Part II

Okay so I think I left off with leaving for Rome.



We got up really early on Monday to catch an early bus to the airport to catch our 8ish flight I think. The trains didn't start running until 5:00 which was fine, it would be close but fine. We get to the train station and the first train doesnt get to us until 5:30. Crap. So we panic slightly but decide that we'll have to just rush as much as we can. So after 2 trains we get to the bus station and catch a bus to the airport. We make it there with plenty of time and check in etc and have an uneventful wait for the plane as well as an uneventful plane ride.



We land in Rome around 9 or 10, and catch a bus to the city. Luckily, when I was in Rome in January our hotel was near the Termini Station where the bus let us off so I knew how to get around from there. Rome was significantly less nerve wracking to get to since I'd been there before which was pretty convenient. The directions to our hostel were pretty straight forward and while it was a decent walk it wasn't too bad, though we found out after we could've taken the metro just as easily.



Our hostel was really nice, it was in an apartment building on the ground floor so it was a really nice set up. This was the plan for Rome:



We would be there for 2 nights, each night with 5 people BUT Monday night would be Carolina, Nick, Stephen, Mike and I. Carolina Nick and Mike would be in Rome until Wednesday when they would move on to Venice. Stephen had to get back to London on Wednesday because his family was coming to visit but he wanted to do Florence for a little bit while in Italy because it's one of his favorite places. So the plan was that I would go to Florence with Stephen Tuesday afternoon and we'd walk around a bit get dinner and chill out. Stephen would then go back to Rome because he was flying out of Rome and because I was going to do Florence on Wed. anyway I got a room in a hostel and stayed the night rather than going back and forth. Meanwhile back in Rome, Felicia was getting into Rome Tuesday night and she would take my place in the hostel. We talked to the hostel before hand to make sure this was cool, and it was. To bare you any undo suspense, the plan worked.



So after getting our stuff dropped in the hostel they gave us a map with the primary stuff to see so we headed out to see what we could. Turned out our hostel was right down the block from the Spanish Steps, not the bottom though, the top, which gave us a great view since we were on top of the Steps. We obviously then got down and took pictures. After that we headed in the general direction of the Villa Bourghesie. On the way we passed through this random piazza (you know like you do in Rome) and were harassed by men selling flowers but basically scamming you. We basically ended up with like 9 roses between the 5 of us. We continued on our way and on the way Nick decided he wanted to play with couples and just give them roses, take their picture and move on. It was actually really nice. We passed this one group of teennagers who were all kind of arguing etc and Nick just went up to them and offered them roses and at first they were like no leave us alone and he was like no here, no charge have a nice day and they all started laughing and smiling and took pictures with Nick.



We got lost for a bit walking through the park but it was a really pretty park so it was okay. Turned out when we got there that the museum was closed because it was a Monday so we headed back towards the center of Rome with the destination of the Trevi Fountain because it was easy to get to and it got us closer to everything and it was better than just wandering. So we got there, took pictures made wishes. Ran into more rose selling people and blew them off. Afterwards we headed started doing more of a wandering type thing, we had the map which gave us an idea of where we were and what we wanted to see etc... In the end we ended up seeing the Pantheon, Piazza Nuvona, Campo di Fiori, and probably a ton of other places I can't remember. We passed through Largo de Argentina which was kind of cool because thats where Sam and I hung out a lot in January because it was the one place we figured out how to get to and it had a lot of stores and such. While we were in Campo di Fiori we ran into this clown lady that was handing out hand made post cards with random information on them. She told us all about this church near by that had a painting by Carvaggio in it that she loved very much and so we decided to stop in.



The painting was a Madonna with Child and the painter had used his lover as the model for the Madonna which some people apparently didn't like (this is what she told us) so one day this man cut the womans face and disfigured her so Carvaggio then tried to kill the man and failed but was forced to leave Rome.



After a bit we headed back to the hostel and everyone sort of passed out for awhile since we'd been up since like 4. So finally aroun 5:30 or so, maybe later, we started thinking about dinner and asked at the desk about some place to eat. She told us about a place near the Spanish Steps which we decided to go in search for. We couldn't find it. We ended up at another little restraunt where we ate out on the street and all ate alot and got a dessert. Or two. After that we just went home and crashed.



Next day everyone headed to the Vatican which since I had just done in January I decided to venture off on my own. I had looked up where to find the catacombs since I'd never done those before. I found one that while it was kind of out of the way, seemed cool so I headed up to a small church called St. Agnes which involved walking for like 2 miles only to find out the catacombs were closed for construction or restoration or something. The church itself was still pretty cool and it was a cool little area to see.

I headed back in and met up with Bari who was just finishing the Colloseum and we grabbed some lunch and walked through Palatine Hill which is kind of like the Roman Forum but with less full structures and less important structures. We then went to the Forum for a bit before I left to get my stuff from the hostel and to meet Stephen at the train station to go to Florence.

We met there got a ticket and missed the train by like seconds, and then exchanged those tickets for the next fast train to Florence and made that one no problem.

Again, I'm going to cut it here because it's long enough and I have to go meet people for dinner. Stay tuned for the rest of reading week and a belated Thanksgiving update.