apartment with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and terrace! We were pretty content with our new living situation : ) Since we had all this room, it was the perfect place to get some laundry done! Amanda washed in the kitchen sink while I rinsed in the bathroom sink. We hung everything up on broomsticks that we situated between chairs. Sometime in the morning, between doing laundry and getting ready for the day, the toilet clogged. It wouldn’t flush. We left it clogged, hoping that when we came back it would flush.
Our first full day in Roma was spent checking out most of the big sights!! We started at the Colosseum.
Anyways, we grabbed all of our stuff and headed out the doors of Roma Termini, the train station. We searched for people holding up signs for hostels and accommodation but couldn’t find anyone. Finally, a man noticed us and asked if we needed a place to stay. While he was sorting out a place for us, a lady who spoke German came to us and asked a bunch of questions. Amanda had a perfect conversation with her in German while I had absolutely no idea what any word coming out of her mouth meant. We’ll get by so easily in Germany thanks to Amanda and her language skills! I should be able to say the same about Italy, but I can’t (even though I lived in Florence for 4 months!) The travel agent, Magdi, told us of a place that was only 20 euro/person a night for our own private room and had wifi, breakfast, and was in a great location. Thank you Magdi! It sounded perfect, so we took it and hopped on the bus towards our place. We couldn’t both take the elevator up at the same time because the elevator couldn’t fit us plus our luggage. Amanda went first, followed by me. When the man took us to our room, it was huge! It also had 4 extra beds. Well, apparently Magdi lied to us about our accommodation. The room was not private. That would have been fine if there was a safe place to store our luggage while we weren’t in the room, but there wasn’t. There were no other guests sharing our room on the first night, but we decided to only stay the first night and find a better place for the rest of our stay. Around 10:30, we finally ventured around Rome and found a nice place to eat our first meal!! Pizza and coca cola. It was absolutely delicious. Italy really does have the best pizza, there is no comparison. And of course, gelato was our dessert!
The next day, we woke up and tried searching for other hostels/hotels to stay at. A lady at gipsy travel pointed us in the direction of a bed&breakfast, so we looked there but it was 120 euro a night!! However, there was a man sitting there, Willy, and he took us to another bed&breakfast that was much cheaper. The owner, Paula, is the sweetest lady! She was very helpful and even gave us some helpful tips about Rome. Willy took us to our little apartment- our own apartment with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and terrace! We were pretty content with our new living situation : ) Since we had all this room, it was the perfect place to get some laundry done! Amanda washed in the kitchen sink while I rinsed in the bathroom sink. We hung everything up on broomsticks that we situated between chairs. Sometime in the morning, between doing laundry and getting ready for the day, the toilet clogged. It wouldn’t flush. We left it clogged, hoping that when we came back it would flush.
Our first full day in Roma was spent checking out most of the big sights!! We started at the Colosseum.
Last time I was here, I didn’t go on any guided tour, but this time we decided to do it! We thought it would be nice to know the history and facts while walking around the Colossuem and Palatine hill/ Roman Forum. Well- the tour guide for the Colosseum wasn’t that great, although he did make us laugh at times and really liked the phrase “do you get it?” He would say things like, “this is where the lions were kept, do you get it? And there were shafts that took them up, do you get it?” At the end of that tour, he switched us over to a lady from Canada who took us around Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. Palatine hill is where all the Kings and Emperors lived while they ruled Rome! She told us stories about when Rome was first founded and how the Roman Forum acted as a downtown does for us. 
I didn’t know much about anything she told us, even though I saw all of this last year! It’s nice to know what all the ancient ruins were back when they weren’t ancient. By the time the tour was done and we strolled through the Roman Forum, it was time to eat! We walked around looking for a place to eat while visiting the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. In the piazza by the steps is the American Express office, where our moms sent us our eurail passes. We checked to see if they arrived, but they didn’t yet. So we headed home to get ready for the Spanish Steps pub crawl!
Our first night out since leaving camp! We have heard a lot about the Spanish Steps pub crawl and knew that it would be something we have to do while in Rome! We met up with all the others in front of the Spanish Steps then made our way to the first bar- where we received our free tshirt, endless beer, and pizza. Amanda saw a guy who she immediately thought was a Texas fraternity boy because of his polo and sperrys. Ends up that he’s from Baltimore and goes to school at Gettysburg- but he is in a fraternity! We spent the rest of the night hanging out with him and his friends, who are all studying in England for the semester. We had a conversation about the ‘euro diet’ to which they said consists of about 1 meal a day and protein bars. That’s pretty much what we are doing! Okay- its different in Italy because the culture is all about food- but we have definitely cut back on food and eat zone bars during our travels! Don’t judge us, its one of the only ways to save money that has to last us for a couple more months! It was funny to hear other people talk about this so called ‘euro diet.’ By the end of the night, we somehow crawled to the other side of the river and had to make our way back home. Good thing we had a map of Rome with us! Along the way, we stopped and got some food (it was hard to find a place open that late!)
Ciao from Italia :)
A&A
No comments:
Post a Comment