When in Rome...

Roma! What an experience! It has been another successful weekend in my book of trips. Rome was everything I hoped for (Gelato, Sundresses and Leather) and more. We left Strasbourg around 645am on Thursday to start our day of train rides and arrived in Italy around 6:30pm. (On a side note, I have to say that America is at a great loss for not having trains as a means of public transportation. They are perfect, minus some delays, but I can't even express how easy they are to travel on, it's great!) Anways, we made it to Roma and met up with our friends at Hotel Cervia. This place was a great deal and perfect for us, we had about 15 people and we were all well accomodated; it's not somewhere to brag about, but it was clean and had everything we needed. When we arrived Anna and I found all of our roomates napping from a day in Rome and we soon came to find out that naps are necessary, When in Rome. Thursday night we went to dinner near the Spanish Steps and I am sad to say the food quality was disappointing. I was shocked to find that in Italy not every restaurant is delicious "Italian" quality food. Luckily, the night got better after we left dinner and decided to visit the Spanish Steps. At the Steps we found a ton of people just hanging out and enjoying the night, so we decided to join them, it was a blast. Eventually, I decided that When In Rome, I had to eat some "G" aka gelato and did I ever find a gelato place. Two other girls and I gave into our craving and found this place and little did we know that we would be receiving an insane amount of G decorated and almost impossible to eat, I loved it! (See Picture)

Friday morning started bright and early with a trip to the Vatican. All of us were in agreement that losing a couple hours of sleep was worth missing tremendous lines, so we left around 715am, ah! St. Peter's Basillica was breath-taking...I still cannot comprehend how people managed to build these things without the technology we have today. I also think that the ornate decorations and pain-staking attention to detail reflect how devoted all of these people were to God and the pride they took in their religion. While we were walking around St. Peter's we heard George Bush was there and waited around to see him, but they ended up closing St. Peter's so he could have a private tour (we saw his motorcade 3 times, they were driving very fast). After St. Peter's we went to see the Sistine Chapel...I think my heart stopped when we walked into the chapel. It's a masterpiece and being in the presence of such a famous painting was quiet an experience. By this time we were starving and decided to grab a bite to eat before we ventured around the town. Once again, I was disappointed by Italian Pizza and fell into my first obvious toursit trap. The trick is that they will tell you one price and somehow it becomes a lot more on your reciept...after this experience we never paid a check without checking it and sadly, we found that it was a common occurence. Moving on...a group of about four of us broke off from the big group and found a street market. Then we stopped by the Pantheon, once again AMAZING, the Trevi Fountain, one of my favorite places and other historical sights. By the time we had visited all of these place, we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel for a nap. We slept until dinner time and our group rejoined and we went to dinner at a true Italian restaurant called Tre Scalini. It is in a typical Italian square and has the over-the-top friendly service. This was definitely the best meal I had, my lasagna melted in my mouth and while we were enjoying dinner outside under umbrellas, we could hear the fountains and then an Italian singer just topped of the perfect ambiance. Then to top off dinner we all ordered a very chocolate dessert (thanks to some of my friends recommendations).

Saturday morning it was a lot harder to wake up because Friday was so exhausting. Rome does an absolute beating on your feet with the cobblestone roads and lack of sufficent public transportation. Around 800am we made it to the Colosseum, beat all of the lines once again and took our own tour. This place is grand and when you walk around you call almost hear the crowds cheering. With our ticket we also had the chance to walk around more Roman ruins such as Palatine Hill (where the aristocrats lived) and the Forum. In all honesty, it was fascinating to see these places, but there is not much left and it is hard to picture what it use to be. After walking around the ruins for a while we worked up an appetite and ate pizza across from our hotel, this stuff was good. Now for the most exciting part of the day, Shopping! hahah. Just kidding, but it did top off my Roma experience to find a leather shop. I managed to find a few things to help me remeber my trip. :) Now let me tell you, it was not so fun to walk around the rest of the day with my shopping bags. To conclude this afternoon before our journey back to the hotel, we stopped and bought G to eat while we sat by the Trevi Fountain...fabulous! This night we suffered another not so great meal, but had fun exploring the area around out hotel.

Overall, Rome was a neat experience and an opportunity to see so much history. It is hard to believe that this place was once the center of the world, overflowing with wealth and power and now souly functions as a tourist town. I can easily say that I am glad to be back in Strasbourg and will be taking some time to catch up on my sleep. As each day closes, I realize that I have less and less time in Europe and that there is still so much more I want to see.....