Week Five: Rome

Ciao Readers,

We landed in Rome at approximately 1:25 pm and looked for a way to get to our hotel. We had three options. We could take a cab, take a shuttle, or take public transportation. They all cost about the same so we opted for the shuttle. We got to our hotel and were informed that our room had been upgrade for free to an executive suite. This was a pleasant surprise and made for a very good start to Rome. We unpacked, relaxed a little, and then headed out into Rome. We were both starved and ready for a proper meal so we headed down the street to a little restaurant that looked fairly busy. On the way there we saw an incredibly pink Fiat that Carly thought was adorable. As soon as we got inside we felt underdressed. Everyone inside was in their Sunday best and we were wearing plane clothes, but it was too late, we had committed and we were going to eat lunch there no matter what! Carly ordered pasta carbonara and Jeff ordered a parmesan and black pepper pasta. They were by far the best pastas either of us had ever had. They were spiced and cooked to perfection and there was no possible way to make them any better. We decided that with the amount of daylight we had left we shouldn't waste it and we should go see some cool stuff. So we did! We headed out of the restaurant and went towards the Palace of Justice. It was a huge builing that was built in the late 1800s and contains the Judicial Public Library of Rome. The building had very nice fountains out front and many children were playing in its park. We continued onward and saw the Castel Sant'Angelo. This was originally the tallest building in Rome and was built for the Roman Emperor Hadrian to be used as a mausoleum in the year 123 AD. We kept walking along the Tiber River and crossed the Vittorio Emanuele II bridge, heading towards the Pantheon. On our way there we passed Piazza Pasquale Paoli, the Campo de Fiori, and the Area Sacra Largo di Torre Argentina, which was the home to the Republican Roman Temples from fourth century BC to 80 AD. Now it is home to hundreds of kitties! We finally made it to the Pantheon (one of Jeff's life goals) and there we bumped into our friend Matt from school in France. It was really odd running into him in such a large city like Rome; what are the chances! The Pantheon was built in 14 AD and to this day is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. It was incredible to see and to marvel at the building of such a grand place over 2000 years ago. We stayed for a while and when we left there was a Ukrainian protest going on that was meant to raise awareness for their cause. We watched that for a while until our need for gelato out weighed our need for social justice. We found a great little gelato place and Jeff had banana and Carly had mango and lemon. They were all delicious and Jeff is still trying to find an equal to that banana gelato. We left the gelato place in search of the Trevi Fountain. We passed an open church that we toured and passed many other incredible monuments. We viewed the Trevi Fountain which, unfortunately, was under construction. We were so disappointed! After seeing the fountain, we headed back towards the hotel. We walked along the main street, Corso, back towards our hotel. We went through Piazza del Popolo. It was a lively place that late at night. We heard a very loud exhaust note and Jeff was excited because he said he thought it was a v12, probably a Lamborghini and as we turned the corner there it was speeding past. Once through the Piazza we had a gentle stroll back to the hotel. We got there and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke early and got our free hotel breakfast which was much better than the previous hotel. Our plan for the day was to see the Colosseum and the surrounding monuments. We headed out and walked down Corso towards the Colosseum and stopped in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. We didn't want to pay to tour the entire place so we just viewed the beautiful courtyard of citrus trees. We continued towards the Colosseum and stopped at the Altare dela Patria (Alter of the Father Land). This was an incredible monument built for Victor Emmanuel, the king who united Italy. We toured that for about two hours. The building is incredible and houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There are many great stories about the monument. We looked all around it and saw as much of it as we could see before buying tickets and taking an elevator ride to the very top of it. You could see all of Rome from the top. It was a very awe inspiring experience and we highly suggest you do it if you ever get the chance to visit Rome. From there we passed the Forums of Augustus and Triano. We went to get lunch at a small pizza place and hung out there for some time before it got really really busy. We left trying to find our way through the crowd that had amassed only to realize we had forgotten to pay. So we walked back to the restaurant and paid. Then we headed to The Colosseum. We got to the Colosseum and took a guided tour that allowed us to skip all the lines and get a more in-depth history of the building. We learned a lot more than we would have if we didn't take the tour and we were really glad that we did. From the Colosseum we toured the Ancient Roman City ruins. They were probably the most impressive part of the trip and the history of them was incredible. We spent nearly three hours wandering around learning about ancient Rome. Jeff now has a fascination with the Emperor Nero. He was an interesting fellow to say the least. It was now dark and we were famished so we headed to dinner. We had more pizza and pasta (when in Rome!). We ate our dinners and headed back to the hotel.

Pictures from Rome: http://imgur.com/a/M3KRK

The next day we took a four hour guided tour of the Vatican. It was appalling how much wealth that nation has acquired over its existence. The Vatican museums were incredibly decadent and impressive. There were many stories of Popes doing incredible things with their power and wealth. The history of Rome is stored in those buildings. It is said that it would take over four years to view all of the art in the Vatican if you only view each piece for a minute. So our experience was only puddle deep but we had a good time and learned a lot of history. Carly's favorite parts were the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peters Basilica and its catacombs and Jeff's were seeing all the statues depicting the Roman Emperors and seeing Nero's bathtub that he liked to fill with wine and ladies.
We left the Vatican that evening and got to see the changing of the Swiss Guards, purely by luck, as it only happens every 24 hours at 5pm. We did not know this and we were pleasantly surprised. From there we went to an incredible authentic Italian restaurant and had the experience of a life time. There was lots of yelling and happiness and wine and food; more food than you should ever eat in one sitting. We left the restaurant and tried to get on the main road, Corso, to get home but there were cops everywhere blocking the road. We heard a couple of crazy loud exhausts fly past and Jeff thought one might have been the new Aston Martin. Anyway we asked a nice police officer how to get back to our hotel using our incredibly broken Italian and he showed us on a map. We made it home and Carly googled what was going on in Rome and why the street was blocked and we found out that they were filming the new James Bond movie, Spectre! After that neat discovery, we both had begun complaining that our bellies hurt after that huge, giant, ridiculous meal and so we were just lounging about. Carly decided she was going to start throw up in the bedroom and then ran to the bathroom and threw up more. Jeff thought "hey that seems like a good plan" and he sprinted to the bathroom and pushed Carly out of the way to share in the vomiting fun. We both emptied our stomachs, much to our delight. We believe we had food poisoning because once the food was gone from our stomachs we felt much better but it also could have just been too much food. Regardless, we both felt much better afterwards and decided it was time to rest since we had a long day of travel ahead of us the next day.

Pictures from the Vatican: http://imgur.com/a/Iv8hS

We had an absolutely incredible time in Rome and we cannot wait to go back someday. We highly suggest you go if you can.

The third morning in Rome we headed to the train station and caught our train to Venice!